Preacher turns poet with new book launch

David Campton is a Methodist minister and the Superintendent of Belfast Central Mission (BCM), and ‘Doodlings and Doggerel’ is his first published anthology of poems.

The new book, featuring works written over the last 30 years. was launched recently at an event in the Agape Centre on Belfast’s Lisburn Road. David welcomed family members, friends, contemporaries, and colleagues to hear and perform excerpts from the book.

An "enthusiastic amateur", David brings a shared sense of perception to each piece, allowing the reader to briefly join him on a private journey of comprehension of the wider world, his personal surroundings or what might have been going on in his head at that time.

David said:

“Many of these works are strongly influenced by spiritual, Biblical or theological themes, but some are reflections on everyday life, the world at large, including local, national and global politics, and my state of mind.

“Those that were not written for public performance were essentially written as therapy and would never have been collated into a collection had it not been for a sermon by Michaela Youngson, a former President of the Methodist Church in England.

“It feels as though the process came full circle to have had Michaela participate in the event launching the book that was ultimately inspired by her.”

Doodlings and Doggerel is available to buy via www.belfastcentralmission.org, with proceeds going towards the Chaplaincy programme at Copelands, the new residential and dementia care home that has been built by BCM on the Co. Down coast road between Donaghadee and Millisle.

Copelands provides practice-leading care for up to 60 residents across six purpose-built wings inspired by a ‘household’ model of communal living. The residents enjoy multiple indoor spaces, outdoor areas and gardens to enjoy, with world-class views out across the Irish Sea or the rolling drumlin countryside.

For more information on Copelands, visit www.copelands.org,uk.