Poetry Unbound at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library

On the evening of Thursday 6th March 2014 I attended the Poetry Unbound - Three distinct voices in contemporary poetry event at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library which featured Sarah Law, Andrea Porter and Andrea Holland. Poetry Unbound is about opening up the world of poetry to a new audience, and providing local poets with a platform to showcase work in a vibrant community space.

Sarah Law studied literature at Cambridge and London universities. She currently teaches literature and creative writing at UEA, Norwich. She has two poetry collections published by Stride (Bliss Tangle, 1999, The Lady Chapel, 2003). She lives in Norwich and is interested in the links between spirituality, art and writing.

Andrea Porter is a member of the Joy of Six Poetry Ensemble that has performed in the UK and the USA. She has been published in variety of poetry magazines in the UK, Canada and the USA. She received an Escalator Award in 2005 and an Arts Council grant in 2006. She is also a fiction writer and has had short stories published and has just completed her first novel. Her pamphlet Bubble was adapted for BBC Radio 4 by the playwright Fraser Grace. She writes a blog, We Liked It but not Quite Enough.

Andrea Holland is an accomplished poet, author and creative writing tutor, winner of the 2012 Café Writers Norfolk Commission and runner-up in the 2010 Mslexia Women's Poetry Competition. She also won the 2006 Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition, leading to the subsequent publication of a collection of her poems, "Borrowed", in 2007. Andrea's latest collection, "Broadcasting" was published by Gatehouse Press in 2013.

This was a wonderful evening of poetry at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. Sarah Law, Andrea Porter and Andrea Holland were all brilliant at this event which is helping to open up poetry to a new audience.

Poetry at Olive's Cafe

On the evening of Tuesday 21st January 2014 I attended the Poetry Evening at Olive's Café on Elm Hill, Norwich with readings by Barrie de Lara and Sarah Walker. Poetry at Olive's is a monthly community poetry event to provide a forum to encourage local writers to read their work in public. There is an Open Mic for all comers to read one poem or very short piece of prose per event.

This was a fun and interesting night at Olive's Café which included Barrie de Lara reading his prize winning Dinner at Benutti's. Both Barrie and Sarah Walker gave us lots of laughs along with a fantastic Open Mic. I was lucky enough to win a poetry book in the Olive's Poetry Raffle.

Poems for the Pollen Path at the Millennium Library

On Tuesday 10th December 2013 I attended Poems for the Pollen Path presented by Poetry Unbound at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. This event featured the Saturday Writers, which included readings from poets Dot Cobley, Ramona Herdman, Anne Osbourn, Kate Pannett, Anna Reckin, Hilary Stanton and Lynn Wollacott.

Many of the poems read on the night were from the Poems for the Pollen Path collection. The poems in this collection are Bee lines, The Beekeeper, Assembly Instructions for February Field Agent, Workers, Looking for the Victorians, In our universe of bees and Essential volatiles.

This was a wonderful evening of poetry at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library which I found very enjoyable. In our universe of bees the bees are large.

Poetry Unbound at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library

On Thursday 20th June 2013 I attended Poetry Unbound at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. Poetry Unbound is a free event aiming to open up poetry to a new audience, and provide local poets with a platform to showcase their work. A selection of the poems are displayed in the library and added to an ongoing digital archive, where they can be shared and read by everyone.

Julia Webb moved to Norwich in 1991. She has had work published in various journals and anthologies and in 2011 she won The Poetry Society’s Stanza competition with her prose poem Lent. She has performed at the Ely River Rhymes Festival and Wymondham Words Literary Festival.

Meirion Jordan grew up in South Wales. His first collection of poetry, Moonrise was shortlisted for a Forward Prize for best first collection in 2008 and his pamphlet-length collection of poetry, Strangers Hall was shortlisted for an East Anglia Book of the Year award in 2009. His most recent collection, Regeneration is a double volume of poems exploring the literary worlds of the medieval Welsh tales of the Mabinogion and Welsh Arthurian stories.

This was a fantastic and fun night of poetry at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library which included an open mic. I really enjoyed Meirion Jordan's poems from Regeneration. Poetry Unbound is a great way to get more people involved in Poetry.

Great American Poems Evening at The Forum

On Tuesday 16th April 2013 I attended the Great American Poems evening at the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library. This was a night of readings and presentations by scholars from the University of East Anglia. This was a free event for the poetry lovers of Norfolk.

The Memorial Library is a unique “living memorial” to nearly 7,000 young Americans in the 2nd Air Division of the US 8th Air Force who lost their lives during the Second World War. Located in the landmark Forum building in the centre of Norwich, the Library have a lending collection of over 4,000 books covering all aspects of American life and culture, and a specialist collection devoted to the history of the 2nd Air Division.

The wonderful poems chosen for the evening were ‘Safe in their alabaster chambers’ by Emily Dickinson, presented by Kate Anderson. ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost, presented by Philip Wilson. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T.S. Eliot, presented by Gareth Jones. ‘If We Must Die’ by Claude McKay, presented by Christopher Astwood and ‘I Am Vertical’ by Sylvia Plath, presented by Silvia Panizza.

This was an stimulating and interesting event at the 2nd Air Division Memorial Library which gave us a diverse selection of American poems to enjoy. Safe in their Alabaster Chambers, untouched by morning and untouched by noon. This is Emily Dickinson brilliance and my favourite poem of the five presented at The Forum.

Blue skies over Eaton

On Sunday 2nd September 2012 I attended The Jay Singers concert in the Eaton Concert Series at St. Andrew's Church, Eaton, Norwich. This was a wonderful afternoon to be in Eaton at the first concert in the 2012/13 Series. The Jay Singers were directed by Neil MacKenzie who was a founder member of The Sixteen. Piano accompaniment was provided by Neil Ricketts.

The programme consisted of Full fathom five (from The Tempest) - Shakespeare, Full fathom five - Charles Wood, Look, stranger - W H Auden, Just as the tide - Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lover's ghost - Ralph Vaughan Williams, Neither out far nor in deep - Robert Frost, Break, break, break - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, There rolls the deep - Hubert Parry, The sea hath its pearls - Ciro Pinsuti, Walking Across the Atlantic - Billy Collins, Fear of Falling - Jehane Markham, Seal Lullaby - Eric Whitacre and Three Shakespeare songs - Ralph Vaughan Williams. There was an interval of 20 minutes and time for a refreshing apple juice before an exciting second half to the concert.

After the interval the programme consisted of Sea Fever - John Masefield, Cargoes - John Masefield, I love my love - Gustav Holst, Matelot - Noel Coward, arr Vlasto, Blue Skies - Irving Berlin, arr Woods, Not waving but drowning - Stevie Smith, The Last Swim - Michael Laskey, Meerfey - Robert Schumann, Der traumende See - Robert Schumann, In Meeres Mitten - Robert Schumann, The Owl and The Pussycat - Edward Lear, Shallow Brown - Percy Grainger and I'm seventeen come Sunday - Percy Grainger.

This was a splendid afternoon of music and poetry with the theme of the Sea as The Jay Singers took us on a journey to the seaside. It was brilliant to hear a couple of Percy Grainger songs along with a reading of The Owl and The Pussycat. A fun and enjoyable concert from The Jay Singers which proved to be the perfect opening to the 2012/13 Eaton Concert Series.

Making a mistake at Epic Studios!

On Friday 18th May 2012 I attended The Oh Fuck Moment performed by Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe at Epic Studios, Norwich as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. You will make a mistake, maybe you'll learn from it.

At the door to the meeting room we were met by Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe, and welcomed in with a cup of tea. We settled down around the conference table, which is full of post it notes. Today's sabre tooth tiger's are computer spreadsheets.

Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe put on an entertaining show and no one was made to do anything they didn't want to do, Some mistakes are marked in pencil but others are in permanent marker pen. Send an email to the wrong person or flick the wrong switch at the nuclear reactor. This was like being at an office meeting complete with a cup of tea. We are all  human and mistakes will happen.

St. Gregory's Orchestra's 25th Anniversary

The St. Gregory's Orchestra celebrated it's 25th Anniversary with a Remembrance Sunday concert at Princes Street United Reformed Church, Norwich on Sunday afternoon in aid of UNICEF for their East Africa Children's Crisis Appeal. I joined a large crowd who experienced a splendid performance from the St. Gregory's Orchestra.

The Orchestra were founded by Martin Wyatt as an Orchestra for the local community. The programme for the afternoon was The Warsaw Concerto - Addinsell, The Whistle of Sandy McGraw - Robert Service, They Didn't Believe Me - Jerome Kern, Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream - Ed McCurdy, Requiem - Faure and Symphony No.7 - Beethoven. The concert featured Alison Mills - Leader, Martin Wyatt - Conductor, Kevin O'Regan - Piano and The Oriole Singers.

The programme was appropriate for Remembrance Sunday opening with The Warsaw Concerto that was written for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight. Reg Andrews a member of the Oriole Singers read the poem The Whistle of Sandy McGraw by Robert Service from the 1916 Rhymes of a Red-Cross Man. Martin Wyatt then sang Jerome Kern's They Didn't Believe Me a song from the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah before Win Forster read the poem Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream by Ed McCurdy.

Before the interval The Oriole Singers joined the St. Gregory's Orchestra in performing Gabriel Faure's Requiem. This was a moving performance  of this ethereal  work that Faure saw death as a happy deliverance rather than as a painful experience.

Refreshments were served during the interval before the St. Gregory's Orchestra conducted by founder Martin Wyatt performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, a piece of music that has the ability to lift the spirits of everyone that was first performed in 1813 at a charity concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau. At the end of the concert the Lord Mayor of Norwich Councillor Jenny Lay gave an address praising Martin Wyatt and his work with the orchestra.

Sounds of Norwich Cathedral

I can hear the violin being played at Norwich Cathedral. Faster and faster the sounds go around my head. Handel and Bach with notes from long ago that still excite. My hearts starts to beat in rhythm to the music, full of thrills complete with sonatas and concertos.

Oh Mr Piano man play some Franz Liszt maybe a Hungarian Rhapsody that will fill the nave with pretty notes that will have my fingers tapping. A musical poem on the keyboards that gets my brain thinking.

For a thousand years beautiful noises have echoed around this splendid building, from the time of The Normans to the present day. Take a bow to the loud applause as the crowd asks for an encore of Dvorak's Three Slavonic Dances.

Starless and bible-black

David Newham and Susan Seddon perform
Under Milk Wood at the Maddermarket Theatre

On Tuesday evening I attended the Norwich Players production of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood at the Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich. To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea.

Under Milk Wood was published posthumously in 1954, a play for voices that was written for the radio. For the stage this performance directed by Stephen Picton takes place in a derelict mental asylum somewhere in Wales. If you want to experience the piece as intended just shut your eyes.

David Newham is wonderful in the role of narrator made famous by Richard Burton. Also performing were Susan Seddon, Dean Bramwell, Peter Bryan, Etta Geras, John Levantis, Oonagh Segrave-Daly and Samantha Wright. Complete with welsh accents they put on a brilliant mad performance. The power of Dylan Thomas' poetry together with the mental asylum may have seemed a little unsettling at time but overall it made for an interesting experience.

Stark lightbulbs and madmen, all of life was on show at the Maddermarket Theatre. And before you let the sun in, mind it wipes its shoes. After experiencing the play on stage I'm looking forward to hearing it as it was intended on the BBC audio version starring Richard Burton.

The healing powers of the Herb Garden

Norwich Cathedral Herb Garden looking
splendid in the Summer sunshine

From classical Latin texts we are blessed from the knowledge they gave monks of physiology and botany that lead to the wonderful Herb Garden at Norwich Cathedral. Keep your eyes open as you walk down Cathedral Close and experience this place of great beauty.

From the culinary delights of sage to ground ivy for brewing and as a diuretic. The antiseptic qualities of lavender to reducing fever with feverfew. This is truly a place to feel at peace. In the grounds of Emmaus House take time to sit in the garden and relax.

From the history of the Infirmary Garden of the Benedictine Monastery to the present day the healing powers of this physic garden can be felt. Set out as a knot garden for the pleasure of all, the Herb Garden at Norwich Cathedral is a place for reflection and delight.

Sounds and movement to impress

Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich

Sing, dance and make merry, write poetry or act out a play. I can hear the sound of Brahms echoing out of St. Andrew's Hall, with the beauty of the choir singing like nightingales in the evening air.

At the Maddermarket Theatre it's time to experience William Shakespeare at this home of Norwich culture. Double Falsehood will question your identity as you dress to impress in Elizabethan costume.

Theatre Royal is full of Flamenco dancing filled with movement and high drama. Carmen Amaya is La Leyenda being choreographed on stage. Full of rhythmic expressions that will take your breath away.

Betelgeuse going supernova

Betelgeuse shining bright!

Oh Betelgeuse you have shined so bright in the night sky. From the Orion constellation we can see you on the surface of Earth but the arrow of time waits for no one or the life of a star.

The day you go supernova will be very spectacular when you will light up our world like a second Sun. From red supergiant star to collapsing and blasting into space.

The end of one life signals the beginning of new life as the elements created inside you will form new stars and spread life throughout the Universe. Oh bright Betelgeuse burning like fire.

The piano is playing at the Assembly House

The Assembly House, Norwich

I can see the fine building in front of me as I hear the first few bars of Schubert's Trout Quintet. Will it be salmon and cucumber sandwiches or lemon drizzle cake with my cup of tea?

The Assembly House is full of the joys of spring as the sound of the piano can be heard from The Music Room to The Grand Hall with memories of local gentry drinking and dancing.

The Noverre Suite with it's high ceilings and crystal chandeliers is where you can lose yourself in ballroom dancing. Dancing all night to classical sounds in these delightful surroundings.

Norwich has a fine building for a fine city. Where people can meet for food and wine while experiencing the past. The Assembly House is where quality counts and you are guaranteed an amazing time.

The winds of change

The wind is blowing through the streets as we all shelter from the cold and the rain. Oh where has all the sunshine gone and all the Summertime joy. We all dream of fields of flowers and butterflies on hot lazy days when we haven't got a care in the world.

As the wind sends a chill across our faces it makes us stop and think of fun times that will return in time when the beach will be full of fun and games. A seagull is flying across the sky while a squirrel runs along the village green as the day is greeted by grey clouds.

Big winter coats are the fashion of the day with scarfs and gloves to keep the freezing cold away. Cold winds from the North maybe blowing up a storm today but tomorrow will bring calmer waters when we will row down the river in chinos and short sleeves eating strawberries and cream.

Norwich is full of the wonders of Christmas

Christmas shopping delights in Norwich

Oh the snow is falling on Gentleman's Walk as the Citizen's of Norwich are busy shopping for Christmas. Each snow flake that falls is as unique as each and everyone of us. Christmas carols can be heard being sung at St Peter Mancroft Church. Ding dong merrily on high.

Bright lights and decorations everywhere. Oh this is the season to be jolly. The temperature maybe cold but inside we are all full of the warmth of Christmas. Winter coats, scarves and gloves topped by a fetching hat is the fashion of the day. Warming cups of potato and leek soup are a must on a night like this.

We're all counting the days until Christmas Day arrives full of excitement and wonderment. From Norwich Lanes to Chapelfield the shops are full of busy Christmas shoppers looking for that last minute gift for a loved one. Smiling faces can be seen everywhere as the Citizen's of Norwich spread the spirit of Christmas.

Walking elegantly along Cathedral Close

Norwich Cathedral Close

She wears a flowered vintage dress from Prim that turns all the heads. Walking elegantly along Cathedral Close in the Autumn sunshine with the pavement covered in leaves looking confident and at ease. Stopping briefly at the herb garden to reminisce on times gone by.

A smile breaks out on her face just as a rainbow appears in the sky. The Sun lights up her face highlighting how radiant she is looking and feeling. She is walking as tall as the spire of Norwich Cathedral blissfully happy in a care free state of mind.

At Pulls Ferry she stops to catch the cool air of the Wensum spotting a duck on the water. She is enjoying her afternoon stroll where the city is in harmony with nature. Relaxed and calmly she reaches the steps of the Complete Angler where she is meeting a friend for good wine and conversation.

My heart is an acoustic guitar

The strings on an acoustic guitar are like the blood pumping around my heart. The sounds that they produce can be either happy or sad. Just like my heart the strings can be broken and all appears to be lost. Give a little time for repair and healing and just like my heart you will hear happy tunes again bursting into the air and reaching the ceiling.

You can be sad inside in an emotional turmoil or overjoyed with happiness that you want to tell the whole world. Play your acoustic guitar and everyone will know what your feeling. In good times and bad the sounds that the strings produce represent deep complex feelings which at times can tear us apart while others fill us with all the joys of happiness.

In times of quite reflection the music on an acoustic guitar can be the best therapy of all. It seems that the strings have a direct line all the way to my heart. There is no need to hide away all your feelings. Let the strings on an acoustic guitar express your heart.

Apples and pears at Norwich Marketplace

Norwich Marketplace full of
delights and wonder 

Apples and pears oh I declare full of goodness to keep the Doctor away. Oranges and Lemons the bells of St Peter Mancroft, all your fruity delights available on Norwich Market. Rain or shine you can always rely on a bargain under the multi coloured stalls served with a friendly smile.

I want parsnips but you want broccoli. Don't despair we can have both and mushrooms as well. No need to ponder on your choice of vegetables for your Sunday roast, you can have it all and more under the Norfolk Sun as it shines on a Fine City.
 
Hog roast and jacket potatoes or maybe you want fish and chips served with mushy peas for lunch. In the afternoon purchase an ice cream full of gourmet fresh cream and relax in this place of delights and wonder.

Norwich Guildhall and it's proud history

Norwich Guildhall full of history!

If you know your history you will realise the importance and power of Norwich Guildhall standing proudly in the City Centre. Dating back to the Fifteenth Century after the Charter of Incorporation was granted to Norwich by King Henry IV.

As you look across the marketplace you are amazed at the chequered squares of flint that gives the building such a dignified look. The castellations around the roof are like it's crowning glory.

The Assembly Chamber is where the full medieval Council used to meet. Some know it as the Sword Room with storage for weapons in the room. Have you breath taken away as your eyes are taken in by the oak panelling and stunning stained glass of the Council Chamber. The Undercroft is where dangerous criminals were held going back to medieval times.

It's time to visit Caley's for a pot of tea and a cream cake. relaxing my mind and body with friends in vintage clothes taking in all the history of Norwich Guildhall.