Enfield Poem-a-thon is a nine-hour feast of poetry from 10am to 7pm in the Dugdale Centre, Enfield, on Sunday October 1st 2017. 60 sponsored poets will each read for 8 minutes in relay. The poets start with John Hegley and finish with George Szirtes, who came to the UK as a Hungarian refugee at the age of eight. They are joined by other nationally known names, local writers from Enfield Poets, Palmers Green Poets and Palmers Green Stanza, plus children from Highfield Primary School. There will also be a cake stall, tombola and poetry book stall.

The Poem-athon will raise money for Enfield Refugee Welcome, the first Community Sponsorship Group in the country to settle a refugee family under the Government's Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme. Working with local organisations including schools, health providers, churches, mosques and landlords, they have secured housing, funding, English teaching and produced a community welcome plan to provide a refugee mother and her children with the support they need to integrate successfully into our community.They are now raising funds for their second refugee family. They need to raise £4,500 to resettle each adult refugee.