Welcoming Helen Pletts to the CB1 Committee

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Welcome to CB1, Helen. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you for welcoming me to the committee, Trish, I am in good company with yourself, Angus Allman and Lindsay Fursland. I am retired but I have not slowed down. I manage the infamous WhatsApp group for CB1 Poetry but anyone who runs poetry events in Cambridge, who joins the group, may share their own poetry event posts here too, which enables us to keep up to date with where poetry readings are happening and also where local poets can also read their own poems, besides CB1 Poetry.

I am based with my family near Cambridge.

Since February 2024, I have been focussing on a bilingual project as English co-translator of Chinese poet Ma Yongbo 马永波, who is also my official Chinese translator and my best friend. Ma Yongbo is a Chinese poet, translator, editor, and scholar of postmodern poetry. He has authored or translated more than seventy published books. He is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Literature at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His translations from English include works by John Ashbery, Emily Dickinson, Henry James, Herman Melville, May Sarton, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and many others. There is a more in-depth detail about Ma Yongbo on my website www.helenpletts.com

We co-create ‘The Ma Yongbo Poetry Road Trip – Summer Tour 2025’ for International Times ma yongbo and helen pletts | Search Results | IT Our first bilingual poetry book entitled ‘Night Shining-White’, is due out in 2026 from Open Shutter Press, Edited by Pete Taylor.

I learn Mandarin with my Tutor Ma Yongping through Cambridge U3A.

I have the company of Sasha, a rescue dog from the Ukraine and Sox a rescue cat from the UK streets.

Besides Chinese, my poetry has also been translated into Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Albanian, Romanian and Spanish. This short poem of mine ‘this is the violet hour’ published by International Times https://internationaltimes.it/this-is-the-violet-hour这是紫罗兰时刻/ can also be read in most of these languages, here it is in English and Chinese:

this is the violet hour

the night-ribbon unravelling, stars spilling
everywhere, shoulders closer than ever.
Roses unfurl in the night air, moths dress
their petals with softness and body fur.
We are quiet signals tonight, only nature
speaks for us, in a voice of wonder. We sleep
and the darkness governs us. The moths are
happiest, when they are speaking to the roses

By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨

Translated by Ma Yongbo ⻢永波译 2024

这是紫罗兰时刻this is the violet hour⻢永波 译

夜的绶带展开，群星洒落
全地，肩膀与肩膀靠得更近。
玫瑰在夜⽓中舒展，⻜蛾
⽤柔软和绒⽑装扮它们的花瓣。
今夜，我们是安静的信号，只有⾃然
为我们说话，⽤奇迹的声⾳。我们⼊睡
⿊暗统治着我们。⻜蛾何其
幸福，当它们向着玫瑰倾诉

My poetry has five shortlistings for the Bridport Poetry Prize (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024), two longlistings for The Rialto Nature & Place Prize (2018, 2022), a longlisting for the Ginkgo Prize (2019), a longlisting for the National Poetry Competition (2022), 2nd Prize in the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2022-23), and a shortlisting for the Plaza Prose Poetry Competition (2023-24).

My three poetry collections include the illustrated ‘your eye protects the soft-toed snow drop’, with Romit Berger (2022, ISBN 978-9-657-68177-0, Gama Poetry) and two early collections ‘Bottle bank’ (2008 ISBN 978-1-84923-119-0), and ‘For the chiding dove’ (2009, ISBN 978-1-84923-485-6) published by YWO/Legend Press with Arts Council support.

My prizewinning prose poetry features in The Plaza Prizes anthologies, and my eco-poetry appears in anthologies from Worple Press, Open Shutter Press, Fly on the Wall Press. Other poetry of mine appears in international poetry anthologies published in Italian and Albanian.

My work is widely published in international journals such as International Times, Vox Populi, Ink Sweat and Tears, Aesthetica, Orbis, The Mackinaw, The Ekphrastic Review, Cambridge Poetry, The Fenland Reed, Poetry on the Lake, Sindh Courier, European Poetry, Verse Virtual, Magique Publishing, Primelore, Deshusa, Verseum Literary, Stigmalogou.gr, Area Felix, www.cnpnews.co.kr, Masticadoresusa, The Journal of Transnational Literature, The Wordsmith Literary E-Magazine, Alessandra Today Magazine, Nacional, The Daily Global Nation, Gas: Poetry, Art and Music, International Web Post, Ciceroni journal in English, Oceano News Magazine, Saturno Magazine.

I am published in Chinese translation by Ma Yongbo 马永波 —New World Poetry , Literary World, Prose Poetry, Silver, Poetry Reference, Big Dipper International Poetry Forum, Poetry Appreciation.

This is how Publisher, Kate Birch, describes my poetry : “Helen’s very personal poetry reveals her strong connection to the natural world while also laying herself open emotionally. She writes with a thoughtful, mesmerising delicacy on love and death, on joy and need, illness and exhaustion.”

“Helen Pletts poetic creation is by no means a mere “writing about nature” or “recording of emotions,” but a poetic system with inherent logic and conscious theoretical awareness. When we strip away the detailed presentation of specific poems, the uniqueness of her poetic pursuit emerges clearly: she reconstructs the perceptual relationship between humans and the world through “natural phenomenology” to dissolve the subject-object opposition between humans and nature; breaks the constraints of linear time via “cross-temporal emotional topology” to construct a folded space where memory and reality converge; and endows simple images with existential contemplation through “the philosophical transformation of everyday metaphors”. These three dimensions collectively constitute the core traits that distinguish her from traditional nature poets.” Ma Yongbo 马永波, excerpt from ‘The Luminous World of All-Embracing Oneness: Reflections of Translating Helen Pletts’ Poetry’

“The Response Poetry between Ma Yongbo and Helen Pletts “is the real international cooperation. This is not a simple translation, nor is it cultural input or output, but a mutual appreciation between poets of two different languages, because they share the same belief that poetry is a necessary means to overcome the linguistic Tower of Babel, and poetry is a rainbow between souls.” Tong Xiaofeng, Film Director and long term friend of Ma Yongbo

正如仝晓锋所言，这才是真正的国际合作。这不是简单的翻译，不是文化输出输入，而是两个不同语种诗人之间的惺惺相惜，因为他们共同的信念在于——诗歌是克服语言巴别塔的必备手段，诗歌是心灵之间的彩虹。

How long have you lived in Cambridge?

I first lived in Cambridge back in the eighties, working for the City Council and then the County Council, I moved out to Godmanchester, then to Prague and back to Cambridge in 2010.

What poem/poet/teacher first got you into poetry?

My mother introduced me to poetry, reading to me when I was a child, from ‘The Golden Treasury of Poetry’ selected by Louis Untermeyer with great children’s favourites like ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noyes and I have many of my early childhood poetry books still too, ‘Hailstone and Halibut Bones’ by Mary O’neill, was one of my favourites. A series of poetry books called ‘Voices’ were new inspiring collections of poetry that I enjoyed as a child, that focussed on poems written in different dialects as well. Around the age of eleven I discovered Shakespeare and Wilfred Owen. Age fifteen Keats, Hughes, Gunn and Milton. In my forties I discovered W.S. Graham and in my sixties Ma Yongbo. I wrote my first poem, at age 5, about a polar bear.

How did you find out about CB1? Tell us about your first visit and your experience of the open mic.

I began coming to CB1, often reading with my father, the poet Mike Bannister, and I remember you Trish from those days, from round about 2010, and what was nice is that you even remembered me in 2024, when I suddenly found that I had time to start attending local poetry events again ! Peter Gizzi even mentioned CB1 Poetry at one of his seminars in 2011, so word of it being a good event where students could read their poetry was circulating well. Poetry reading at the mic is always respected and everyone is quiet and listens attentively. Performing poetry is not easy as it often depends on how much energy you have on the night too, but there is help to know where to place the microphone in front of you and every effort is made to make you feel supported and confident.

And what about your writing practice? Have you tried workshops in the past? Are you regularly sending stuff out for publication, or do you prefer social media

I write most days. If I am not writing my own poetry, I am either translating poetry by Ma Yongbo, or answering interview questions about how we work together, or preparing my own poetry for publication. Ma Yongbo and I write and publish our Response Poetry especially for International Times and we have been doing this since May 2025. We also include and feature other poet/translators who translate our poetry, and we try to work with as many poets from as many countries as possible, to be a part of the transnational poetry community.

I have not had time to attend poetry workshops for years but I regularly join in with ‘Future Karaoke’, the regular new writing showcase, organised by Dr Jon Stone, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Cambridge School of Creative Industries, ARU, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT. At ‘Future Karaoke’ creative writing students together with local poets respond by writing to a given theme, and these events are lively and very enjoyable too. They are a great way to meet other local writers. I do use Facebook and Instagram, usually to announce my own publication, or publication of other poet friends and connect with other writers globally who want to work together.

I am a member of CB1 Stanza Group, run by Lindsay Fursland. Thank you Lindsay.

What are you reading at the moment?

I am trying to read ‘The Monkey King’ by Wu Cheng’en but I have not got very far into it at the moment, as I am always so busy working with Ma Yongbo. I am also very fond of reading Ancient Chinese poetry, from the Song Dynasty which is very beautiful but very difficult to translate successfully.

How do you see CB1 developing?

l’d like to echo Angus’s wishes here, back in 2023, when he was interviewed by Anne Berkeley, which was “to use CB1 as a platform, not just for growing my and other poets’ confidence in performing but also to help shine a light on local talent on social media and to encourage as many people as possible in the town to write and share their work. The plan is to have a few open-mic evenings and then bring in the occasional guest poet to do readings and talk about their work.

CB1’s got so much potential. Down the road, the group could run workshops or host events in collaboration with other art groups in Cambridge. I’m very excited to see where this goes and how much difference we can make to the community.” Because I think that he has achieved precisely that, expanding all of this good intent into his Directorship of the Cambridge Poetry Festival as well. Thank you Angus.

I hope to continue to keep local poets, and people who love listening to poetry, connected through the WhatsApp group so that people get to hear about as many poetry events in Cambridge as possible. We have had some tremendous support continuously from Rob Jelly at the BBC, who has often given CB1 Poetry a shout out on his weekly radio show. Thank you Rob Jelly.

Cambridge is thriving with poetry events at the moment and we all support each other: Mill Road Poetry, Word Salad run by Colliding Lines, poetry readings at our Universities, including open mics in various pubs both in and just outside the city, these are all happening regularly besides the ‘Future Karaoke’ events that I have previously mentioned. Come and connect with us, read your poetry, or just listen, you are so welcome, and we can help to keep you up to date with other local poetry events too.

Poetry in the Community

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I’ve been writing poetry since my teens and have never really stopped. Giving up my day job in 2007 meant more time to write, and no excuse not to. Moving to Cambridge from North London shortly afterwards, I started going to CB1 and reading occasionally at the open mic. I became a regular and was asked to join the committee a few years back. Then we had grants from the council which enabled us to pay well-known poets to come and read for us. When I started our venue was the CB1 café on Mill Road, and we’ve been semi-nomadic ever since, putting on events at Michaelhouse. The Punter, The Boathouse, CB2 (now Thrive), The Blue Moon, and now at The Town and Gown. We’ve weathered the financial crash, losing our council grants, and Covid, but we’re still going, probably because the appetite for poetry is still very much alive in the community. I started going to the Poetry Society’s workshop in Cambridge (the Stanza) around the same time as discovering CB1. I now host the group (there are around two dozen members) which is both in-person at my house, and also by Zoom for poets who prefer that, or who have moved out of the area (e.g. the Lake District and Norway!) So, once a month we get together and share our poems and give detailed constructive criticism. Many Stanza members not only read at CB1’s open mic, but have also been guest poets. It’s a gentle way in to reading in public, and road-testing your poem.

 

England’s
By Lindsay Fursland

From the garden of love I fled by sea
Came ashore on a drying day to see

Sheets hung out like a mass surrender
Swallowing sea water I’m four sheets to the wind

Washing is seldom unblemished by returning swallows
To be a pilgrim is a grim pill to swallow

I hear willow on leather – balls flee to the boundary rope
Europe looks as if it rhymes with hope

I stare at the team in their pure whites
I learn to say sorrysorrysorry on the teeming streets

and in opening doors and joining a queue
After you no after you

I wolf down free Mars bars but it’s so cold
so wet – the Syrian came down like the wolf on the fold

Lugging our poor languages to the ports and coasts
where you look at us like you’re seeing ghosts

I pick up facetious pieces of your lingo
Overhearing my Farsi you call me Pingu

My children drowned in transit please translate
and please what is that worth? I have of late

but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth
I owned a loving garden in Raqqah

before it became benighted I follow Allah
I follow Manchester United

I wear the black tee shirt sloganed with Arabic
totally wicked it is totally sick

In Calais I coax my violin for pity
I sing sea shanties in a shanty city

Shantih shantih shantih – Peace be with you
Red and yellow and pink and green orange and purple and blue

A fortnight after the selfie on the rocks
as dawn breaks dung drops through the letterbox

I elect or have to draw my veil
I would like please very much to come to school

The English I offer you sounds wrong
I will be less than nought unless on the tongue

I speak it trippingly I’ll become a lunar astronaut
hide my face in my wide space helmet

you can only see what I see through my visor’s
lonely golden mirror this is no moon for losers

it’s opium-white unblemished flawless
I couldn’t have wished for a purer place

Knowing by heart satellite transits is a passion
of mine for instance the International Space Station

in virginal night an infinitesimal jewel
passing over is my punctual angel.

A Part of the Scenery

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Long time committee member and open-mic staple Trish Harewood writes about her life, how she came to poetry, and CB1’s history.

When I first found CB1 through the Cambridge Poetry Festival at The Boat House in the late 90s, I never imagined that I would become a part of the open mic poetry scene for the next 2 decades, going on for 3. Yes, I was shy in conversation, and still am – swamped in a group, in fact – but I found joy in reading poems that had been hidden in notebooks for years. Suddenly, they had an audience!
They were well-received for the most part. I began to take them and writing others, more seriously.
Hearing other people’s poems also opened up a wealth of appreciation in me for the broad umbrella which is poetry in the late 20th and now 21st Century.

I was first introduced to 20th Century poets, particularly Eliot & Auden, by my English O Level Teacher, Miss Pearce, at Latymer in Edmonton, North London. Writing poems in the language of today became entirely possible and meaningful. No doubt every age has added new vocabulary to the bank of language but to me, at the time, it was a revelation, mysterious in content, yes, but modern in vocabulary and musical in cadence, creating a frisson of anticipation from the first line to the last. I learned Prufrock by heart.

I didn’t get started until my early twenties. Married, working for a Christian Book publisher, I wrote a few that were given space in the house magazine. Otherwise, a long silence until a few more poems emerged after buying our first ramshackle house and changing jobs. Working in a wholefood warehouse had a different feel to working for a publisher but we were distributing food for body and soul, whereas I had been distributing books and records just for the soul. A Christian company, Community Foods originated in the famous Tolmers Square in the squat years. The continuation of a former wholefood business by a hippie returning from India after an experience of compassion which lead to his Christian conversion, a surprising turn of events in India. A very satisfying experience of publication in this period was a poem on the Christmas card to our customers.

We moved as a growing family to Godmanchester in the late 80s when I was part way through an Open University Humanities Degree, a multidisciplinary approach to literature and art, completed in 96 after an encounter with the poetry of Jack Mapanje, a Malawian poet imprisoned in Mikuyu Jail without trial for 3 years, 7 months and 16 days. Amnesty had taken his case up and he had been recently released, having received only 1 postcard out of the hundreds, or possibly thousands, sent.
His poem, Skipping without ropes, read at the OU Summer School at York, triggered A Fat Word, a short poem which celebrated the choices involved in the prisoners’ act of defiance and later won 2nd place alongside a more famous poet than me, in the Bedford Open Poetry Comp of 2003. Jack Mapanje was amongst the poets invited by Linda Gamlin in her period curating the poetry events at the CB1 café in Mill Road.

Returning to full-time work in November 2005, I took a temporary post at the Environment Agency, de-regulating 5 sets of 900 water abstraction licence records. It was fascinating and seminal work, producing poems that gradually, with promotion by colleagues, resulted in an informal resident poet status. After almost 5 years in two different posts, temps were given the thumbs down and I moved on.

Meanwhile, at CB1, after Linda Gamlin moved to the West Country, some members of the Joy of Six, a Poetry Performance Group, plus one or two other regulars, volunteered to continue the open mic and guest poet nights at the Café. After a short period, as we grew out of the changing space in the café and held guest nights at Michaelhouse. I took the job of selling the books that our guest poets brought to the events. Several years later, I followed in Emily Dening’s well-trodden footsteps and took on the accounts and the annual application for local authority funding which I was all too glad had been efficiently initiated by Emily. Other group members, people I regarded as better connected than myself, identified and invited the interesting and excellent guest poets we brought to our open-mic audience.

A number of different venues followed Michaelhouse, costs and accessibility being important to us and our sponsors, while our hosts were keen on the increased customer base for their venues. My accounts experience gradually grew but sadly the Local Authority funding became less as first the County and then the City had to reduce its commitments and finally cut altogether as the criteria changed and we were no longer able to meet it. So our time at CB2 Bistro in Norfolk St followed, first upstairs and then in the basement, definitely not a plus for accessibility and eventually an opportunity at The Blue Moon arose, where we would be on the Ground floor again.

During this time, I took a mentoring course with Jim Bennet of Poetry Kit and later with David Underdown, a poet in the Cinnamon stable, in which I worked up a pamphlet which, with a number of changes and depending on target, I’m sending out hopefully to pamphlet competitions.
I’ve attended the Aldeborough and Torbay Poetry Festivals on a number of occasions and was even invited (and paid!) to read at a small Torbay event in 2007.

All in all, I’m very small fry in the poetry world but have enjoyed being part of the scenery so far and am happy to play a part in compering open mic nights at our new venue, the Town & Gown. Even less accounts input seems to be required as we have the theatre free so that our audience have some spare spondulas to pay for drinks. We do have some website overheads and hope to be able to invite guest poets from time to time, especially those simply wanting to promote their new collections. We will be welcoming contributions on those nights, passing a hat round, perhaps, to pass on to our visitor. We can also take card offerings now.

Oh, maybe I should leave you with a poem. A Fat Word, which I mentioned earlier and which was first published by Interpreter’s House in 2003 after it came second alongside a poem by Christopher North. The Judge was Mario Petrucci who has also trodden our boards since then. You can find a list of some of the poets who have read for us since 2006 in the Archive section of our website.

A Fat Word

(For Jack Mapanje – in celebration of his poem – Skipping without rope)

Choice
is a fat word
for the lean task
of skipping without a rope.
It is too rounded for
the thin opportunity
the width of
a rope
suggests.
It is too juicy
for the hollow circle
that the rope inscribes.
It is full of life
in a cell
packed full of lives.
Choice
is the fattest word
for the lean task
of skipping
without a rope.

The Story of CB1

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One thing I didn’t realize when I first became involved with the group was that CB1 has been a staple of the Cambridge literary scene since the late ’90s. Over the years, despite undergoing changes in venue and format, the core principle has remained constant: to provide people in and around Cambridge with a platform to share poetry and connect with fellow poets.

The journey began in the late ’90s when the group was founded by Jenni Tucker. After having a brief conversation with a Big Issue salesman in town who shared a poem he had written, Jenni felt inspired to establish a space for Cambridge’s aspiring poets at CB1 Café on Mill Road (hence the name, CB1 Poetry!). This initiative evolved into a weekly reading series and open mic event, adding a dynamic layer to the city’s creative landscape. CB1 Café remained the home of CB1 for several years until around 2006, when Jenni stepped away from managing the event.

With new management in place, guest poets became a regular feature. This offered local poets an opportunity to perform and hear readings by more established writers, including notable names such as Don Paterson, Vahni Capildeo, and Hollie McNish. For a more comprehensive list, take a look here.

CB1 has moved around the city over the years, occupying spaces such as Michaelhouse, the Punter, the Boathouse, and ultimately the Blue Moon, each hosting the event at various times. Now, we’re off to an exciting start in a new venue. The Town and Gown, located in the heart of Cambridge, boasts an exceptional theatre space. Fully accessible, it holds the promise of being an excellent venue for numerous future events.

At the Town and Gown we will be running a regular open mic night once a month and bringing in a guest poet roughly once a term. CB1 is an incredibly supportive and friendly environment so feel free to come along and bring a poem to read. If you’d rather just listen, we’d still love to have you there!

For updates on the future of CB1, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X).

To get in touch, feel free to reach out on one of those sites or email info@cb1poetry.org.uk

 

Welcoming a New Committee Member

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Angus sitting with a cip of coffee in a blue jumper
Long-standing CB1 regular Anne Berkeley interviews Angus Allman, who is new to the committee.

Welcome to CB1, Angus. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi! Thanks for having me! You’re absolutely right; I work as a software engineer but studied German and Italian at university. I started coding as a hobby and, if I’m being honest, as a form of procrastination. After studying, I just sort of fell into this career, but I’ve been keen to keep my interest in languages and literature alive in my spare time. I’m actually starting a master’s in Literary Translation in September, which I’m very excited about!

How long have you lived in Cambridge? 

I’m fairly new to the area, having only moved to Cambridge last April, so I’m still settling in around here.

What poem/poet/teacher first got you into poetry? 

I think I’ve always liked poetry. The poems we studied in school were… fine, but the first poem which really captured my attention was To This Day by Shane Koyczan. I think I saw a video of it on Facebook one day, and, despite it not being particularly light, I felt the need to show it to everyone I could. I think it really broadened my idea of what poetry could be and what it could do. 

I let it fall by the wayside for a while, but in my final year of University, I took a module on 19th and 20th Century Italian poetry, which reignited the joy I found in them. 

How did you find out about CB1? Tell us about your first visit and your experience of the open mic.

I found CB1 through a poster on some railings in town. I’d been wanting a local poetry event in the town I’d moved from, so I felt like I had to attend! The first event I attended was at the Blue Moon last July. I insisted I wasn’t going to read but just went to listen. Ultimately, with the help of some Dutch courage, I ended up reading a short poem I’d written about a man who lives in a coffee cup and felt absolutely electric the entire journey home. 

And what about your writing practice? Have you tried workshops in the past? Are you regularly sending stuff out for publication, or do you prefer social media

I’m terrible with routine, so as much as I’d love to say I write something every day, and I’m incredibly diligent with it, that would be a monstrous lie. The truth is that the notes app on my phone is full of quick notes I’ve jotted down as they’ve popped into my head. Once they’re there, I’ll do my best to take time to think about them (usually on a dog walk) and begin fleshing them out with more lines or vague directions I want the poem to go. Then the notes/poems will either sit there for eternity or make it into a fully-fledged poem. 

I’ve taken part in a couple of workshops in the past and loved them. I found that being given some direction with writing, even if the prompt is just a specific form or to write a poem based on another piece of work, helps me produce something I’m happy with.  

I’d love to put more poetry out into the world! I’m a massive critic of what I write, which makes it difficult, but I just need to get over myself and send it out to journals or post it online. I do enjoy reading work at open mics, though, so I’ll definitely be reading one or two pieces on the 6th of August.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just started reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, which is by no means a little book. I’m just beginning to scratch the surface of it, but I’m enjoying it so far. Poetry-wise, the most recent collection I’ve read is The Air Year by Caroline Bird. I found it challenging at times and could do with giving it a second pass, but I loved the insistence with which Bird writes and how tangible the images she uses are.

How do you see CB1 developing?

Firstly, I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of it! I’m so pleased with the new venue and can’t wait for the first event. I’d like to use CB1 as a platform, not just for growing my and other poets’ confidence in performing but also to help shine a light on local talent on social media and to encourage as many people as possible in the town to write and share their work. The plan is to have a few open-mic evenings and then bring in the occasional guest poet to do readings and talk about their work.

CB1’s got so much potential. Down the road, the group could run workshops or host events in collaboration with other art groups in Cambridge. I’m very excited to see where this goes and how much difference we can make to the community.

 

Thank you, Angus! It is so good to have fresh eyes and young talent aboard! Your vision is true to the original ethos of CB1, which started as an opportunity for local people to find an audience and develop confidence in writing and performing their work. Expanding into social media as well as continuing live events will be an exciting development. We have been through many changes in nearly 30 years! You and your IT skills will be a terrific asset and I’m looking forward to seeing CB1 grow in new directions.