FOR many years, Colchester has been a hotbed for performance poetry.

Now Colchester author Jason Cattrell is hoping a new festival will find the John Cooper Clarke's and Martin Newell's of the future.

The first ever Colchester Children’s Poetry Performance Festival will take place at the GO4 Café in Trinity Church as part of the town's One Big Sunday on July 2.

In aid of the GO4 charity which helps the homeless of Colchester, children across the area are being invited to ‘perform’ a poem of their own choice.

Jason, who writes under the pen name of D J Cattrell says: "Frankly poetry never did it for me until a couple of years ago when my kids started learning poems and started ‘performing’ them to me.

"It was only when researching for my next book the idea of a Children’s Poetry Performance festival began to emerge. My two girls came with me one morning to the GO4 Café where I interview and collect stories of some of our rough sleepers and troubled people who would come into the café for a free breakfast.

"The kids took to the stage area and performed a poem for a laugh and it just struck me. What if there were a whole bunch of kids that wanted to perform poetry rather than having to learn ‘the classics’ and be turned away from poetry as I had been. What if, by performing some of this new poetry and even some old poetry, it may inspire other kids and entertain people."

The author of The Bucket, and the soon-to-be-released The Bag, will be presenting the two-hour event which starts at 2pm.

It's free to take part and is free to watch, although Jason would encourage donations to GO4 charity on the day.

Anyone who wishes to take part can contact Jason on djcatrell@hotmail.com or by calling 07775892675 giving your children’s names, ages, piece to be performed, by how many children and the length of time the piece takes.

Participating children will need to be accompanied by parents or carers.