*Syd's love poem sold at auction

A love poem and sketch drawn by a young Syd Barrett, dedicated to his girlfriend at the time (1965), sold recently for £4,600.

Auctioned at the Cambridge-based Cheffins Salerooms in their Fine Art Auction, the piece was the subject of some very heavy bidding before the hammer finally fell...

The poem included a rare sketch by Barrett, showing his initials RKB in the corner, and depicting his girlfriend (Viv Brans) dancing at a gig by one of David Gilmour's pre-Pink Floyd bands, Jokers Wild.

Viv said: "This poem was written for me by Syd Barrett in 1965. I was his girlfriend at this time (my nickname was Twig) and this lovely little poem describes how he felt about me with perfect observations about behaviour, clothes and colours... "The drawing on the left of the poem shows me dancing and waving my arms in the air... the band playing in the background is ‘Jokers Wild’. This is the band that Dave Gilmour was playing at that time... at the bottom left of the drawing are Syd’s initials RKB."

Despite an estimate of £1,000-2,000, the poem finally sold for £4,600 to a private collector.

Now a 61-year-old grandmother, Viv said: "Now he's gone, I can let it go because it's just sitting around doing nothing. I've still got the words and sentiments." She said it was a "lovely little poem" that contained "perfect observations" of her behaviour and clothes.