Welcome to the Website of Kevin Holcroft AKA The Bard of Ince (a name attributed by his online readers and thus turned out to be a great name for this website).

Kevin is a poet from Ince, Wigan - United Kingdom. For Many years now Kevin has been posting his poems on Facebook via the Characters of Ince Social Media page, and has made many fellow-Wiganers smile with his depiction of a bygone era.

He has amazed his friends and family alike with his writing ability, especially as there is such a vast amount of material in a short time. Inspired by a strong sense of nostalgia Kevin is able to express what it was like growing up in Wigan in the 1950's, and does so with good humour and sound philisophical renditioning.

The mining industry was very active in Wigan as they supplied tons of coal to other parts of the country during the industrial revolution. This enabled a close community to form in Ince and other areas like it. This community spirit was the positive side of what was essentially a hard life. Anyone who was there will tell you that those times were tough, and Incers had to become tough in order to endure. With most living in poverty in tiny back to back houses with an out-door toilet/bucket, communities became close-knit who would stick together and help eachother through the hardships that were commonplace in a small mining town of the mid 20th century.

By today's standards it would be a violation of a person's human rights...

Kevin's poetry gets at the very heart of the challenges they all faced back then in Ince, and having those experiences in common with his fellow Incers has enabled him to articulate and express those memories in a very positive and heart-felt way, which make younger generations appreciate how times have changed, but not necessarily for the better!

Each poem takes us on a little journey of its own, and even those from different locations with different backgrounds will find something that rings true. Day to day challenges, marriage, relationships, and getting older, are some of the topics elaborately covered in Kevin's impressive repertoire which shows great depth and breadth in his understanding of being a human-being on planet earth. He has also devoted poems to great characters who lived in Ince, managing to capture their essence in a few lines of text and successfully portray the simple characteristics that make us unique.

This website and all of the content has been created for longevity and ease of access for him and anyone else who wishes to read. There will no doubt be regular updates as I am positive that Bard of Ince hasn't finished yet.

Inspiration is one of those things that can take on a life of its own and Kevin has often quipped "Every time I stop writing, I get another six in my head". So there we have it, some things are just meant to be written and shared.

Thank you for visiting... :-)