Some places seem naturally to invite poetry, and Morecambe is certainly one of them.
My connection with the Morecambe Poetry Festival began last year, when a local Poetry Slam win gave me the opportunity to perform a 15-minute Best of Morecambe slot at the King’s Arms during the 2025 festival.
It was a memorable afternoon: sharing my work beside the sea, meeting other writers and performing for a wonderfully receptive audience. You can read more about that experience in my earlier post, September Updates So Far: A Poetic Journey in 2025.
A year later, I’m very pleased that this connection is continuing in print. My poem “Bring Me Sunshine” has been selected for inclusion in the Morecambe Poetry Festival 2026 Anthology.
The anthology accompanies this year’s Morecambe Poetry Festival, taking place at Morecambe Winter Gardens from 18th to 20th September 2026.
“Bring Me Sunshine” is my affectionate portrait of Morecambe: its promenade, wildlife, music, shops, architecture and remarkable views across the bay. It celebrates a town with a rich cultural history; one that has experienced difficult times but continues to recover, create and look towards the future.
There is humour and nostalgia in the poem, but also an acknowledgement of the bay’s more sombre history. Morecambe is a place of striking contrasts: children playing on the sand, seabirds guarding the breakwater, festival crowds filling the town and the dangerous mudflats stretching beneath magnificent sunsets.
Having performed at the festival in 2025, it is particularly meaningful to see my words become part of its published story in 2026. I’m honoured that the poem will form part of this year’s anthology and become one small contribution to Morecambe’s continuing literary story.
For background on the anthology series:
- Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology Volume 3 (2025) — edited by Matt Panesh and published by Burning Eye Books.
- Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology Volume 2 (2024) — also published by Burning Eye Books.
- Background to the first festival anthology — explains that it combined established performers with previously unpublished poets and helped support the festival.
Bring Me Sunshine
Bring me sunshine over Morecambe Bay
where gulls and oyster catchers hold sway
walk the promenade in a salt-brine breeze
in Happy Mount, trampoline feet to knees.
It’s seen better days, but it’s on the mend
There’s spoken word, music, a seafront to tend
It’s a hotbed of culture, art and song
With its own Eden project, before too long
Bring me sunshine over Morecambe Bay
Where tourists and day-trippers love to stay
Curiosity shops and second-hand books
Thrillers, sci-fi, romance, TV cooks
And the best music shop for miles around
Guitars, brass, pianos and percussive sound
Spaced out benches for when you need to rest
An Art-deco ice cream parlour, serving the best
Bring me sunshine over Morecambe Bay
When the seas out there’s sand for kiddies play
Kittiwakes stand sentry on rocky breakwater
Their cries intermingle with children’s laughter
Ponytails swish as two joggers pass by
Off the pier an angler fishes with fly
A sculptured bronze guillemot gleams in the sun
Eyes on the Midland, where the wealthy have fun
Bring me sunshine over Morecambe Bay
A paradise for travellers I hear you say
Campers parked up, all shapes and sizes
Hen party revellers wearing disguises
Pubs and cafes offer culinary smells
Panoramic views of the Lakeland fells
Winter Gardens, star-studded history
Bit by bit reclaiming its’ former glory
Bring me sunshine over Morecambe Bay
Dressing up weekends in steam-punk play
Forty years on, Eric strikes trademark pose
whilst shimmering Irish sea comes and goes
uncovering mud flats, treacherous sands
cockle-picker ghosts waving frantic hands
comedy, concerts, poetry to end the day
as magnificent suns set over Morecambe Bay.
© Peter Kay 2026