I AM writing to ask all local schools in your area to join me in setting a world record and raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

The charity has joined forces with the Wordsworth Trust to celebrate 200 years of Wordsworth's famous daffodils poem "I wandered lonely as a cloud" and is attempting to enter the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest reading aloud, in this case a poetry recital.

The record attempt 'Words Worth Reading' will take place in schools across the UK at 9.15am on March 19 and we hope to attract at least 150,000 schoolchildren to take part.

This figure is significant because it represents the number of lives claimed by cancer in the UK each year.

If you think your school is up for the challenge then visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil for more information.

Andrew Motion

Poet Laureate