CHESHIRE’S poet laureate has seen an increase in the number of people attending his readings since the economic downturn.

W. Terry Fox believes verse has a role to play in consoling people during difficult times.

“A lot of poetry is to do with understanding your own life and coming to terms with it,” he said.

“I think times of economic hardship make people more reflective.”

Significance Mr Fox, 66, who has been writing songs and poems since he left university, said he thought people were more inclined to think when they had fewer things to occupy themselves.

“You’re more centred around your house and the things in it,” he said.

“Your front room has got a global significance because people are all the same all over the world. You can concentrate on the real blessings in your life.”

He also thought poets should try to entertain - and cheer people up - when all around was doom and gloom.

“An element of the job is to be the court jester,” he said. “When I go out and do readings I hope I can make people laugh.”

Mr Fox, who grew up in Watford, moved to Cheshire after meeting his future wife during John Lee Hooker’s 1965 UK tour - he played piano for the American blues singer.

He said he actually thought the credit-crunch and recession would be beneficial when everything settled down.

“I don’t think the rampant capitalism we’ve had is a good thing,” he said.

“The only way these people can become so rich is because the people in the street are losing out.”

But Mr Fox said it was unlikely that the economic downturn itself would provide inspiration for any of his poems.

“I’ve been broke most of my life so it makes no difference to me,” he said.

“I’ve never been ambitious in that way or concerned with making money.”

He thought the fact that there are more important things in life than profits and bulging bank balances could be the lesson drawn from the current problems.

“I’ve got to eat and I need to pay the bills but for me work is more to do with the spark of it,” he said.