The Ballad of Bedfordshire 2026
Every year, Bedfordshire Day closes with one poem — written not by one poet, but by everyone who sends a line. This year, I’d like yours in it too.
The Ballad of Bedfordshire is a collective poem, built entirely from lines sent in by the people who live here, work here, or simply carry a memory of this county with them. There’s no theme to follow and no correct way to answer. A place, a memory, a feeling, a single sentence that’s true for you about Bedfordshire — that’s the whole brief.
Add your line
Send one line about Bedfordshire — as short or as long as feels right — to the address below, before the deadline.
Send your line to
Submissions close
“A place, a memory, a feeling — anything true about Bedfordshire to you.”
The Ballad of Bedfordshire · 2026WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR LINE
One poem, built from many voices
Every line submitted becomes part of a single collective poem. There’s no audition and nothing to get right — the Ballad is built from the honest, ordinary, specific things people actually feel about this county.
WHERE IT’S PERFORMED
Bedfordshire Day, live
The finished Ballad is performed live at the Bedfordshire Day Book Salon & Poetry Recital, on 28 November 2026 at the Davis Suite, Rufus Centre, Flitwick, as part of the evening’s seated poetry recital.
You don’t need to be a writer to contribute. You only need one true sentence about a place you know.
A small note on timing
The Ballad of Bedfordshire sits within Bedfordshire’s wider National Year of Reading — “Go All In” — and is delivered as part of BedfordSHARE: Bedfordshire’s Poetry Together, alongside Bedfordshire Voices, the Bards of Bedfordshire, and the county’s growing anthology work.
28 November also marks John Bunyan’s birthday — a fitting date for a county that keeps adding to its own story, one voice at a time.
If you’d like to take part, send your line to bedfordshare@wordschoseme.com before Saturday 31 October 2026.