A PARAMEDIC and a firefighter have launched a website to help people communicate their innermost thoughts at weddings, birthday parties and funerals.
Fireman Syd Webster and medic Will Cunningham have come up with the idea for "Write For All Occasions", a site where people can log on to buy personalised poetry.
Father-of-two Syd, 53, from Bootle, said: "Will and I are always saying that poetry is perfect. We use it for everything all the time.
"I write poems for almost every occasion, like the naming of babies, 21st birthday parties, and even poems from brides to their mothers and fathers on their wedding day.
"I think it is the form of communication."
Former marine Will, 37, whose partner is Syd's daughter Leanne, 25, believes the pair have identified a hole in the market.
He said: "Why go out and buy an expensive card when you can have a personalised poem tailor-made for the person you want to send it to?
"If you want a poem for somebody special all you can do is go to the card shop, and you have to make do with whatever they've got."
Will, from Melling, added: "With our site, people can request poems that are funny or deep and meaningful, and we can guarantee nobody else will have the same one."
For Syd, the website has come about after years of writing poetry.
He said: "I've been writing for about 16 years now.
"I went round to see Will and he set up the site. We realised how much stuff we had and it just spiralled from there."
As well as poems for special occasions, visitors to the site can order pieces based on Liverpool humour and donate their own works.
A section is dedicated to educational poems about fire safety for schools. Syd has travelled around schools educating children about fire hazards and teaching them how to write poetry. He was rewarded for his work in 2000 when he went to Buckingham Palace to be awarded the MBE. Now he is excited about the future of his new venture.
He said: "I am hoping the site becomes really successful over the next year. I retire in 15 months so it would be great for it to grow and develop in that time."
* VISIT www.writeforalloccasions.net
grahamdavies@dailypost.co.uk
MOTHER
You tucked me in at bedtime, Kissed away the fright, You told me that by morning, Everything would be alright. You listen to my problems, Then offer good advice, And when I need a favour, I never ask you twice.
You're someone to rely on, You give my confidence a shove, Then when we've had an argument, Your greatest gift is love. You're there when I need money, You have that certain knack, To tell me "pay me later, "When it's time to pay it back." You're an angel in an apron, A person like no other, I wouldn't be who I am now, Without you, dearest mother.
