Poetry Competitions May and June 2016

Two local competitions have been brought to our attention. The first is the Ripley Poetry Prize where entries are invited on any of the following three themes – Soul, Fragment, Manifesting.

The submission deadline is May 20th. and the prize is £100. The judges are Fellows of The Royal Society of Arts.

The second competition is the Penge Poetry Competition, closing date June 3rd. poems up to 20 lines on any subject. Contestants must have a London postcode. The judge is Giles de la Mare and the first prize is £75 plus a book of Walter de la Mare’s poetry. See the fliers for each of these competitions for further details.

Roy Shufflebotham

After the Easter break we were saddened to hear of Roy’s death. He had begun attending our meetings about three years ago and contributed enthusiastically.

Then illness took its toll and he was no longer able to come.

Knowing how much Roy enjoyed poetry his family asked if one of us would be willing to read a poem at his funeral. This invitation was gladly taken up. Nola Turner and Ruth Smith attended Roy’s funeral and Ruth read Christina Rossetti’s poem, ‘Let Me Go.’ Roy’s sister-in-law, Caroline, conveyed the family’s thanks.

Keith Massey Reading

Not only a poet but a playwright, Keith belongs to our Writers’ Group but not all of us were aware that he writes plays.

We have been invited to a rehearsed reading of his latest at 7pm on Thursday 5th. May at St George’s Church Bloomsbury.

It is a free event with a collection for Amnesty International. The play is called ‘Which One Of You Is Jesus Christ?’ and is set in a psychiatric hospital where three patients have made this claim.

Meeting on April 26th 2016

The Summer Term began with a talk given by Patsy Paine on some of the literary figures associated with the area of Hilly Fields in South London.

There was David Jones, the 1st.World War poet, Ernest Dowson, who died young and is buried in Ladywell Cemetary, Henry Williamson of ‘Tarka The Otter’ fame, to mention a few. Walter de la Mare lived in nearby Anerley, Browning at New Cross and Edith Nesbit lived in Lewisham. Patsy wondered how many ‘finds’ there would be if a line was drawn around any area in London.

The rest of the meeting gave an opportunity for members to read poems of their own choice. Shakespeare’s 400th. anniversary did not go un-noted but the choices were, as usual ,varied. Among them were poems by Baudelaire, a contemporary Romanian poet, Ogden Nash, Christopher Reid, Walt Whitman and Leonard Clark.