IN 1917, the poet Wilfred Owen, author of Dulce et Decorum Est, spent time in Scarborough in the Clarence Gardens, now The Clifton Hotel, on the town’s North Side.

His time in the town is the subject of the next lunchtime talk at Scarborough Art Gallery, on Friday, at 12.30pm.

The talk is by Dr Charles Mundye, head of academic development in the department of humanities at Sheffield Hallam University, and president of the Robert Graves Society.

Clarence Gardens was the officer’s mess where in 1917 Owen occupied one of the turret rooms.

Owen’s responsibilities here were those of mess secretary involving him in an abundance of clerical work.

Dr Mundye said: “He escaped from this and other duties into his turret bedroom where he wrote and drafted the poems that were growing in his consciousness.

“This was where the first of his poems to be published, Miners, developed out of a vision in the glowing coal not only of the bodies of men killed in the mines but of the bodies of soldiers killed underground with the Royal Engineers’ Tunnelling Companies during the war.”

Entry to the talk is £3, which then includes entry fee to both Scarborough Art Gallery and the Rotunda Museum for a year.

Places are limited, so booking is recommended.

To book, or for more information, phone the art gallery on 01723 374753.

A major new exhibition at Scarborough Art Gallery commemorating the Bombardment and those who died, Remember Scarborough, can be seen until January 4.