Final WPL Event of 2017

© Rosie Philpott

Hanbury Hall Poets Reading & Art at Parks Cafe

Tuesday evening saw the 2nd part of the Hanbury Hall Poets Project come to life. It was an incredible evening, the atmosphere inside Parks Cafe was oozing excitement. We had a few audience members, lots of Artists and DAN members and of course, a merry band of poets, nine of us from the project. The room was packed.

Rosie Philpott weaved her magic getting the images ready for display and I just want to take this opportunity to thank her again for all her work coordinating this evening with me. 

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, it was a delight to hear the fantastic poetry that ekphrasis provided. A chance to see the artwork in more detail. Some pieces were projected larger than they were and you could see the detail magnified. It was – well magnificent! 

I am grateful to our poets Kathryn Alderman and Gill Garrett who made it all the way across from Cheltenham and for them reading poems by Penny Ayers and Belinda Rimmer, it is not easy reading other people’s work. 

I appreciate the support of the Worcestershire poets who have taken part in this and the many other WPL projects I have offered. Thank you to Nigel Hutchinson for reading the shipping forecast in ‘Cyclonic’. 

I had envisaged we would stand next to the screen, but there was tech and so many people that moving between tables was a challenge. So we decided to stand where we were and this added an interesting dynamic – although I rather regretted my seated position as I ended up as theatre in the round. 

It was wonderful to know this evening was a platform to bigger things, poets who had never performed publicly before took bravely to the spotlight. The artists were delighted and the evening gave the poets and artists a chance to mingle, meet each other, chat, talk creative. 

I was absolutely buzzing by the end of this event, full of life and energy – just like the art, the cafe and all inside it. 

© Rosie Philpott

Taken before the event.

 

Thank you to all the poets who took part: 

Kathryn Alderman,

Leena Batchelor,

Maggie Doyle,

Kathy Gee,

Gill Garrett,

Nigel Hutchinson,

Polly Stretton,

Serena Trowbridge

And the curry afterwards was lovely, 7 people, 7th Poet Laureate. 

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Stephen Evans, one of the artists of a painting I used, is having an exhibition at The Maltstones, Cutnall Green from December 12th – January 9th. 

© Stephen Evans

This is a small exhibition area but he is including his Hanbury Hall painting Dragon Series at full speed on the Solent alongside my poem Cyclonic. 

He has a larger exhibition in February at Parks Cafe.