Nigel of Bermondsey and actors Kim and Carl from Inner Sanctum Theatre Company were on hand to entertain the noon crowd at Woolfson & Tay on 21 Dec 2010. Mulled wine and minced pies were served while Kim and Carl enthralled the public with a dramatic reading from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, while Nigel got everyone in the holiday mood with a sing-a-long Christmas carolling session. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!
0 Comments
These are one of those moments when I wished I had a video on me. What a night! We had a small group at the last poetry open mic session for the year and it was fun, fun, fun! How to describe the headline acts Meryl Jones and Anti-Poet? Meryl delighted the crowd with very adult themes we could all identify with, incl her thoughts on 'democratic porno' while Anti-Poet got the crowd all riled up with their 'punk poetry' (my words, not theirs) that was both irreverent yet astutely observed. Watch this website for next year's sessions :) Thank you to Daniel Cockrill from Bang Said The Gun for another fantastic session and the open mic-ers who dared to share! A stimulating discussion with Polly Toynbee and David Walker on the successes and failures of New Labour and its time in office. Guests and speakers also discussed implications of the current political and economic climate and the challenges ahead for the coalition government. An insightful and informative session, thank you Polly and David! W&T's first true storytelling session - Life Stories Cafe - kicked off with poets and authors Dorothea Smartt, Helen Sandler and Cath Kane. Unfortunately, due to adverse weather, resulting in planes being grounded and some trains not running, guest speakers Marcus Reeves and Jane Liddell-King were unable to attend. Nevertheless, those who attended spoke about a truly inspiring and moving evening, and though the topic was fairly serious - 'Ancestors' - our guest speakers spoke with humour and warmth, illiciting some belly-aching laughter. We hope that next year, when Life Stories Cafe becomes a regular feature, we will many more opportunities to laugh, share and be moved. Despite the flurry of first snow, which deterred some, about 40 people dropped into W&T for an evening of readings and discussion on what growing old offers. Author Jane Miller, Crazy Age: Thoughts On Being Old, shared her thoughts and talked age with the audience, which included elders from the Writing From Your Life workshop at W&T led by facilitator Maggie Smith, who is also National Coordinator at the University of the Third Age. Workshop participants read excerpts from their writing, which included vignettes from their childhood, their experience of migrating to London, as well as other memories. "I don't like the term 'old'", one person said, "I much prefer elder." There was raucous laughter in agreement with Jane when she read about her thoughts on hospitals, dying and how being elderly afforded delicious anonymity. Can't wait till I hit 5-0 and beyond myself :) |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2014
Subscribe For Blog Updates
|