Category: forthcoming events

not a thing, but it will be soon…

Well, this is exciting and scary in about equal measure. (There seems to be a lot of that in what the afternoon knows.)

I’m putting this up in case any of you might be interested in coming along. On Saturday 12th October one of the choirs I sing in is putting on the first (I’m trying not to say only!) performance of a piece which I have co-created: what the composer is calling a “dramatic cantata”, for which I have written the libretto. I’ve never done anything like this before and it’s all quite odd: I saw my name on a poster in the town centre the other day and wanted simultaneously to leave the country and also to take a selfie in front of it (and as you can imagine, I’m not normally a selfie girl. I compromised by taking a picture of the poster). I’ll have more to say when it’s officially a Thing, of course, but it would be lovely to see any wtak readers, their friends, and other singers, along to support us (those of you who are not already in it, of course!). Eeeeeek!

See you there…?

not really a Thing… but exciting

Some definitions:

Poetry: ‘what makes the invisible appear’ (according to Nathalie Sarraute); ‘the revelation of the self to the self’ (Ted Hughes).

Hope: a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.

Fear: an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.

Ambivalence: the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

And… (more…)

do not adjust your sets…

Your thing 26 parcel is currently in preparation and will be dispatched from the what the afternoon knows warehouse very soon. In the meantime, some news of an upcoming thing.

When I was on the course at Charney (see thing 17) a conversation with Paul, one of the facilitators, led to an invitation to come on the radio show he hosts, Calon on Books, on community radio in Wrexham. This definitely sounded like a thing! Not as terrifying as an abseil, or not in the same way, though I will have to watch my language as the show is live. It’ll be on at 6 on Wednesday 24th October, and you are warmly invited to listen in on the interweb, if you’d like to. Just go to calonfm.com at the appointed hour, and click the magic livestream link. Afterwards the show will appear on the site’s listen again menu, and Paul tells me there’ll be a soundfile I’ll be able to put up here in due course.

So, get the bourbons in; or possibly, given the hour of the broadcast, a sherry. I’d better save mine till after the show.

Things are getting out of hand…

You know that thing where you blithely promise something, knowing it is safely far enough in the future not to feel real, and may perhaps not even happen anyway? Well, here I am, having promised to help my goddaughter’s sister raise some money, and now finding myself with a definite date when I’m going to be doing so. Buying from her stall at the church fair? Yes, done that. Abseiling from the church tower… no. Not so much. And yet, it is happening. And it’s happening next month.

The fact that, in the event of something going catastrophically wrong, I’ll be handily placed for the funeral and committal of my remains is, it turns out, insufficiently comforting. (more…)

What Are Words Worth?

The Kendal What are Words Worth? group is currently suspended. I’ll keep the page updated as to when we are able to meet again and in the meantime, if you want to be notified when that is, just drop me a note with your contact details.
What Are Words Worth? is a monthly group I facilitate on behalf of the Wordsworth Trust. We’ve been meeting for over three years now and though we know each other well by now, we’re also delighted that new people are still coming along. It’s a big table: there’s plenty of room!

It’s a shared reading group, which takes place on the first Wednesday or first Thursday of the month, alternately. We meet in a cafe and enjoy poetry together. Each month we have a topic, and we bring whatever comes to mind in relation to that topic. We’re a various, warm and friendly bunch who enjoy sharing our love of poetry, our memories, feelings, musings and life-experiences. There’s no pressure to read, to talk, or do anything but be there. But you’ll probably find yourself drawn in…

Among other things so far we’ve looked at colours, weather, beginnings, creatures, mountains, nature, conflict, pictures and images, death, the elements, local poetry, water… We choose the topics together, and there’s never quite enough time to share all the treasures we find.

We meet upstairs at Finkle’s Cafe on Finkle Street in Kendal, from 11-12.30. The dates in our diary for the rest of this year are Wednesday 6th November, Thursday 5th December, Wednesday 8th January, Thursday 6th February ad Wednesday 4th March. If you’d like to ask about it, feel free to email me. Or just turn up. You’ll be very welcome.