FRIENDS of a late Oxford poet have raised £1,000 from well wishers to give him a funeral.
David MacArnold’s colleagues raised the money in just 10 days with a fundraising website.
His funeral will be held at Oxford Crematorium on Friday, January 9, from 3.45pm. There is no formal dress code.
Mr MacArnold, better known in poetry circles as Davy Mac, died, aged 63, at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital on November 19 from cancer.
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His poetry drew on his 18 years in the Army, his struggles being a gay soldier, and his time living on the streets.
In June this year he made it through to the National Poetry Slam Final.
He would have been the oldest contestant at the event, held in a loading bay underneath London’s Royal Albert Hall, but because of his illness he never made it.
Born in Glasgow, he moved to Newcastle then joined the Army when he was 15, but said he was forced to leave under a cloud when he came out as gay.
He came to Oxford in 2011 to take a creative writing course at Ruskin, and started going to poetry slams. See donationsfordavymac.wordpress.com
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