Back in June of this year I decided to organize a Poetry Competition called The Black Hole, the idea was to get local people involved and put their thoughts about a proposed opencast extension down on paper. To write about the area as it is now, the beautiful Rhaslas Lake, the untouched wetlands where so many species of birds come to nest, the ponies, cows and sheep that live in the area, and the fantastic views of the mountains as far as the Brecon Beacons National Park , or to write about their fears of what would happen if the planning permission was given, how it would affect their environment, their health, their childrens futures, as well as tourism and jobs in the area that could be under threat.

I had a few responses, but not enough to warrant a publication, pretty disappointing. However, I decided because of the quality of the poems I had received, I wanted to get these voices heard, so I decided to ask a few people if they would submit a poem and agree to purchase at least one copy of the book for family or friends, also everyone who had contributed would get a Free copy.

This suggestion went down extremely well and before I knew it I had enough poems to publish the book, not only that there will be a 2 ^nd Anthology early next year. This is due to the fact that I have been attending an open mic . night once a month in Merthyr , and met many more poets with thanks to Mike Jenkins http://www.mikejenkins.net/ who was originally going to be one of the judges, but ended up contributing 3 fantastic poems to the book.

You can also find two more of the well known Poets on their links below,

Abigail Wyatt http://abigailwyatt.blogspot.co.uk/

and Winston Plowes http://www.winstonplowes.co.uk/

The book is now available in paperback priced 3.51 with Free delivery in the U.K.

The Black Hole on Amazon.co.uk

Purchase your copy here...

Profits from the book will go towards any legal fees accrued by United Valleys Action Group in their ongoing campaign.

There will also be a Kindle version available in the next few weeks.

You can join the campaign on the links below..

f acebook -united valleys action group

facebook -stop the rape of the fair country

facebook -green valleys alliance

http://www.greenvalleysalliance.co.uk/

Due to the wonderful support and enthusiasm I have received in the making of The Black Hole I hope to bring out a second Anthology in January/Feb 2013, if anybody would like to contribute please get in touch, you can email baarbaara at

baarbaara@baarbaarathesheep.com

Thank You for your support and Watch this Space.