MWC at Ledbury and Malvern Civic Week

Asked to compère the MWC event for Ledbury Poetry Festival for a second year; a great honour to be introducing a selection of our talented members and friends at the lovely Seven Stars pub.

This year it was a much tougher gig due to several factors:  a Friday night (the pub was packed; our “reserved” area was very much pre-occupied by after work drinkers who weren’t all poetry enthusiasts); the planned radio mic malfunctioned (the pub staff were great; within minutes Plan B – a boom mic – was in operation); and our musical interlude, though charming, was inappropriate for the venue.

No pictures because I was too busy on the night juggling poetry, poets and the best surprise breakfast ever (yes, a bit late; it was a busy day), sardines hot from the pub’s BBQ thanks to my wonderful husband.

A couple of days later Linda Blackett led our proceedings as MWC members read alongside The Hills Poets and Malvern Storytellers for a Malvern Civic Week event in the Malvern Theatres foyer. It was a superb three hour session with time for poetry and prose – and in the foyer it was pleasantly cool. A complete stranger accosted me to tell me how much she was enjoying it, which made my day.

Aside from those MWC events, I was delighted to help at Ledbury Festival again this year – stewarding, making tea in hospitality, hosting lovely Leanne O’Sullivan and her husband all the way from Cork for a few nights and even braving event management. (I didn’t tell my lovely poets I was a novice until after their event had passed off smoothly. Phew.).

So many wonderful events I heard and a bundle I couldn’t make because of the day job (including Leanne’s) or because they clashed with my stewarding duties. I loved my friends in the Vaginellas and Decadent Divas raunchy yet thought-provoking session. Another highlight for me was a workshop with Jacob Polley, looking at how we might take a poem and develop it further. Fascinating to hear his analysis of all our poems.

 

Rose in a Ledbury garden