'Poems from the Desert' was published following a poetry competition for the Allied 8th Army troops serving in the Western Desert of North Africa in 1942. Over four hundred poems were submitted by ordinary soldiers, including 'Battle Interlude' by winner Tony Celner M.B.E, who was presented a £10 prize by Field Marshal Montgomery. In his poem, the young Tony graphically depicts the deafening barrage of the battle of El Alamein, and being in a slit trench under fire by enemy aircraft during the fighting. He recites the poem he wrote over seventy years ago for the first and last time before his passing. See him in our trailer below as well as Harry Garrett, 99 (pictured), veteran of Dunkirk and Alamein reading 'A Soldier, His Prayer'. It’s a poem Harry relates to well, as he puts his many near misses on the battlefield down to praying for survival.

The film was over halfway finished when tragically our main organiser and director (pictured) was struck down with meningitis. She lost the ability to walk or stand for many months. In a double whammy of bad luck her GP told her to take something she was allergic to, which caused heart problems but the error was not realised until too late. Instead of taking her off the prescription, she was sent to a chronic fatigue clinic where she was expected to walk 4000 steps a day before the heart condition was discovered, which led to her becoming very severely ill and out of action. We’re happy to say she’s now recovering, able to walk small distances again and back on the project.

Britain in Poetry are now raising money to complete the film and are asking the public to help us make up for lost time.

Our main cost is archive. The Imperial War Museum has to charge not-for-profits, with rates of £20-£40/second for footage and £50-£95 per photo. The Australian War Memorial collection has similar fees. We'll also be using footage from Critical Past whose collection ranges from £130- £300/clip.

We have a great soundtrack donated to us by composer Duncan Glasson, and are going to complement this with Egyptian style clips for the desert shots.

There is some final filming in Egypt that had to be put off due to the security situation there. Consequently insurance and production costs have gone up for filming in the desert.

Our fantastic editor, who has a lot of experience with poetry films, including the award-winning war poetry doc 'The Not Dead,' has donated much of his time for free. As he is much sought after and working full time on broadcast TV films, we will need to pay his full rate to book in blocks of time for the final editing.

If 15 people donate £6 each, that will cover the cost of one archive photo. All donations, however small, will help us complete the film.

A big thanks to our fans for their support!

DONATE:

£5 - for a shout out on our social media.

£20+ - for a link to the film once completed + shout out on our social media.

£35 - for a DVD copy + link to the film once completed +shout out on our social media.

£100 - for a thank you credit in the film + link to the completed film + a social media shout out.

£500 - for an associate producer credit + link to completed film + a social media shout out.

We'll be adding some more goodies like mugs and t-shirts in future too. A big thanks to everyone!

To view some exciting stories and photos of the war veterans in the film, visit our Facebook: www.facebook.com/PoemsFromTheDesert

See our website: www.poemsfromthedesert.com

Watch our trailer below: