Yesterday evening at the Star Pub …

The Mole Valley Poets/The Poetry Society Stanza Group ran an enjoyable Poetry in the Community event at the Star Pub, Dorking on September 27^th, 2011. There were readings, creative activities, and lively chat in a hospitable atmosphere where the acoustics were good, the audience joined in and poetry flowed from pen to paper to stage. Congratulations to Kevin Connelly who won the loudest applause prize for his ‘list’ poem (see below). Our thanks to landlord Ian for hosting us once again; we hope to see you there in 2012.

The List

A rather dented Walker’s shortbread tin

That makes a rattley noise. Contained within

a deck of cards, complete but for the hearts

a model Messerschmitt with missing parts

three football cards signed by Nobby Stiles

a V and I that once were scrabble tiles

nine Chinese checkers, seven pawns from chess

a Barbie doll, sans head, and missing dress

one childhood, only slightly damaged.

©Kevin C Connolly 27-09-11

Is Tuesday poetry day?

A day of poetry … finding poems to read tonight at the Star Pub, sorting out the activities for our audience of (mostly) non poets and finally getting to the online course Poetry and Music. Fiddled around for a while , downloading stuff and then took myself off to Mimi’s Tearooms, paper and pen in hand to actually do some writing.

Result: a good walk in the autumn sun, nice lunch prepared by Patti and the beginnings of a poem ‘inspired by one of Mendelssohn's songs without words. Now I need to upload it for the live chat next week. Hopefully by that time I will have ploughed my way through an essay on lyrical poetry by Don Paterson … its very rich, needs taking in small doses but already I can see its value.

Collected fallen apples from the School’s orchard … probably need to check for worms but they all look OK.

a collection of squares

I'm ready -probably for the first time ever- for tomorrow's quilting lesson. I've a collection of one and a half inch half square triangles, carefully measured and cut, with the help of a very good light and a magnifying glass. I can hear the words life's too short but watch this space for a block with some points where they should be.

The remainder of my weekend has been less than creative but the good news is that the project report is all but finished -needs a good read  by someone else and that's happening tomorrow or Tuesday -that's what good friends are for, thank you A.
I did get to the gym yesterday and I've sorted out where I am with my knitting and ordered a pattern for a knitted honeycomb quilt  -a stash buster apparently.

Accuracy–measuring & sewing

An afternoon for sewing yesterday –lots of measuring and finally some sewing with more measuring. The aim is for one inch squares with two half triangle –the feathers for a feathered star block.  I discovered that 1/4 inch is not the same on all my rulers, my sewing machine actually does sew a 1/4 inch seam where it says its should and oh dear, its not easy to get that 1/4 inch consistently along a seam length. More sewing, and then more cutting before I know if my attention to that 1/4 inch has been sufficient.
Saw a little known musical set in New York last night in the Green Room at Dorking Halls. Very good am dram with some strong voices and an amusing libretto.
Prompted by Helen I’ve found some poems for the Mole Valley Poets website for National Poetry Day. Tucked away in a 2006 file were the poems I wrote at the Ragged Hedge Fair –available soon on http://www.molevalleypoets.co.uk/index.html with other contributions. 
The predicted late summer is here today .. looks good outside the window. Before I go out into that inviting morning air I’m going to take a second look at the Moodle classroom with my online poetry course's first ‘lesson’ –and start to think about a new poem for uploading! Its a new and exciting way of learning …  and linking poetry with music is inspiring.

Not very creative ,,,

I've been getting my mind into school governor mode in the past few days -ready for the meeting of the Surrey Governors Association executive committee. I'm the new girl on the block there and learning lots, especially about Surrey's policies and practices about education and, of course, the politics. 

Tonight St Lawrence governors meet for the first time this academic year -lots to discuss.even though this is a 'business' meeting.  I've added Clerk to Governors to my blog roll -a very good source of whats new - and it won't surprise you that there is always lots that's new from Ofsted, DfE etc.  In case any of you are also school governors I'll add others that I find useful.  I've found most via Twitter and their tweets are often the first time I've heard about key issues.

Creatively, I've now chosen fabrics for my Lone Star block and think I understand the way to make half square triangles that will be accurate. First task is to iron the fabric,  put a ,new blade in rotary cutter and then I need to check my sewing machine is telling the truth about the 1/4 inch seam line -its all about accuracy. More on this later ... I need to have something sewn & cut  by class on Monday!

Jane Eyre, an owl and red wine

Started my day on a Hot Topics school governor training session -lots to digest including the new Ofsted framework, and the Coalition's reduced way of letting schools know a new or changes policy exists! Condensed  the 2 hours into a 2xA4 report for a meeting on Weds... lets hope there's time to discuss some of the key issues as this is a so called business meeting with time ill spent,  in my view, on stuff that could be sorted out electronically. The day then got more entertaining -Jane Eyre on the big screen with cinematography well worth swapping the armchair for the cinema at Dorking Halls. The movie deserves the good reviews I've heard  -understated power and poignancy, enviable scenery and an ending that matches the one the Charlotte Bronte wrote. Joined in The Guardian book swap and left an Ian Rankin in the upper foyer on my way out  -now the challenge is to find a book hat someone else has abandoned.
Met an owl on my home bound journey -white, wide and swooping low over the hedgerows on Ranmore Common, then  a fox that decided not to cross the road but to pin bright eye me from the edge -the pleasures of an infant autumn and light from the streaks of setting sun. As for the red wine, one glass goes a long way -in fact it went all over the wall, light switches, floor and chair with just one small misjudged hand movement.

The Tiger’s Wife: what did we think?

Very good summer’s day out with the Bookham Library Book Group today.  Pegwell Bay was sparkly, the discussion lively and as usual, our conversation strayed into other genres/subjects. The Tiger’s Wife provoked mixed reactions ; what book doesn’t! There was consensus on the prose: lyrical and engaging, negative comments about the diversions which mean that those of us to don’t have time to read too much at a time got confused and a long discussion about the deathless man. Magic realism was mentioned, as was seeing the DM as a literary device to pass values onto the next generation and we all remain puzzled about where the copy of the Jungle Book ended up –but thought it really didn’t matter.

Linda gave us a great lunch, we agreed that a future meeting might take the form of discussing a book and film combination with Jane Eyre as the obvious choice right now. I spotted a copy of JE on Linda’s shelves –its a thick book!

Next book is The Great Gatsby –a meeting I will miss, and our next  year’s outing is possibly to Broadstairs to the Charles Dickens Museum –book still to be chosen but my vote will be for David Copperfield or Great Expectations.

Poetry admin!

Just spent an hour with another mole valley/surrey stanza poet talking about what we could learn from  the experiences of other stanzas around the country and our methods of sending poems out into the world. So  now I have a second spreadsheet to help me manage this process -with poems plotted against magazines/competitions .... watch this space for how well I do or do not do at keeping this up to date. Its a good way of showing that presently I have 14 poems out there, somewhere!
Have also finished reading The Tigers Wife by Tea Obreht, ready for discussion at the book group meeting tomorrow -a one off daytime meeting in Ramsgate. This book won the Orange prize this year, certainly was worthy of being the winner. Wonderful prose, lyrical in places and such convincing pictures of people at the end of their lives. Just one or two unnecessary diversions into description that failed to hold my attention but lots of almost magic realism to make up for this. A story without a real end, where this did not matter, where the journey was key and geography and politics determined so much. I'm looking forward to what the others thought of it ... we almost never agree but the discussion is always insightful and worthwhile.

Poetry Society Stanzas meet up & AGM

Went to my first Poetry Society Stanzas meeting yesterday … well attended, with lots of news about how poetry groups operate all around the country. I’m now wondering if Mole Valley Poets/the Surrey Stanza should link with a South London stanza for an event and have some ideas for next years programme. I really like the thought of everyone bringing a poem they think should not have been published for discussion by the group. Also, I need to let the Poetry Society know what is happening in our stanza on a regular basis.  Once I’ve finished my report from the large piece of research I've just completed I’ll have time for a regular poetry admin hour (or 2) … so I can slot that in there.

The Poetry Society AGM was, unsurprisingly, rather chaotic. Voting for the new Board, followed by energetic discussions about the accounts and continuity whilst in the back office votes were being counted, recounted and counted yet again. After the business meeting five brave poets read, in what were rather challenging acoustic conditions and still we waited. Finally the results, lots of clapping and hopes that this will be a positive turning point with restoration of Arts Council funding.

I’m sure there will be more news on this on http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/homepage/ soon.

Spent some time today searching for recipes to use up what seems like an endless supply of runner beans from Sue and Armold's allotment, and french beans, and courgettes. The Leith Vegetarian Bible and The New Cranks Recipes seem OK in theory... more on what it all tasted like later. There's also raspberries and blackberries in abundance ..easier to use as I add yogurt and could eat them at any meal!
The aforementioned raspberries have their own family tree. Imagine 4-5 canes bought somewhere between Southampton and Portsmouth, planted at the end of a family garden probably in the late 1970's. As raspberry canes do they multiplied and we shared them, my Dad planted a few of the next generation in his Kent garden, circa 1985. A bucket full of their offspring were healed  into a small corner of our Northleach garden, neglected while other, sad things occupied our time in 2001. When I moved to Effingham and, its now 2007, these just about surviving canes came with me, well almost -they were planted up the road in Sue and Armold's allotment and have been, without doubt, neglected.  This type of care clearly suits them as they produce masses of wonderful berries and , of course, each ruby globe brings equally wonderful memories. I notice that a new generation of canes are ready. There's plenty to share so you, your spade and a bucket are welcome to collect some of these young ones this autumn. Take home a taste of our history... and begin one of your own.

Events with Mole Valley Poets

A few morning tasks accomplished including sending notice of forthcoming Mole Valley Poets and Surrey Poetry Society Stanza Group events. These are all associated with the Mole Valley Arts Alive Festival and National Poetry Day -its great for us that these come at almost the same time of the year. So we have the following great evenings to look forward to over the next few weeks. Hope to see you there

Poetry in the Community at 8 00 pm, The Star Pub, Dorking  on Tuesday
27th September - open mic and participation on the National Poetry Day
theme of games.

On Monday 10th October we welcome our Sofa Poet, Tammy Yoseloff at
7:30 pm at The Lincoln Arms for a workshop and reading of her poetry.

On Monday 31st October at 7:30 pm we are again at The Lincoln Arms for
Poetry Pub; open mic and readings from the new Mole Valley Poets
Anthology.

Please join us at these events - a friendly audience helps the event
to flourish

Long time no blog

 ... but I'm not beating myself up about the gap as in the between times I've been at the AMEE conference in Vienna where the lift music is Strauss and more Strauss and the coffee just great. Spent a short time today deciding which poem to workshop at Mole Valley Poets tomorrow evening -more on that when the comments are in. Yesterday saw some creativity in the garden ... its now looking as though someone cares about it and getting lots of rain. Most of my herbs have disappeared during the summer and I really missed a twig of rosemary to flavour the fish i cooked last night ... a trip to RHS Wisely is on the agenda next week. Finally, a poemy thought is running in and out of my mind about the frog that seems to have set up home in the watering can -in the deep and dark until the bailiff comes with plant food and water.