Tuesday 19 November 2019

Autumn


The second Otley Town Crier Competition on September 22nd kept me quiet as I listened to the loud proclamations of the contenders that had travelled from different parts of the country. Once again, I was the judge responsible for Diction and Inflection, monitoring the monotony and drama in the delivery of each crier, and John Griffiths of Sleaford was a worthy winner. Well done to our own Bellman Terry and the Town Council for such a unique experience that tied in with Car Free Day.
   I mentioned in my last update that I was involved in Leeds/Dortmond50 (www.leedsdortmund50.com), a project celebrating the twinning of the two cities by pairing poets and writers with counterparts in Germany. I read the results of my collaboration with Thomas Kade on Chapel FM October 3rd(National Poetry Day), which celebrates waking up early on my street in Otley over the summer to discover so many of my neighbours awake, too. It was also fascinating to hear the poem translated to German by academic Harry Toye. The event can be heard again at www.chapelfem.co.uk.

   On Saturday October 5th, a group of Otley poets and I performed Town Below the Steps, our collaborative play-in-verse, at the Church House for Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe. It had been a while since we last performed it together, so we were completely overwhelmed by the attendance, which was over 50 – the venue was at full capacity! There was lots of positive feedback in the room, including one person who had never been to Otley, but said they wanted to visit after having heard Town Below the Steps. Thank you to Fringe organisers, Jess and Mel, for hosting our event.

   The third screening of the Navvies Monument film by Mark Currie took place at Otley Courthouse on Oct 19th, where I read my sestina Three Navigators, 1846 (see previous blog post) and took on hosting duties for another capacity event.
   My poetry workshops for children at Leeds City Museum on Oct 29th, celebrating the installation of their pilot whale, was attended by around 30 children throughout day. The results were truly moving, as some young poets made the connection between the whaling industry and how that drastically diminished the number of whales in the sea and the amount of floating plastic that is the new threat to the world’s largest mammal. My thanks go out to Winston Plowes for the use of his commission Whale Song Ghazal during the workshops.

   I was very honoured to read my commission for the Remembrance Sunday Service on Nov 10th at Otley Methodist Church. The poem recognised the 75th anniversary of Normandy Landings. As there were no Otley-born soldiers at Normandy, I used the military language found in books on the subject to capture a walk around Otley and how, in times of peace, we are free to do such things, with gratitude to those who fought for such freedoms. I am grateful to Town Councillor Jo Allen who said of the poem: “I felt it perfectly and beautifully expressed a wish to give thanks for peace and it was comfort to listen to.”
   A few things to look forward to: I will be appearing again at Nostell Nights for their ‘All That Glitters’ celebrations on Friday Dec 6th if you’re in the Wakefield area. You can get info from their website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nostell-priory-and-parkland/features/nostell-nights
   And lastly, I will be running a poetry workshop for adults at The Leeds Library Jan 18th 2020, inspired by their special collections, as part of Becky Cherriman’s ‘Speaking to The Shelves’.
   You can follow the Otley Town Poet on Twitter at @MHStoppard and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/matthew.hedleystoppard.

Tuesday 3 September 2019

Spring and Summer


Dozens of baffled National Trust fans felt their way through the damp and dimly lit curved passageway in the basement of Nostell Priory on May 17th to find me waiting with a commissioned interactive poem inspired by Chippendale and mirrors. I like experimentation and this was evident in the commission, as each verse started and ended with the same word (e.g. bard/drab and post/stop) which the audience had to repeat in a whisper, adding to the eerie atmosphere in the bowels of the house . The feedback from participants was fantastic and the whole experience was unforgettable… at least for me, anyway.

I was extremely proud to part of the Navvies Memorial Anniversary early in the summer. Otley Town Council asked me to write a poem for the occasion and I decided on a sestina focusing on three people and their deaths. A video of me reading the poem made by Mark Currie was screened at the event on July 13th at Otley Parish Church and I read it in person during the second event on July 26th at Otley Courthouse. I am immensely grateful to Angie Leathley and Mark for their help in creating the poem: Angie for her research and attention to detail, and Mark for his passion for the project and his patience while filming me bumble through the poem in front of his camera. Also, to the members of Otley Poetry Gym for their editorial suggestions. I urge everyone to read the book and see the film relating to this project.

I have written my ‘neighbourhood’ poem for the Leeds/Dortmond50 project and have received a text from my German counterpart, Thomas Kade. I was inspired by the amount of activity on my street in the morning (considering Otley is such a marvellous mixture of nature and industry, old and new, locals and off-comed-uns) and how much of it relates to more universal ideas. Thomas and I are working with a student from the University of Leeds to help us translate our work and the results should be ready in September.

On Saturday October 5th, Otley dominates the programme at the Ilkley Literature Festival Fringe. I will once again be leading the cast of ‘Town Below the Steps: A Poetry Play’ (visit www.halfmoonbooks.co.uk for more details), 11.30am-12.30pm in the Church House. In addition to this, poets published by Otley-based Half Moon Books Barbara Howerska, Jane Kite and Joe Williams will also be performing throughout the day. Jane will perform her transformative epic poem, ‘Phobia and the Girl’, 3.10pm-4pm at Ilkley Arts Studio, award-winner Joe offers a witty and interactive show, including poems from his book, ‘An Otley Run’, at 4.30pm, also in the Arts Studio, and Barbara performs her own epic poem, ‘The Widow Witch’, inspired by Slavik folk tales, in the Manor House, 6.30pm-7pm.

Friday 22 March 2019

Winter without pictures


The New Year began at breakneck speed, as I started 2019 by co-judging the inaugural East Ridings Poetry Competition, with James Nash and Wendy Pratt, which had the theme ‘My Story’. There were entries from people of all backgrounds, categories included primary- and secondary-school age, entries from prisons and a general category for anyone over 18. There were some really accomplished poems submitted (some of which made me quite jealous!), and it was lovely to see that so many people are interested in poetry. The winners were officially announced at a special ceremony in Bridlington on January 26th.

   On Tuesday February 19th I delivered three workshops for children at Leeds City Museum that tied in with their Michael Morpurgo exhibition. It was a lovely event focusing on the idea of a human taking on the traits of an animal, or “becoming the beast”. I used animals synonymous with Otley, such as the weasel, owl and kingfisher, as examples which seemed to go down well. Again, it was inspiring to see such poets writing really interesting verse – especially during the holidays!

   Some of you may recall, and contributed to, the Otley VoiceBox project, which was nearly two years ago. ‘VoiceBoxes’ (contributions boxes) were placed at certain venues around the town with a view to create a communal poem. There were some magnificent turns of phrase submitted and it took a while to bring everything together. There is a possibility that the poem will become the lyrics to a song, but I thought it only fair that contributors get to see their words put into verse after such a long time.

A heart beats in the market square,

the bells ring in the church

there's a welcome in your pintpot

enough to quench your thirst.

We're honest and historical;

a gateway to the Dales.

Born and bred, and chosen home

Otley welcomes everyone.

You can see along the riverbank

a child become a fish

she leaps just like a salmon

with otter and screaming swift.

There's slang, laughter, love and mud

in our kind and cosy town - 

space to share, space out there

a gem in the Leeds crown.

Bird, beer and cobbles,

a wonderful conundrum

by the river, never still,

under the ever-changing hill.