Tuesday 19 June 2018

Spring (only just)

It's fair to say that Thomas Chippendale has been my main focus this season... and rightly so!
My poem, 'Thomas Carved Our Town', commissioned by Otley Town Council celebrating Otley's most famous son's 300th birthday, has appeared on many platforms. The most high profile has to be BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme on April 24th, featuring myself, competition-winning bellman Terry Ford, and Visit Otley chairman Laurence Ross. Reading the poem and discussing poetry and carpentry for the show was a highlight of my career and great promotion for the town. In addition to this, I have appeared on BBC Radio Leeds twice throughout the spring, again reading the poem and explaining the duties of being the UK's only official Town Poet. Also, both the Yorkshire Reporter and Wharfedale Observer newspapers published 'Thomas Carved Our Town', which I was extremely pleased about because one of my aims as a poet is to engage readers that might not normally seek out poetry.

Lastly, the National Trust's Nostell Priory has kindly asked me to take part in two of their Nostell Nights events. The first was May 4th and was, undoubtedly, one of the grandest venues I've ever read at. I read two sets of poems on two themes (Otley, and Poetry Vs Carpentry) over four readings. The feedback was amazing and most of the people in attendance were inspired to visit Otley to check validity of my verse! My next visit to Nostell is July 13th where I will perform an interactive poetry-play based on the Chippendale pieces at the Priory, specifically commissioned by the National Trust.


A few other engagements, closer to home, have included the Otley Town AGM on May 14th - this time I didn't subject the attendees to a game of 'poetry bingo', Otley's Great Get Together on June 17th, where I created a haiku at the Festival Sticker Art tent, and the Town Mayor's Civic Lunch on June 24th.

I am very much looking forward to judging the Town Crier Competition September 23rd alongside bellman Terry Ford, and I'm sure there will be projects in the pipeline.

No comments:

Post a Comment