“I thought it was going to be something I’d do for three weeks when we went into lockdown, I had a book called a poem for every day, and at over 900 days, I’ve comfortably finished it.”

Sian Drinan, a self-proclaimed poetry evangelist, has taken it upon herself to read a poem every day for the past 916 days (at the time of writing), so why has the 67-year-old Brecon local taken up the task?

“Well, I started because of the pandemic, when they made the announcement, I contacted voluntary groups to see what I could do,” said Sian.

“But, because I can’t drive and because I have health issues myself, I couldn’t be in contact with many people, so although people put me on their books, they never contacted me about anything.

“I thought to myself, what am I passionate about? I like performing, I like poetry, and I just thought that it might be helpful to brighten someone’s day, so I read quite hopeful and upbeat poetry - there are not many truly completely nihilistic poems.”

Sian only had ambitions of a three-week lockdown hobby, so how did we really end up closer to the almost intangible three-year mark than to the previous goal of a mere three weeks?

Well, Sian believes it is down to the way that the community highlighted how she was making a small, yet significant impact.

“Once I started, I started to get responses, we got people saying we really enjoy your poem and you got the sense that the there was a lot of people who you are connecting with - that’s really what keeps you going,” said Sian.

The 67-year-old does admit that she sometimes struggles to see why her poems resonate with people so much but still has theories as to why people are connecting with them.

Sian said: “It’s about connectivity and stability, people will say I don’t listen every day but I know I can catch.

“It’s the regularity of it I suppose, there are a lot of people here in Brecon that can be living on their own and appreciate it.

“I’ve tried to keep it natural so that it’s almost like I’m talking to people how I’m talking to you now.

“People have written some very moving things and said they’ve gone out and bought a poetry book because of me, or say that relatives are not well and that they’ve read them these poems.

“So, I don’t know why it’s reaching people, but it is, and poetry is universal,” said Sian.

However, while this project may now seem everlasting to the eyes of many locals, Sian told the Brecon and Radnor Express that there unfortunately is an expiration date.

“I’ll probably finish at 1000 days, I thought we would stop back at the two-year anniversary but then we had the war in Ukraine and a little COVID resurgence, so I thought I’d carry on, but at the moment, 1000 is definitely the deadline - on what I believe will be December 18,” said Sian.

Despite this, the town council member for St David’s Ward has said that it won’t be the end of her attempts to use poetry for the greater good.

Sian said: “I do feel that poetry is something that we shy away from, like when people are doing exams, people always shield away from them in the English section. But people listen to music, so I’m an evangelist for poetry if anything.

“It is not for certain people, it is for everyone, it is universal and has touched us all in some way.

“So, with that in mind, I want to contact literature Wales and do a reading tour of rural areas in Wales on public transport to take poetry into areas where it won’t be as well-received and to also promote rural transport.

“I’m working on an application to get some funding to do that,” said Sian.