You might call it poetry with a purpose. As organiser Ruth O’Callaghan puts it: “It is so wonderful that poetry – which many people regard as airy-fairy - can be shown to have a practical usage, providing food, shelter, warmth and a safe place to sleep away from the streets.” All proceeds from poetry nights held at two, alternating church venues -  Trinity United Reform Church near Camden Town tube, and Lumen URC in the heart of Bloomsbury - go to help cold weather shelters in Camden and King’s Cross that are provided throughout the winter to help the homeless.

On Friday 3 January, on a night when you certainly wouldn’t want to be out on the streets, two dozen or so hardy souls arrived at the beautiful Camden church, an oasis of warmth just a street away from the razzmatazz and tattoo parlours of Camden high street, to hear members of Highgate Poets and a number of poets from the floor. On Friday night we may not heard any poems about homelessness. But we did hear poems about falling down, stroke victims, bereavement, and forgetfulness, among other subjects.

The poetry and cold weather shelters project began more than six years ago when Ruth found herself at a poetry reading at the Trinity church in Buck Street and sitting next to the minister, Maggie Hindley, who told her the church was supporting cold weather shelters in the building but hadn’t realised how much it would cost to provide bedding, pots and pans, and so on. An idea dawned: the church would provide a regular poetry venue, and Ruth would provide some well-known poets who would give readings without asking for a fee, to help the shelters.

How does it work? Well-known poets appear alongside new and unpublished ones from the audience, who have the chance to read at least one poem. Poets from the floor can submit the poems they read to be considered for an annual anthology published each spring, which also includes famous names. There is also an annual competition, which again raises money for the shelters. The deadline for this year’s one, to be judged by Sir Andrew Motion, patron of Lumen and Camden Poetry since 2012, is 14 February.

To be able to rustle up so many famous names  - Anne Stevenson, Elaine Feinstein,  Andrew Motion, Jo Shapcott, George Szirtes, Ruth Fainlight, Danny Abse, Fiona Sampson, and David Harsent are among those due to appear this year - requires a certain amount of clout in the poetry world. Ruth O’Callaghan holds the prestigious Hawthornden Fellowship, is a competition adjudicator, interviewer, reviewer, editor, mentor and workshop leader, has been translated into six languages, and invited to read extensively in Asia, Europe and the US. The Arts Council sponsored her to visit Mongolia to collaborate with women poets.  In the same year she was invited to the World Congress of Poets in Budapest, and in 2010 awarded a gold medal in Taiwan, and a Heinrich Böll residency in Ireland. A recent collection of her poetry, The Silence Unheard (Shoestring), was published last year.

Despite her wealth of experience, she admits that some poets have sneaked under her radar. When she chanced upon and immediately recognised the skill of Rowan Williams’ poetry, she didn’t immediately twig that he was also the-then archbishop of Canterbury. That didn’t stop him agreeing to join her list of illustrious readers, of course. 

Ruth added: “The readers give their time and waive their fee whilst the publishers take a great interest in the readings of the poets from the floor. The poets from the floor have the opportunity to submit poems for consideration to be included in an anthology which is produced by Soaring Penguin, who then donate the money raised to the CWS. We collect the poems from January through to December and are at present selecting ones to be published in the 2014 anthology. If you haven't already, do come and read a poem at one of the venues. The more times you attend the more you are able to submit and, of course, it is possible to have more than one poem published in the anthology. It is very good for the CV to have your work seen alongside more famous fellow poets.”

Ruth also paid tribute to another publisher, Ward Wood, that supports the Camden/Lumen competition by producing a perfectly bound copy of the winner's poems. The winner receives 50 copies free of his/her book. Adele Ward is one of the key helpers at Camden / Lumen nights, too.

* Ruth O’Callaghan’s workshops are strictly limited to five poets to ensure maximum feedback. For more details email cmjatripley@talktalk.net