Tag: Melanie Branton

My Poetry World at the Start of the New Year

Writing

Last year, my focus was concentrated on selecting and editing poems for my new collection which is scheduled for publication in 2026. Most of the poems were worked on with my mentor-editor earlier in 2025. A few additions and substitutions have been slotted in, as I continued working solo on the manuscript. The final selection and ordering, with my editor, will be completed this year. It will be a collection that doesn’t shy away from challenges faced and difficulties overcome, and which seeks to resonate with people who have been similarly tested, and who have grasped for stability in tempestuous times, stormy waters. My hope is that readers will emerge buoyed up from shared experiences, celebrating victories, with eyes focused steadily on a brighter horizon. 

Gloucestershire Stanza, Bishops Cleeve Poetry Club

Another commitment last year was to build on my work as the Stanza Representative for Gloucestershire. This has included twice-monthly poetry reading, writing and critiquing workshops at Bishops Cleeve Poetry Club, near Cheltenham which I took over from Claire Thelwell in 2024.

“A group for poets at any level of experience. Beginners are very welcome, as are people who have been writing for a while. We aim to be supportive, relaxed … and good fun. Poetry Club is organized and run by Sharon Larkin, a published poet who is passionate about bringing people together to experiment, share, develop their ideas … and write good poems!”  

Poetry Club has flourished and has included well-published poets, a Critical Writing MA graduate or two, a PhD student, enthusiastic beginners and up-and coming poets … spanning a wide age range. We continued to meet at Bishops Cleeve Bookshop in the evenings until late summer before moving to nearby Bishops Cleeve Library, enabling more stock to be accommodated at the bookshop in the lead-up to Christmas. Poetry Club members opted to remain in the spacious surroundings of the Library but we continue to be indebted to Will Williams of Cleeve Bookshop for having allowed us to meet in his shop after hours, enabling us to establish the club and to try out various formats for the workshops. We enjoyed returning to the shop for the Christmas Party and David Aldred’s launch of ‘Histories from the Cotswold Edge’ in December, and we will undoubtedly continue to attend launches and book signings in the months and years to come. It is a splendid bookshop, with a genuine community focus, and a flourishing line of  ‘signed editions’.  Prose fiction and non-fiction workshops are set to continue in the Bookshop, led by Steven John.

Poetry Club has devised a workshop method that includes giving and receiving constructive critiques on each other’s poems, before reading 4 – 5 poems from an anthology. Members then choose one of the anthology poems, responding to its theme or/and form, as inspiration for their own work in the intervening two weeks, bringing the resulting poems for critique at the next meeting. This has proved a successful formula, well supported by emailed notes on the anthology poems, and suggestions for our own writing. However, nothing is prescribed, and poets are always free to bring along a poem in response to whatever has excited or interested them during the previous fortnight.

The anthologies used in the workshops included the Forward Prize Anthology for 2025, Bloodaxe’s ‘Staying Alive’ anthology and, latterly, the Forward Anthology for 2026. Feedback from a member of the group received just before Christmas included these encouraging words: “Last night’s meeting … was informative and entertaining in equal measure. I enjoy the supportive critique … thank you for your beautiful poems and thank you Sharon in particular for your selfless support to us all.”  That kind of feedback makes it all worthwhile. It is indeed a lovely group of kindly and appreciative poets.

Cheltenham Poetry Society, and the Annual Awayday

The well-established Cheltenham Poetry Society, of which I continue to be a proud member – and a former Chair – was ‘grafted into’ the Gloucestershire Stanza during 2025, with the agreement CPS members and current Chairman, Roger Turner. This will further encourage collaboration and joint ventures, including offering places to Poetry Club members at the CPS annual Writing Awayday in the Spring, as well as to the wider circle of friends and associates that Cheltenham Poetry Society has already established. It will also allow CPS poets who are also members of the national Poetry Society to enter Stanza competitions, and enjoy all the other benefits associated with Poetry Society membership. Several prospective CPS members have reached out, after spotting the Gloucestershire Stanza contact details on the Poetry Society’s website.

The CPS Annual Awayday in April 2025 welcomed 17 poets for a whole day of workshops at Ellenborough Park, a five-star hotel in the pleasant village of Southam between the Cotswold Hills and Cheltenham Racecourse.  The topical themes were Flora and Fauna, and the poetry-theory themes included (1) a consideration of space, and ‘intentionality’ in terms of punctuation, and (2) the sonic structure of poems, eg how vowel sounds can be selected to achieve a desired effect and increase the impact of a line. I enjoyed preparing material for the ‘animal’ and ‘intentionality/punctuation’ themes, while Roger led on the ‘plant’ and ‘weight of words’ themes.  I was delighted that Cheltenham Arts Council – thanks to Elisa – featured my article about the CPS Awayday in their Perspectives magazine in June, including the following photographs of the poets attending: David Ashbee, Robin Gilbert, Sheila Spence, Tony Bradley, Nick Heap, Catherine Baker, Gill Wyatt, Penelope Howarth, Penny Lamport, Christine Griffin, Iris Anne Lewis, Judith van Dijkhuizen, Kirsty Bradbury, Annie Ellis, Emily Wills … and Roger Turner and me.  Huge thanks to Jess, Lucy and David at Ellenborough Park for helping us stage the event and to keep things running along smoothly on the day.

Publication and Competitions, 2025

In April I was delighted to learn that three of my poems had been successful in The Yaffle Prize 2025, with one commended poem ‘Dread or Kindred’ and two long-listed poems ‘At the Repair Shop’ and ‘Reconstruction Worker’.  I’m looking forward to the publication of the Whirlagust 2025 anthology which will include my poems, alongside the winning, and other commended and long-listed poems. Huge thanks to the competition judge, Antony Dunn, and to Mark and Gill Connors of Yaffle Press.

Also in April, I was glad to discover that my poem ‘Flashback’ was in the long-list for the Yaffle’s Nest BOAT – Best of All Time poetry competition for poetry inspired by music. I’m looking forward to reading all the ‘BOAT poems’ in the forthcoming anthology. Congratulations to the winners, and to the commended and other long-listed poets. Thanks to judge Emma Purshouse and another big thanks to the Dynamic Duo, Gill and Mark Connors, for running the competition … and for everything they do for poetry.

I was very pleased that my poem ‘Flight Recorder’ which won first prize in The Black Box competition in Jack Caradoc’s Dreich magazine in 2022 featured again as a ‘Retread’ in Issue 3 of his new magazine, The Candyman’s Trumpet, in September 2025.  A big ‘thank you’ … twice … to Jack Caradoc. 

In August I was chuffed to discover that my double dactyl, celebrating Garry Kasparov, the chess player, was a ‘Double Dactyl of the Week’, selected by Andy Jackson who runs the excellent website. https://doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2025/08/14/double-dactyl-of-the-week-135/  
Then in November, my double dactyl on Boris Pasternak was selected for ‘Double Dactyl of the Week’ https://doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/double-dactyl-of-the-week-149/  
Russian names certainly lend themselves to the DD form.
Thanks, Andy, twice!

In the autumn, the What We Inherit from Water anthology was published by Yaffle Press, resulting from the Inaugural Yaffle’s Nest competition. I was pleased that my prose poem  Brookside was listed in the competition and is included in the book. Thanks again to Mark and Gill Connors. It’s a super cover for the super contents of this book!

By the end of the year, the draft of Gill Connors’ anthology Safety in Numbers was available, to the delight of the many contributing poets. I am thrilled that my poem ‘Battling On’ features in this ground-breaking book … a project which forms part of Gill’s PhD. I’m looking forward to the publication of this notable anthology in time for International Women’s Day in March 2026, and to the launch events and the surrounding publicity which is already building … apparently including a mention by Mark Connors in an edition of the BBC’s The Verb to be broadcast in February 2026.

Performances

On 31 August I was very happy to find myself co-headlining – again – with David Cooke on The Poetry Place on West Wilts Radio, thanks to Dawn Gorman who curates, co-produces and hosts the programme  https://westwiltsradio.com/shows/the-poetry-place-with-david-cooke-sharon-larkin-68-31-08-25/  This was a rerun of the programme first streamed in November 2021, and it also featured poems by Rosie Jackson, Ruth Sharman, Sue Proffitt, Pratibha Castle, Frances Anne-King, John Wheway, Verona Bass, Eileen Anne Gordon, and of course Dawn Gorman and co-producer Peter O’Grady. Thanks to Dawn, Peter and WWR.

On 28 October I spent a super afternoon with a lovely audience who listened attentively to my poems and appreciated my projected photos. With nearly two hours to fill, I was able to share 18 poems … and a whole slide-show of related photographs, with a break in the middle for tea and a chat with the lovely members of Evesham and District Pensioners’ Association. My poems ranged over music at school in Evesham, performing in nativity plays, poems about the Worcestershire village I grew up in, attempting to keep fit in one’s latter years, and poems about some of my favourite Cotswold villages, a flashback to that strange Covid year of 2000, and some poems about being a mother – and recently becoming a grandmother. Thanks to Ann and Andrew Dingley – my nephew – for inviting me. It was good to chat to several people about poetry, life, and memories held in common, especially from schooldays and childhood in the Vale. Such a friendly group of people and a superb venue!

On 31 October, I was very pleased to read a selection of eight poems at Cheltenham’s Poetry Cafe in the Library, thanks to Annie Ellis who organizes this popular monthly event. My themes were Visitations and Appearances, and ranged from the outskirts of New Delhi, to a future alien encounter on a British beach, to a construction site possibly in South America, possibly closer to home, to a Cheltenham Repair Shop, to doctors’ surgeries in Cheltenham and somewhere in Germany, to my son’s teenager bedroom, and finally to a site of archaeological and sociological interest … somewhere. There was a full house, all seats occupied, a warm welcome, a super friendly and attentive audience, and an all-round positive occasion with smiles from so many poet-friends. I renewed friendships with some lovely poets I hadn’t seen for a while, made new friends, and even sold some books! Excellent hosting plus super-efficient organization by Annie, and first-rate reception and venue thanks to Cheltenham Library and staff.

I was blessed on 22 December to have my poem ‘Something for Christmas’ read at a carol service in Llanfaredd near Llanfair ym Muallt (Builth Wells) in Powys. This was all thanks to my cousin Ruth who lives in the area and it was doubly pleasing because the church of Llanfaredd is important in our shared family history. It felt extra special to know the poem was read, and heard, in the parish church where my great grandparents are buried, alongside uncles, aunts and cousins, and collocated with the farm that continues in the family.

As the year neared its end, I very much enjoyed Yaffle’s Christmas Party on-line, with readings from the ‘Linger’ collaboration between Mark Connors, Liz McPherson and Sandra Noel … the first in Yaffle’s ‘Three Little Birds’ series. Other poets were invited to read two poems in the ‘open mic’ following the headline readers. I was pleased to be able to share my Christmas themed poems ‘A Seasonal Fabrication’ and ‘The Ins and Outs of Christmas’.

Endorsements, Reviews, Mentoring

In September, I was pleased to write and endorsement of David Elder’s collection ‘White Fox’ ahead of publication. It is an excellent collection which I heartily recommend.

In November, I had the pleasure of being asked to read a manuscript for a potential collection and to make recommendations for edits and ordering. I won’t name the poet just yet, but will fanfare the collection when it is taken by a publisher, which it is sure to be.  I’ll just thank the poet for entrusting her work to me for comment at this important stage of the manuscript’s development.

Anniversaries

December seems to be a month of  ‘poetry anniversaries’ for me. 12 December marked the seventh anniversary of the publication of my pamphlet ‘Interned at the Food Factory’ from Indigo Dreams. 15 December was the fifth anniversary of the publication of my collection Dualities from Hedgehog Poetry Press. Also, 6 years ago, saw the publication of the Cheltenham Poetry Society anthology ‘Poetry from Gloucestershire’, co-curated and co-edited by Roger Turner and me, and published by my Eithon Bridge imprint. Since then, Eithon Bridge has gone on to published other CPS anthologies: ‘Inspired by Music’ and ‘The Elements’, with Roger and me co-editing.

A sad anniversary also arrived this December, when poet-friends of Michael Newman recalled his sudden passing, late in 2024. He was not only a dear friend-in-poetry but foundational to the relaunch of Cheltenham Poetry Society last century, a former Chairman, and an indispensable and loyal member, over many decades. As the current Chairman Roger Turner says, Michael was an entirely benevolent influence in workshops and meetings. He was also a regular performer at monthly Poetry Café Refreshed events in Cheltenham. But, most of all, he was an inspiration and example to many of us in his quiet, faith-filled, family-centred, nature-loving, music-loving, poetry-filled life. We will continue to miss Michael in Gloucestershire, especially, but his influence and reputation ripple out beyond this town and county, reaching South, as a regularly contributor to the magazine of that name, and a familiar name in Indigo Dreams Reach magazine. His reputation as a fine poet spread westwards too – to the shores of Ceredigion and his beloved Borth. Danielle Hope of Acumen liaised with CPS ahead of including Michael’s poem ‘March Morning’ in edition 113 of Agenda, together with words of remembrance for a much loved and respected poet.

Other Activities

As well as poetry, my artistic endeavours in 2025 continued to include photography, mostly of the countryside and wildlife of the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border, with occasional forays into Wales, and regular close-up photography of the Moon in its various phases. My photographs have appeared in several of the previously mentioned Cheltenham Poetry Society anthologies, as well as local calendars. This year, I was really pleased to be able to combine poetry and photography in the event in Evesham on 28 October.

Since the middle of 2024, I have also been trying my hand at drawing and painting, attending a weekly art class held at Elim in Cheltenham, run by Rose. And since mid-2025, I’ve joined another weekly class held at St Marks in Cheltenham, co-led by Jean and Gill. Both groups are supportive and friendly, the former specialising in water colour, the second majoring in acrylics. The Elim group held a summer exhibition in July, where over 100 paintings by the artists in the group were on display, the majority for sale with proceeds destined for Cheltenham Food Bank.

I had three landscapes and two animal paintings for sale … and a kingfisher painting based on one of my best wildlife photographs from the year. Here are the six exhibits of mine from that event: kingfisher, deer, fox and cub, winter scene, cottage in the country, and cottage in an imaginary landscape.

In addition, a variety of desk calendars have been produced for 2026, with thanks to Bean Baker of Elim. One of the calendars includes a watercolour of mine, and another of which includes three of my paintings. The subjects of these were a red squirrel, a robin, toadstools and autumn leaves. Thanks to Bean and Rose, and all other members of the Art Club for their friendship and encouragement.

The St Marks group also exhibits paintings at various times of year in the hall where we meet, which is widely used by other groups, notably Cheltenham Ballroom Dance School, and so these paintings get excellent visibility! I was pleased to have an acrylic painting in the autumn exhibition, featuring another squirrel, and two paintings in the Christmas exhibition: another robin, and a row of colourful Christmas stockings. With some trepidation, I look forward to next term, when the project for the next exhibition will be the human form and portraiture. Now, that will test my ‘beginner’s luck’!  The last session before Christmas took the form of a ‘bring and share lunch’ … and I was invited to share a poem, choosing a new poem, ‘Ways of Seeing’, which features an imaginary visit to an art gallery. It seemed appropriate and went down well with the other artists in the group.  I do love opportunities such as these … to combine the arts. Thanks again to Gill and Jean, and all the other members of the group.

All year, I have also enjoyed cryptic crossword sessions led by Melanie Branton over messages … and Zoom, where some real crossword whizzes come together to solve the ingenious puzzles created by Melanie. I was very much a novice to start with, much better at intuiting answers than actually working out the clues to point to their solution. But Melanie’s excellent hints and tips over the weeks and months, and especially the practice crosswords she provides, ahead of letting us have a go at ‘the real thing’ have helped a great deal. Melanie is very patient, encouraging and enthusiastic, and the rest of the group is friendly and supportive, with just the right amount of competitive spirit! Thank you, Melanie, and everyone in the group, for encouraging my latest hobby.

A Happy New Year

Well, that’s my round-up of 2025. Here’s to a productive, accomplished, fulfilled, rewarding, healthy and wholly positive 2026 … for us all, whatever our artistic endeavours, and however we spend our time.

A Quick Look Back at 2024

MY POETRY YEAR

My focus last year has been on selecting, editing and ordering poems for a new collection, with the result that I have enough material for a cohesive and coherent body of work, a working title and an excellent editor. News about a publication date will come in due course. Meanwhile, look forward to themes of testing and challenge, survival and overcoming. Identifying, refining and scheduling poems that align with the themes has left me little inclination to submit poems for competitions and magazines this year but I have continued writing fresh work (how could a poet stop themselves from doing that?) and I’ve remained very active in attending and leading/co-leading workshops, as the Stanza Representative for Gloucestershire. Here are the highlights of my poetry year:

COMPETITIONS AND ANTHOLOGIES

My poem ‘Away from it all’ that was long-listed in The Yaffle Prize 2023, was published in the anthology ‘Whirlagust IV’ from Yaffle Press early in 2024. Congratulations to all the included in the book, especially the competition winning and commended poets, and a huge thank you to Mark and Gill Connors, and Mike Farren, for all their hard work running the competition and publishing the anthology. https://www.yafflepress.co.uk/anthologies

In February, I was delighted that my poem ‘Green Turtle’ was accepted for the ‘Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans’ anthology from The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press … a collection of poems from over 100 international writers reflecting the theme of water, with illustrations by Scottish artist, Colin Thom and cover by Mike Curry.  A big thank you to Claire Thom and the team for bringing the anthology to birth – copies are available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/840957442X

In April, I learnt that my prose poem ‘Brookside’ was among the commended in the Yaffle’s Nest competition. Congratulations to Ian Harker, Holly Bars and Jennifer A McGowan for coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd and another big thank you to Mark and  Gill Connors of Yaffle Press. Looking forward to the publication of the ‘What We Inherit From Water’ anthology from Yaffle Press in spring 2025.

POEMS IN MAGAZINES AND E-ZINES

In February I was thrilled to  have a poem ‘Either Or, Both And’ in Issue 34 of Prole Magazine, available here: https://prolebooks.co.uk/  This was the tenth of my poems the editors (Brett Evans and Phil Robertson) have accepted for the magazine, my first successful submission to them being in 2015. My thanks to them both.

In March, my double dactyl on Rachmaninov appeared on ‘Double Dactyl of the Week’ with huge thanks to Andy Jackson https://doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2024/03/02/double-dactyl-of-the-week-65/

It was sad to learn of the closure of ‘Visual Verse’ in early 2024 but in March I was delighted to learn that 21 of my poems that had, in recent years, been published on ‘Visual Verse’ had been added to the archive at Newcastle Centre for the literary Arts. You can read them all, and see the images that inspired the poems, here: https://visualverse.org/writers/sharon-larkin/

In January, my metaphysical poem ‘Summoned’ was included in the inaugural edition of ‘Picture Frame Poem’ https://pictureframepoem.wordpress.com/january-2024/ which I hoped would grow and develop into a successor for ‘Visual Verse’. Sadly, this remains the only edition of ‘Picture Frame Poem’ to date.

REVIEWS AND ENDORSEMENTS OF FELLOW-POETS’ WORK

Early in 2024, I wrote a review of the manuscript of Aaron Wright’s collection, ‘Poetry of the Slug’. Quotes from my review appear in the book which is available from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/9yLDCzG

In April I was honoured to be asked to write a profile of poet Roger Turner, for inclusion in Issue 69 of ‘South Magazine’, also selecting twelve of his poems to highlight in the article. Sadly, ‘South Magazine’ is another poetry outlet that ceased publication in 2024.

In May I was invited by Helena Tibocha to review the manuscript and write a cover endorsement for the anthology ´Beyond’ from Winchcombe Poets: Helena Tibocha, Briony Smith, Chris Haslam, Tony Davies, Zoe Brooks … and Peter Firth. This is a vivid and powerful anthology, whose publication was timed to celebrate the life of Peter Firth. I was subsequently invited to the moving launch event at the chapel at Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, organized by Helena Tibocha. It included a piano performance, by Susy Firth, of poems by her father, and readings of other poems from the ‘Beyond’ anthology. https://helenatibocha.com/the-winchcombe-poets-1

In November I was delighted to be among many Cheltenham/Gloucester poets contributing poems for a book to be presented to Jennie Farley at a special event at The Langton shortly before Christmas. The anthology was curated by Kathy Alderman and Penny Howarth, and was published by Howard Timms. I was pleased to have two poems, ‘Gratitude’ and ‘Revuelta’ in the book, and to write a short paragraph of appreciation of Jennie as a poet and friend. It was a genuine pleasure to read ‘Gratitude’ for Jennie at the event.

MEMORABLE READINGS

A super launch of the Yaffle Press ‘Whirlagust IV’ anthology was held on Zoom in the third week of January. I was thrilled to be able to read my long-listed poem ‘Away from it all’ alongside prize-winning, commended and other listed poets. Thanks to Gill and Mark Connors for hosting such a pleasurable, professional yet relaxed, launch event.

In February I was pleased to attend the international Zoom launch of the anthology ‘Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans’ from The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press. The event featured wonderful poems, wonderfully read, and well-hosted. It was great to ‘meet’ editors Claire Thom and Marc Brimble … and artist Colin Thom. Thanks again to them for selecting my poem ‘Green Turtle’

In November I was pleased to attend the Zoom launch of the joint-collection ‘The Where We Were’ by Mark and Gill Connors of Yaffle Press. The guest poets were Jenny Robb and Sandra Noel whose collections ‘Hear the World Explode’ and ‘Into the Under’ are published by Yaffle/Yaffle’s Nest. I was glad to be included in the open mic.

In December Yaffle Press hosted the Zoom launch of Kevin Reid’s collection ‘Held’ and Mandy Macdonald’s pamphlet ‘The Unreliability of Rainbows’. The event also featured Yaffle poets Bobbie Sparrow (collection ‘The Weight of Blood’) and CM John (pamphlet ‘Ungrateful Heirs’) and a wealth of open mic poets (glad to have been one of them). Thanks – again – to Gill and Mark Connors of Yaffle Press for bringing us such wonderful books and hosting such rich and enjoyable events as this one.

WORKSHOPS ORGANIZED AND LED

I continued  a member of Cheltenham Poetry Society, chaired by Roger Turner, attending monthly workshops in Cheltenham town centre with other poets ­– Michael Newman, David Ashbee, Stuart Nunn, Robin Gilbert, Sheila Spence, Nick Shephard, Dan Mountain and Nick Heap.

By February I had drafted the programme for Cheltenham Poetry Society’s 10th Annual Awayday writing retreat, booked for May. This was going to be another stimulating day of writing, with prompts to fire the imaginations of the 16 poets who had signed up. Last year, we had a new venue in mind – Bowden Hall, at Upton St Leonards. We loved our previous venue, Dumbleton Hall, but it was undergoing refurbishment and modernisation so that gave us an opportunity to try somewhere new. I subsequently visited the new location with Roger Turner, CPS Chairman, to check their offer, which was luxurious, with an ideal conference room, impressive dining room, lovely décor and a tempting menu for lunch and am/pm breaks. On 22 May, the Awayday was held at Bowden Hall. The four workshop sessions were shared between Roger and me – a full but enjoyable day, most of us coming away with three or more drafts to work on further.

From May onwards, I took over leadership of Bishops Cleeve Poetry Club, from the lovely and talented poet, Claire Thelwell.  I had already been going to these twice-monthly workshops, for over a year, at The Cleeve Bookshop which is owned and excellently run by Will Williams.  Many thanks to him for opening the shop after-hours for Poetry Club.  By September, Poetry Club began working through the Forward Poets Anthology for 2025. We’ll be reading poems and discussing them in terms of form and content. These are the kinds of workshops that really help poets maintain awareness of modern trends in themes and forms, inspiring and informing them when writing their own poems. By the end of the year, Poetry Club membership had grown to 15, with 8 – 10 attending on any given night. Each two-hour workshop is a bargain at only £3. Funds will be used to buy further anthologies to benefit the group.

By mid-year, Cheltenham Poetry Society and Bishops Cleeve Poetry Club were formally gathered under the umbrella of The Poetry Society’s Stanza network, with me as the Stanza Representative for Gloucestershire, while Roger Turner remains Chair of CPS.

WORKSHOPS ATTENDED

 For most of last year, I attended and thoroughly enjoyed, Yaffle’s ‘Wordship’ Zoom sessions with Gill and Mark Connors … a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Later in the year, I was very pleased to be able to begin more intensive/focused sessions via twice-monthly with Gill on Zoom, offering the opportunity to do some close editing of  poems.

 At Buzzwords in March, Angela France welcomed Martyn Crucefix as guest poet. As well as reading from his collection ‘Between a Drowning Man’ we were treated to readings from his translation/versioning of ancient Chinese texts. Martyn also led us in an inspiring workshop exploring the theme of ‘translation’, cleverly designed so that a knowledge of other languages wasn’t needed. It was great to catch up with lots of local poet friends reading at the open mic and to hear some new (to me) poets read. Thank you to Angela France for Buzzwords – Cheltenham’s longest-running and endlessly stimulating monthly poetry event – and thank you Martyn Crucefix for an evening of exceptional poetry and inspiration.

OTHER EVENTS ATTENDED

Another great benefit of having developed a great relationship with The Cleeve Bookshop has been the opportunity to attend talks and book-signings by novelists – such as Caroline Montague (who has connections with Burnt Norton House in the Cotswolds… made famous by T S Eliot in the first of the Four Quartets). Cleeve Bookshop’s Summer Party featured special guest Chris Haslam (a Winchcombe Poet).  In September, The Cleeve Bookshop held ‘In Conversation with Author Elizabeth Fremantle’ talking about her novel ‘Firebrand’ and the film adaptation starring Jude Law & Alicia Vikander. In late November, Cleeve Bookshop’s Christmas Party featured prolific author, Mandy Robotham. Thanks again to Will Williams for hosting such events in his splendid bookshop; it is a real asset to the community in Bishops Cleeve.

Towards the end of the year, I enjoyed Cryptic Crossword sessions led by Melanie Branton on Zoom, where I met some real crossword whizzes. I’m very much a novice at doing Cryptic Crosswords and am better at intuiting the answers than working out the clues pointing to the solution. But Melanie’s excellent hints and tips on Facebook over previous weeks/months, and the practice crosswords Melanie provides, ahead of the ‘real thing’, help a great deal. Melanie is very patient, encouraging and enthusiastic. I think I have a new hobby! Thank you, Melanie.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF 2024

Three short breaks in Wales last year included an unforgettable Tom Jones concert at Llangollen International Eisteddfod in July, thanks to our son David; a spring break in Powys, including a lovely visit to my cousins’ farm, with the treat of bottle-feeding orphaned lambs – thanks to Ruth and Ian; and an early autumn break to Ceredigion, renewing our relationship with Aberystwyth, Ynyslas and Dafydd ap Gwilym … and enjoying the wonderful mountain road back through mid-Wales, via Cwm Ystwyth and Cwm Elan.

The last time I did any painting (as opposed to decorating!) was at school, around the age of 13, so I’m not very good at it. However, I’ve enjoyed joining in the art club at church (Elim, Cheltenham) and was excited to have a painting in the group’s exhibition. Thanks to Rose Neal who leads the group; she is immensely talented, inspiring and encouraging. Thanks to all who worked hard behind the scenes to prepare the exhibition, and thanks to Pastor Roger Wyatt … for everything. Proceeds from paintings sold went to the very worthy cause of Cheltenham Food Bank, collocated with the Elim. Thanks also to the Repair Shop there which restored my Kenwood Chef mixer to full working condition (and is now assessing an antique clock I recently acquired!) Churches with ‘community spaces’ like this are invaluable; we, the ‘older demographic’ also enjoy coffee mornings and fish and chip suppers there!  A final thanks to Bean Baker for encouraging me with a ‘test run’ of a Biblically-based poetry workshop; this might be an area for further development in 2025.

Other hobbies and obsessions continue:

  • daily walks with cameras with my dear husband, majoring on landscapes and wildlife on the Glos/Worcs border;
  • keeping my Welsh language knowledge fresh via weekly Zoom class run by Learn Welsh Gwent, with excellent tutor Jonathan Parry;
  • joining a flourishing group of Welsh learners and speakers in a pub twice a month in Cheltenham, for a couple of hours of conversation and cwnmi da. Diolch i Steve, Julia, Ian, Jan, Anthony, Jo a mwy! These sessions make me hapus iawn!
  • working on other languages via Duolingo, exploring Swedish, Norwegian and Danish
    maintaining my ‘legendary’ status in French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Welsh, Ukrainian and Russian; brushing up on German; extending my experience of Portuguese; and making (very) brief forays into other languages Thanks Duolingo!

In May, I took up a GP referral for sessions at the Nuffield Gym in Gloucester, especially designed for people with joint pain.  It has been an excellent programme which ran until November. I have now joined the gym and intend to improve my fitness further, once I have recovered from Christmas over-indulgence! Thanks to Jez who led the Joint Pain management sessions.

In June, I was figuratively transported (for a second time) to Andalucia thanks to the Daniel Martinez and Company performance at Cheltenham Ladies College.  I can’t put into words how thrilling it is to have the odd taste of Iberian fire and passion on a rainy summer evening in Britain!

FINALLY, REMEMBERING

In December, it was a great sadness to mark the sudden passing of Michael Newman, who was not only a dear friend-in-poetry, but foundational to the relaunch of Cheltenham Poetry Society last century, a former Chairman, and an indispensable and loyal member over many decades. He was also a regular performer every month at Poetry Café Refreshed. His many friends and fellow poets in the Cheltenham–Gloucester will agree that he was an inspiration and example to many of us in his quiet, faith-filled, nature-loving, music-loving, poetry-filled life. We will miss him terribly in this area, particularly, but his influence and love ripples out beyond this town and county, reaching South, as a regular in the magazine of that name, and a frequent name in Indigo Dreams’ ‘Reach’ and many more magazines, his fame spreading West to the shores of Ceredigion and his beloved Borth … then ‘wider, still, and wider’. I will miss him terribly in monthly workshops and local readings. They won’t be the same without Michael’s kindly presence there.

2019: Another Wonderful Poetry Year

This has been another fantastic poetry year, with many people to thank for their generosity and encouragement, and for their warm-hearted contribution to the world of poetry, and to projects I’ve been involved in. I’m recording my appreciation here, with links to social networks so that these lovely people can, I hope, read my words of gratitude and appreciation for all they have done to make last year such a memorable year.

Interned at the Food Factory
Publication, reception, reviews, readings

My deep thanks are owed to Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams for publishing Interned at the Food Factory which tiptoed out into the minefield of eating disorders in January 2019. Thank you, both, for taking the risk with me!  https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/sharon-larkin/4594486683

Thanks to Brett Evans and Kate Noakes who kindly read the manuscript ahead of publication and responded with endorsements for the book.

An especially big thank you is owed to Rosemary Muncie for reviewing Interned from the Food Factory in issue No. 60 of South Magazine and to Holly Magill and Claire Walker for making Interned at the Food Factory Atrium’s featured publication in April.  https://atriumpoetry.com/2019/04/07/featured-publication-interned-at-the-food-factory-by-sharon-larkin/

Thanks, too, to so many other kind people for their encouraging written or verbal feedback on the poems, including Dawn Bauling, Deborah Harvey, Belinda Rimmer, Catherine Baker, Dee Russell-Thomas, Anna Saunders and more. A selection of their feedback can be read here: https://sharonlarkinjones.com/2019/10/11/interned-at-the-food-factory-still-serving/

Out of the blue, one Sunday morning, I also received this: “A brave and necessary topic to tackle. Some great poems in there. Congratulations”  You know who you are. Thank you, I’m encouraged!  Be encouraged!

Thank you to everyone who has bought copies, and for asking for signed ones … so many sold that I had to reorder to ensure I had enough for events in the second half of the year!  Thanks, again, to Ronnie and Dawn for putting in the order just as they were about to go away on holiday!  Bless you, both.

Thanks to Belinda Rimmer … whose Touching Sharks in Monaco was also published by Indigo Dreams this year https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/belinda-rimmer/4594596027 … for joining up for a combined launch celebration of both books in June. A big thanks to Suffolk Anthology Bookshop’s, Helen Hewett https://theanthology.co.uk for hosting the celebration in Cheltenham … and thanks to the lovely audience that came to hear us read, and provided such warm and encouraging feedback.

Thank you to Rona Laycock for interviewing me about Interned at the Food Factory for Corinium Radio’s Writers’ Room programme in June, and giving me the opportunity to read poems from the book, as well as more recent work. The programme, broadcast on 12 August 2019, can be heard here: http://www.coriniumradio.co.uk/blog/2019/08/the-writers-room-with-sharon-larkin-3/

Thanks to The Poetry Cafe in London for hosting a reading with Indigo Dreams stablemates Brett Evans, Holly Magill and Marie Lightman, on an unforgettable evening in late September. Thanks to Ronnie and Dawn for their generous support towards the event. Thanks also to my son, David, for coming along on the night, and taking photos (and also for coming with me to The Poetry Library earlier in the day on my terribly egotistical quest to track down a copy of Interned at the Food Factory … which we did, at the end of a very long shelf of Philip Larkin’s poetry!)

Thank you to Deborah Harvey and Colin Brown of The Leaping Word for the kind invitation to me to read at Silver Street Poets in Bristol on 1 March … a preliminary event in the lead-up to Bristol’s Lyra Poetry Festival; great to slip surreptitiously into the brochure!

Thanks to Sue Johnson, Bob Woodroofe and Colin Pitts for the invitation to read with them at Evesham Library in the spring … an early event leading up to Evesham’s Festival of Words, for which thanks to Sue Ablett. It was good to read some ‘Asum’ poems, as well as a few from Food Factory. Thank you to friends and family who came to support me at that event: a special mention for Ann, Aaron and Susan.

Thanks to Ama Bolton for the kind invitation for me to read from Food Factory , and more recent work, at The Fountain Poets in Wells in July.  A lovely attentive audience, with some excellent poems at the open mic.  Thank you Ama, Jinny Fisher, Morag Kiziewicz … and everyone! https://wellsfountainpoets.wordpress.com/archive/

Thank you to  Pat Edwards for the invitation to read at Verbatim in Welshpool in July.  I so much enjoyed sharing poems from Food Factory, as well as older (son-inspired, Wales-inspired) poems and recent (sheep and butterfly-inspired) poems. The open mic poets were great … a wide variety of voices, including rap!  A lovely poetry group, so well run by Pat.

Thank you to Ziggy Dicks for organizing ‘Raised Voices’ for International Women’s Day at The Fountain in Gloucester in March, and for inviting me to read alongside some super poets. Thanks to Josephine Lay for organizing on the night, and to Chloë Jacquet for brilliant, spontaneous compering. I enjoyed hearing poems from Angela France, Josephine and Peter Lay, Jason Conway …  and many moving poems from poets at the open mic, especially those bravely performing for the first time.  A big, heartwarming evening of powerful words for International Women’s Day.

Thanks again to Ziggy – by then elected Gloucestershire’s Poet Laureate – for inviting me to read alongside Sarah Leavesley, David Ashbee, Roger Turner and Derek Dohren during Gloucester Poetry Festival in October.

Looking ahead, thanks to Phil Kirby for the invitation to read at Writers at The Goods Shed in Tetbury next spring … with Belinda Rimmer … and a big thank you to Angela France for the opportunity to read … alongside Belinda again … at the justly celebrated Buzzwords at The Exmouth Arms in Cheltenham in July 2020.

Anthologies Published
Establishing Eithon Bridge Publications

At the turn of the year, I am involved in publishing a sixth anthology, the third as Eithon Bridge Publications. Thanks to everyone who has helped me over the past year or so to consolidate Eithon Bridge as a publishing enterprise.  The books I’ve seen through to publication so far includes:

Beyond the Well-Mapped Provinces (published by Cheltenham Poetry Society, 2013)
Chance Encounters (published by CPS, 2014)
Cheltenham 300 (published by CPS, 2016)
All a Cat Can Be (co-edited with S MacIntyre; published by Eithon Bridge, 2018)
Invisible Zoos (co-edited with Simon Williams; published by Eithon Bridge, 2019)
Poetry from Gloucestershire (co-edited with Roger Turner; published by Eithon Bridge, 2020)

Invisible Zoos

Thank you to David Morley and Pascale Petit who were tutors on the residential masterclass entitled ‘Invisible Zoos’ that I attended at Ty Newydd near Cricieth in September 2018 … and for generously endorsing the resulting anthology which I edited with Simon Williams and published as Eithon Bridge in November 2019. The book contains 34 poems by 12 of the poets who attended the masterclass: Laboni Islam, Derek Littlewood, Karen McDermott, Caroline Messenger, Marion New, Lesley Sharpe, Theresa Sowerby, Susan Taylor, Joy Wassell Timms, Simon Williams, Annie Wright (and me).  Thank you to each of the contributing poets, especially co-editor Simon Williams, and designer Karen L McDermott who provided an array of images and options for the cover and a wealth of layout advice. Thanks to Chris Griffiths of StroudPrint  https://www.stroudprint.co.uk who arranged for the printing of the anthology.  Copies are for sale from me or via Eithon Bridge https://http://www.EithonBridgeBooks.com
Most of all, thank you to the all poets for their patience in the l-o-n-g editing process … and for buying copies for friends and family! And a final word of appreciation for the wonderful place that is Ty Newydd and the staff there who make it such a warmly welcoming and efficiently run location for first-rate writing retreats.  Diolch o’r galon.

Poetry from Gloucestershire

Thank you to Alison Brackenbury and Angela France for endorsing another anthology that Eithon Bridge will be publishing early in 2020 – Poetry from Gloucestershire, containing poems inspired by the county from poets who attended the Sixth Annual Awayday at Dumbleton Hall in May 2019.  The book contains 33 poems by the 12 poets attending the Awayday: Michael Newman, Belinda Rimmer, David Ashbee, Roger Turner, Sheila Spence, Gill Wyatt, Catherine Baker, Stuart Nunn, Robin Gilbert, Annie Ellis, Alice Ross (and me).  Thanks to contributing poets, some of whom also provided photographs to accompany the poems, and gratitude is also due to the staff at Dumbleton Hall who always make us so welcome, and keep us well sustained with food and drinks at our writing retreat!  Thanks will again be due to Chris at Stroudprint who will arrange for the printing of the Gloucestershire anthology.  Copies will again be available from me or from https://www.EithonBridgeBooks.com

Poetry Café Refreshed

Poetry Café Refreshed held its first event at Smokey Joe’s in Cheltenham in August 2015. As it enters its fifth year, we owe a big ‘Thank You’ to owner, Vickie Godding, for allowing us to hold the event at her wonderful café every month. I’m keen to thank the café staff, too, for all they do to help us make the event run smoothly. And, of course, an especially big ‘Thank You’ goes to all the guest poets in 2019:

Stephen Payne, Brett Evans, Holly Magill, Melanie Branton,
Maggie Harris, Philip Rush, A F Harrold, Raine Geoghegan,
Julia Webb, Oz Hardwick, Luke Palmer, Sarah L Dixon, Phil Kirby.

Thank you for your wonderful poems and performances, all the miles you travelled and all the expense you incurred in coming to read for us.

Thank you to Mr L for taking photographs, to Roger Turner for hosting and taking care of funds, and to everyone who has come to support the events and contribute poems at the open mic.
Stalwarts and regular supporters I’d particularly like to thank are Michael Newman, Gill Wyatt, Annie Ellis, Catherine Baker, Belinda Rimmer, Ian Parker Dodd, Chris Hemingway, Charlie Markwick, Howard Timms, Marilyn Timms, Jennie Farley, Dee Russell-Thomas, Christine Griffin, Cliff Yates, Ruth and Neil Richards, David Gale, Holly Magill, Claire Walker, Ian Glass, Kathy Gee. Thank you, too, to Alison Brackenbury Angela France, Ziggy Dicks and Josephine Lay for supporting Refreshed; and thanks for coming, Chloë Lees, Abdul-Ahud Patel, Sarah, Zoë, Tish and more!  Hope to see you again in 2020, which is shaping up to be another great year.  Here is just a taster:

Jinny Fisher – 15 January
David Briggs – 19 February
Raine Geoghegan – 18 March

Thank you to everyone who has made Poetry Café Refreshed such a success and such an enjoyable evening in the past … and  here’s to continued success in the future.

Festivals and workshops attended

I was thrilled to have a poem in the anthology edited by Ronnie Goodyer and published by Indigo Dreams in 2019. ‘For The Silent ‘ was published to aid the work of the League Against Cruel Sports.  It includes work by so many wonderful poets, including Ronnie himself, Simon Armitage, Pascale Petit, Philip Gross, Alison Brackenbury, Angela France, Carole Bromley, Matt Duggan, Phil Knight and many more.  It was good to share a stage at Cheltenham Playhouse with Ronnie, Alison, Carole, Matt and Angela for the launch event at Cheltenham Poetry Festival in May.  As well as my own poem, Fawn Drinking, I was privileged to read poems by Alwyn Marriage, Sheila Aldous, K V Skene, Pat Edwards and Belinda Rimmer.

It was also great meeting up with Holly Magill, Claire Walker and Ian Glass at the Black and Gold Café in Cheltenham in May, ahead of Holly’s reading at the Festival – a super reading!

Thanks to Pat Edwards for the superb Welshpool Poetry Festival in June.  I particularly valued a seminar led by Jonathan Edwards, which included helpful, detailed comments on poems that delegates sent in advance.  Liz Berry’s and Caroline Bird’s workshops and readings were excellent too.  I felt really privileged to be there.  Meeting up with so many friends from previous Welshpool poetry festivals is a real joy.  If I mention just a few of them, I’ll be in danger of omission, but here goes: Maggie Mackay, Angi Holden, Kathy Gee, Finola Scott, Helen Kay, Paul Waring, Gareth Writer-Davies, Deborah Alma, Bethany Rivers, Nadia Kingsley, John Mills,  Liz Mills, Ruth and Neil Richards, Ruthie Starling … and please forgive me because I know I’ve missed a lot of names, eek!
Tell me off in June 2020!

Thanks, again, to Pat Edwards for an excellent poetry workshop a few weeks after the Festival, which encouraged us to look with keen eyes at works at an exhibition at Mid-Wales Arts, Caersws, (where Mr L and I also had the good fortune to stay overnight, enjoying the wonderful hospitality of artist Cathy Knapp, surrounded by beautiful prints, paintings, ceramics and sculpture).

Thanks to Pat Edwards – again – for inviting me to her launch for Only Blood (Yaffle Press) and thus for the opportunity first hand to see the wonder that is Deborah Alma’s Poetry Pharmacy in Bishops Castle.  It was a wonderful occasion, absolutely full of familiar, happy faces to hear Pat read.  Great to meet Mark Connors and Gill Lambert of Yaffle Press, and to catch up with Paul Waring (whose launch I was sadly unable to attend in the summer) and so many other friendly poets from the borderland and beyond! A fabulous reading by Pat.  Lovely hearing Paul Waring, Jen Hawkins and Gill Lambert read too.

Jonathan Edwards also led an excellent workshop in Cheltenham later in the year, with lots more inspiration, ideas, suggestions and recommendations.  Thank you, again, Jonathan. And thanks Anna Saunders/Cheltenham Poetry Festival for organizing the event, and to Josephine Lay and the Sober Parrot – an excellent venue.  How wonderful to have the opportunity to attend TWO workshops with Jonathan this year!

Thank you to Philip Rush for an inspiring Haiku workshop at The Museum in the Park in Stroud in March, and to Lania Knight for introducing Adam Vines from Alabama, who led an unforgettable ekphrastic workshop at the Museum in March, drawing inspiration from ‘Room in New York’ work by Edward Hopper.

I’m still feeling the benefit from all these workshops, months later, and I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Angela France for her ongoing inspiration, feedback on poems and submissions advice, and for mutual encouragement from so many supportive local poets, notably Belinda Rimmer, Christine Griffin, Catherine Baker, Frankie March, Penny Haworth, Gill Garrett and Judith van Dijkhuizen.  Thanks also to Claire Thelwell for her ‘poetry friendship’ and some memorable evenings talking over poems in cafes and pubs!  And, as always, thank you to the members of Cheltenham Poetry Society’s august Writers’ Group: Michael Newman, David Ashbee, Roger Turner, Stuart Nunn, Robin Gilbert, Sheila Spence, Gill Wyatt, Alice Ross and, again, Catherine Baker. Thanks to everyone who supported me as Chair of CPS until I handed over to Roger Turner at the end of November.  (About time I took a break … and gave everyone else one too, although I remain on the committee and will probably keep as busy!)  Thanks to Roger and Michael as fellow committee members, to Roger, Dave, Stuart and Alice for running workshops in 2019, and to everyone who attended these, as well as meetings of the Poetry Writing and Poetry Reading Groups. Thanks also to Sheila and Gill for their valued friendship (and help with refreshments!) and thanks to Phil Collins and Cheltenham Civic Trust for providing the wonderful venue of Parmoor House for CPS meetings.

 A special thanks to everyone who came on Cheltenham Poetry Society’s Sixth Annual Awayday at Dumbleton Hall in May 2019, and who made the day such a success: Roger, Michael, David, Stuart, Robin, Sheila, Gill, Belinda, Cathy, Alice and Annie Ellis. Finally, thank you to Terry Hall and all the staff at Dumbleton Hall who made the day so smooth and successful for us … as always.  We’re looking forward to our Seventh Awayday in May 2020!

Other publication successes

An especially big thank to Leo Boix and Nathalie Teitler, editors for Magma 76, for taking my poem La Trinchera for the forthcoming Resistencia issue of Magma. This is my first poem in Magma, so I am delighted.

As well as the For the Silent anthology (IDP), I have been pleased to place poems in other anthologies during the year.  Thanks to Andy Jackson and George Szirtes for including some of my clerihews in the wonderful Call of the Clerihew anthology, published early in 2019.
Thanks to the multi-talented poet Philip Rush for the excellent Wool and Water poetry project (which accompanied the exhibition of that name at Stroud’s wonderful Museum in the Park), and the launch of two pamphlets, in September.  I was very pleased to receive the invitation to take part, and to submit poems for the Wool pamphlet.  The launch was a wonderful occasion, on a sunny Sunday afternoon where we heard excellent poems from Rowan Middleton, Lesley Ingram, Mark Huband,  Caroline Shaw and Jacqui Stearn with a guest reading from Rick Hool. I also read three of the five wool-themed poems I had accepted for the pamphlet.  Thanks to everyone who made the event so enjoyable.  I was sad not to be able to make it to the launch of the Water pamphlet at an event shortly afterwards.  The Water pamphlet, with poems from Jo Bousfield, Kim Baker, Eley Furrell, James Holliday, JLM Morton, Maxine Relton and Maria Stadnicka, is a companion delight.

Thanks to Rebecca Bilkau for taking a poem for the Well, Dam! anthology from Beautiful Dragons Press and to Rachael Hooson for sending me my copies of the book!

Thanks to Brett Evans for taking poems for Prole;
Kate Garrett for taking poems for Bonnie’s Crew and
George Simmers for taking a poem for Snakeskin.
One or two of my poems have appeared at Visual Verse … thank you!

I’m delighted to have five poems up at the Places of Poetry website and map.  It was a chance to put some delightful but less well known places in England and Wales ‘on the map’.  Thanks to The Poetry Society, National Poetry Day, Paul Farley, Andrew McRae, The Universities of Exeter and Lancaster, and everyone involved in running and funding this amazing project. I could spend hours map-hopping, enjoying poems all over England and Wales.  https://www.placesofpoetry.org.uk

Competitions

Thanks – again to Ronnie and Dawn – for commending my manuscript, Sol y Sombra, in the Indigo Dreams’ Geoff Stevens Collection Competition in March 2019.  Congratulations to winners Jenny Mitchell and Carl Griffin and all the commended and highly commended poets, and especially Rufus Mufasa, Pat Edwards, Rebecca Gethin & Marilyn Timms.  http://indigodreams.co.uk/geoff-stevens/4594095381

Other lovely poetry things that happened in 2019

Thank you to Alison Brackenbury for the kind invitation to be one of the readers in June at the launch at Alison’s Bookshop in Tewkesbury of ‘Ten Poems about Horses’ selected and edited by Alison, and published by Candlestick Press.  It was a lovely warm-hearted event, with a reading and words about the book from Alison, and supporting readings from Tony Curtis (who also performed music, playing the guitar at the event), Neil Richards, Iris Anne Lewis & Christine Whittemore.  Thank you to Candlestick Press for the wonderful event, which included a fabulous bag of goodies for readers, including copies of Candlestick Press’s Ten Poems about Bees, Sheep, Dogs, Cats, Birds, Chickens … as well as Horses, of course … and some ‘horsey treats’ including Polo mints, and an apple! Thank you to the excellent Alison’s Bookshop in Tewkesbury to which I have … obviously …  returned for ‘visits’!

Thank you – again – to Alison Brackenbury for inviting me to read a poem at her launch of Gallop at New Bohemians in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham in the autumn. It was a lovely celebratory occasion for Alison’s collected.

Thank you – diolch – to Ieuan Morris who contacted me, out of the blue, in late 2019 to ask if my ‘erudite translation’ of the William Williams Crwys poem ‘Melin Trefin’ could appear, acknowledged, in his forthcoming book on Pembrokeshire from Y Lolfa Press. (I’m thrilled. I always wanted to have something in a book published by my favourite Ceredigion-based publisher!) Looking forward very much to acquiring a copy in 2020. Thanks … yet again … to Chris Hemingway for contacting me about the poem initially. This story continues to run and run!

Thank you – again – to Angela France for passing on the baton to me as the Gloucestershire Stanza  (Glostanza) representative.
Thanks to lovely poets from the Cirencester area for inviting me to lead, as a Glos Stanza activity, a couple of workshops at Somerford Keynes during the year: a lovely warm and welcoming group.  Thank you, especially, Iris Anne Lewis, for the invitation.
Thanks to the Poetry Society’s Stanza Coordinator, Paul McGrane, for a wonderful Stanza event at The Poetry Café in London in March, and for the opportunity to meet up with so many other Stanza Reps there, to hear a mini report on events in their area … and a poem from each representative present.  Hoping to meet them again … and probably other Stanza reps …  in 2020.
While talking about Stanzas, congratulations to Belinda Rimmer on being a joint runner up in this year’s Poetry Society Stanza competition.  (Glad that my poem about the Bayeux tapestry got a mention (described by the judge as being one of ‘two crackers’ on the subject!)

I enjoyed being invited to read a preview copy of ‘Everything Rhymes With Orange’ by Derek Dohren, ahead of providing an endorsement for this entertaining and accomplished first collection. *Do* buy a copy of the book! (It’s on Amazon).

Thanks to Michael Newman, Gill Wyatt and Alice Ross for joining me as a small team holding readings and collaborative workshops for residents at Cheltenham Care Homes and thank you to Jenny Spencer especially for inviting us, in the spring and again towards Christmas.  We always enjoy our visits, and are pleased the residents seem to enjoy it too!

I also gave two talks, to the wonderful people who work in residential care homes in Gloucester and Cheltenham. On consecutive days in September, I explained, first in Cheltenham and then in Gloucester, what a small group from Cheltenham Poetry Society have being doing in recent years in Cheltenham Care Homes. Basically, 3 or 4 of us read poems on a given, often seasonal, topic (eg Christmas, Easter, Spring, Autumn). These are a mix of poems by well known poets, and our own.  We use music to break the ice initially, playing a song patients are likely to know so they can sing along if they want to.  Then we use a flip chart and ask patients to suggest words and phrases on the theme.  We capture those, and encourage people to work with us to write, for example, a collaborative poem (perhaps 3 four-line rhyming stanzas with a good rhythm).  We encourage reminiscence which might be helpful to dementia patients.  The number of care workers attending the two information-sharing sessions averaged around 20-25.  It was good to discuss with them how poetry might help patients, and to consider suggestions from the care workers how our little CPS team might improve our sessions.  More volunteers are needed, so if you live or work in Cheltenham or Gloucester, and would like more information about serving your society in this way, please do get in touch.  It is both rewarding and enjoyable!

Thanks to Paul Brookes for giving me a poet’s interview for his website Wombwell Interviews. https://thewombwellrainbow.com/2019/01/09/wombwell-rainbow-interviews-sharon-larkin/

Thanks to Oliver Tipper and the Wilson Art Gallery and Museum’s open Thursday events during 2019, a highlight being The Enduring Eye exhibition showing photos from The Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic.  Local poets were invited to a private showing of the exhibition and then an event in February 2019 to read the poems we had written, inspired by the photographs.  A super initiative.  Thanks again, Oliver!

Thanks to Gill Wyatt, Belinda Rimmer , Claire Walker and Holly Magill for unforgettable chats about poetry … and life.  Thanks especially to Holly to for a super day out in Worcester in the autumn.

Thank you to Trustees, Committee and Members of Cheltenham Art’s Council for their support during my Chairmanship (2016-2019) and especially at the Arts Awards event in March and at the AGM in June.  Thanks to Paul Scott for hosting the awards night at The Playhouse and also speaking at the AGM about the exciting plans for redeveloping The Theatre as an Arts Centre.  An exciting prospect!  Thanks also to everyone who supplied articles and photographs for Perspectives magazine for which I was editor.  Thank you for the huge bouquet as I relinquished both posts at the AGM after 3 years as Chair, and a couple of years as Perspectives editor.

THANK YOU EVERYONE for the part you have played in my Poetry Year.
Glad to have played a part in yours too!