Wee Verses from Elaine

Apr 21 2009 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

ELAINE Mutch swapped Kirkcaldy for Kirkmichael three years ago and says her time in rural Perthshire has inspired a passion for poetry.

And the great-grandmother insists that, had it not been for the picturesque Big County scenery, her flair for the written word would have remained untapped.

Explaining the origins of her new-found vocation, Elaine – who recently had her first book, “Wee Verses from the Glens”, published by AuthorHouse – told the PA: “We used to have a caravan in Ballintuim and I liked it so much I decided to make the move permanent.

“We put an advert in the Bridge of Cally shop to see if there was any accommodation available and, within half an hour, we got a call saying there was a house in Kirkmichael.

“I didn’t really write anything when we lived in Kirkcaldy but when my husband Ronnie and I moved here I started straight away.

“I couldn’t help myself, it’s such a beautiful place. I can sit in my garden and the ideas just come flooding-in because the scenery is so lovely.

“Inspiration usually comes to me at night. I’ll be just dozing off and then something will pop into my head and I’ll jump up and have to write it down immediately.

“It’s a totally different world up here. Kirkcaldy is all hustle and bustle, but here you can walk around the village in the morning and not see anyone,” she said.

Mother-of-three Elaine lives in one of Kirkmichael’s River View cottages with her husband Ronnie.

A part-time cleaner at the village’s primary school, the pair have seven grandchildren and recently became great-grandparents for the first time.

And Elaine insists it was the mess presented to her by the school’s 47 pupils before one of her first shifts that provided the platform for the opening piece in her book – released in February this year – titled: “A Cleaner’s Lament”.

She said: “I walked into the classroom that day and thought: ‘Oh my goodness!’

“The place was such a mess, but I felt I had to write about it.

“I get a lot of inspiration from the children and the projects they do, I’ve been asked to read to them in the past.

“I know poetry’s not seen as very cool but I think the kids like me reading to them. They know my face.

“My writing kept me sane when I first moved up here. It’s a completely different way of life and I didn’t know anybody really.

“But now I’ve settled I’ve been made to feel so welcome and I’ve got so much more material up my sleeve.

“I definitely want to put another book together because I write about anything and everything. Living here, you’re not short of inspiration,” she said.

Copies of Elaine’s book are available from: www.amazon.co.uk.