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ISSUE 216 Date: 2nd December 2011

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Issue 216

Page 2

BOOK ORDERING To order : Cheques payable to Rising Brook Writers, please. (Do not send

cash through the post.) All are plus £1.20 P&P Order via Rising Brook Writers c/o Rising Brook Library, Merrey Road, Stafford ST17 9LX Back Stock List Available: FARE DEAL (£5.00) STILL WATERS (£5.00)

Thoughts & Quotes ...

Wiki

Quotes

And

Image

We‟d all like t‟vote fer th‟best man, but he‟s never a candidate. ~ Kin Hubbard

Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are to

end? ~ Marie Antoinette (born 2 November 1755)

It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are

more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. ~ Marie Antoinette

By the theory of our Government majorities rule, but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It

is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object

of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their

just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution as a shield against such oppression. ~

James K. Polk

You know, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"? It's the same with powerless-

ness. Absolute powerlessness corrupts absolutely. Einstein said everything had changed since the

atom was split, except the way we think. We have to think anew. ~ Studs Terkel

Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets their

grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful soaring free.

~ Lois McMaster Bujold

All great human deeds both consume and transform their doers. Consider an

athlete, or a scientist, or an artist, or an independent business creator. In the

service of their goals they lay down time and energy and many other choices

and pleasures; in return, they become most truly themselves. A false destiny

may be spotted by the fact that it consumes without transforming, without giv-

ing back the enlarged self. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold

Art is a revolt against fate. ~ André Malraux (born 3 November 1901)

Man's right to know, to learn, to inquire, to make bona fide errors, to investigate human emotions

must, by all means, be safe, if the word FREEDOM should ever be more than an empty political slo-

gan. ~ Wilhelm Reich (died 3 November 1957)

Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destruc-

tiveness. ~ Wilhelm Reich

A thirst for personal salvation, the West forgets that many religions had but a vague notion of the life

beyond the grave; true, all great religions stake a claim on eternity, but not necessarily on man's eter-

nal life. ~ André Malraux

Follow the voice of your heart, even if it leads you off the path of timid souls. Do not become hard

and embittered, even if life tortures you at times. There is only one thing that counts: to live one's life

well and happily... ~ Wilhelm Reich

The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profu-

sion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own

selves, images powerful enough to deny our own nothingness. ~ André Malraux (born November 3,

1901)

Issue 216

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labyrinthine adj 1. Physically resembling a labyrinth; with the qualities of a maze.

2. Twisting, convoluted, baffling, confusing, perplexing.

winnow v 1. To free or separate grain or the like from chaff or refuse matter, usually by means of wind.

2. To wave to and fro; to flutter; to flap.

crestfallen adj 1. Sad because of a recent event.

2. Depressed.

illuminate v 1. To shine light on something.

2. To clarify or make something understandable.

3. To decorate the page of a manuscript book with ornamental de-

signs.

crystalize v 1. To assume crystalline form.

2. To take definite form.

higgledy-piggledy adj

1. In utter order or confusion; mixed up.

percolate v

1. To filter a liquid through a porous substance.

flagship n 1. A ship occupied by the fleet commander.

2. The most important item in a related group.

LIFE OBSERVATIONS Why do so called „public consultations‟ never ask for opinions on what is really at the heart of the problem? The reforms of school meals are back sliding and high profit, low quality cheap junk is returning so it is alleged ... is anyone surprised? When pubs get a bad name breweries change the name and the manage-ment, perhaps hospitals should follow this example of good business practice. Common sense isn‟t all that common at all. It is just as important to be kind to friends as it is to strangers. ONLY ... It is very annoying how the advertising industry seemingly applies “ONLY” to every price ... “It‟s ONLY so much” ... when the “so much” is often being charged for exorbitantly over-priced tat. Emotional grief and pain is never improved by lashing out at others.

Wiki image

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Rising Brook Writers is a voluntary charitable trust.

What does this mean?

RBW operates under the watchful eye of the charity commission.

RBW is operated by a well meaning bunch of Trustees.

RBW provides „services‟ for the benefit of our service users.

These services are to encourage creative writing activities.

The charity‟s mission statement goes on to say what opportunities are provided.

The charity operates community workshops: in the library; online and by touring

community groups.

RBW also encourages fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama writing.

RBW is also a publishing house

Sounds like a lot of work, doesn‟t it?

There are only usually around SIX Trustees who have a duty not only to manage the

charity‟s finances in a professional manner but to also be „hands-on‟ in the provision

of all the activities, which include putting on major events such as DRAMA DAY at the

Gatehouse, show stands at the County Show and all the book publishing and launch-

ing. Not forgetting live poetry performances ...

That seems like a fist full of blood, toil, sweat and tears for SIX people.

Now reduce that number by a third ... That is where we are at today.

Without more hands to the pumps RBW will likely have to close.

RBW has a full events card for the next twelve months ...

Have YOU ever thought of rolling up your selves and joining the RBW team?

It‟s a great fun way of “putting something back” it‟s not as arduous as clearing

canals, or as heart breaking as working with the homeless, but it still is valuable and

valued voluntary work.

We might seem as if we drink a lot of tea and eat a lot of biscuits but underneath we

are like a swan ... calm and serene on top and paddling like billy-o underneath.

Anyone wishing to be considered for Trusteeship please make themselves known

either by turning up in the library or through the website contact page.

Please be aware, all successful Trustee applicants will need to be CRB checked at

full disclosure level for working with vulnerable adults and references will be taken

up prior to appointment.

If a full Trusteeship seems a step too far, but you still have a lot to give, then please

do come along and join in ... volunteering changes lives ... as Gandhi said ...

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Thank you!

Random Words PMW

Mrs Sanders was 52, divorced, worked part-time and was lonely. She worried life

would pass her by. All she did was dust, iron, vacuum, and for what? Then she

joined a computer class, discovered the joys of internet dating, and met Joe.

They began an online correspondence. She asked about him.

“I‟m 39 and an artist.” Joe replied. He was actually 28, but liked to appear

more mature.

“Wonderful!” she responded. “Landscapes?”

“More into symbolism, actually. And you?”

“I‟m 45 and in the beauty business”.

Blurry e-mail portraits were sent. Brenda Sanders loved Joe‟s large, piercing

blue eyes.

Then one day, out shopping, she saw him. He resembled a scarecrow in his

drainpipe trousers and check shirt, and was painting children in white paint on the

road outside the local school.

So much for art and symbolism, she mused. Then again, she hadn‟t admitted

being a dog groomer, had she?

Random words. CMH

Mrs Sanders looked at her husband, she‟d prefer not too as he was, as always,

dressed like a large scarecrow. Her piercing gaze seemed to pass straight through the

vacuum that, she was sure, was between his ears.

“Drainpipe”, he said? “What drainpipe are you on about Ermintrude? That is

symbolic of public opinion. The symbolism is a bit far out I admit, but the Arts

Council bought it anyway. Now we can eat and answer all that correspondence you

keep telling me about. Overall, according to the critics, „Workers Playtime‟ is a re-

sounding success. Now all I have to do is get something to make another master-

piece out of. I‟ll go and have a look on the rubbish tip. See you later!”

Random words: SMS

Was it a nightmare? Was this how her life would pan out for the rest of her days?

Stuck in a perpetual Wednesday, bored out of her mind on the checkout desk for

Western Airlines. An old woman with a hunchback, bent so low she could hardly see

over the counter top, pushed forward her passport. “Nice day. An Indian summer!

Ideal for flying, isn‟t it?” said the voice light as a young girl‟s, perhaps a compensa-

tion for the affliction. Marybell didn‟t reply, but stamped the boarding card and

pushed it across the counter. Later that afternoon the old woman‟s words came back

to her, as fascinated by the unfolding disaster, she watched flight 827 loop turn into a

catenary curve and disappear behind the shadow of Mount Fairweather bathed in its

perpetual layer of mythical cloud. There was no bang, only a flash and telltale plume of smoke drifting on the breeze.

Issue 216

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STUDIOS OF HOSPITAL RADIO

STAFFORD AND CANNOCK

WITH PRESENTERS SHEILA & ANDY

RBW IN THE COMMUNITY

Fare Deal’s 75 MP3 tracks will be scheduled into their overnight

programming which is their regular slot for drama and stories.

CLIVE‟s three free e-books

NOW PUBLISHED on RBW and issuu

http://www.risingbrookwriters.org.uk/DynamicPage.aspx?PageID=52

http://issuu.com/risingbrookwriters

Issue 216

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Random Words. November 27th. PMW

June, July and August were disappointing;- cool and grey, but as a slight compensation, by September, the

weather had improved. Wednesday the 20th was ideal for a late summer soiree.

Kate had invited her work colleagues, including her line manager, two office workers and the company

managing director, and was anxious to make a good impression. She did. Her cookery and hostessing skills were

much appreciated.

When everyone had gone, she kicked off her shoes, turned down the lights and flopped into an armchair with a

glass of rose. Suddenly, she saw four figures and a catenery in the shadows. There before her was Jacob Marley, a

cowboy complete with Stetson and holster, straight out of a Western, a mythical, half-man, half beast creature and

bringing up the rear, a grotesque hunchback.

Oddly, she recognised them as her big bosses and co-workers. What a nightmare! No more cheese, she re-

solved.

“The programmes always have changed on a Wednesday, Sid. Been like it for years it has. No, Sid, no Westerns again, been

like that for years as well.‟

„Are they still making Westerns, Fred? I mean the last on I saw was that fellow with a limp, Hopalong some-at or

other and that fellow with a beard in it. Can‟t recall his name, summat Haynes I think.

„Know who you means, Sid. The Hunchback of San Dringham I think was his last one Mind you, I had nightmares

after that one. I know it was in the summer anyway; „cos the Shadows had just released a record.‟

„One of them mythical summers was it Fred? The ideal one‟s we got as compensation for being broke?‟

„Could be, mate, could be. Now just pass us that catenary wire so‟s I can fix this sign board; then we‟ll re-open this

ancient cinema to the paying public. (RANDOM WORDS CMH)

“Okay, I heard you; I‟m off down to the shops now. You want some greens for tea, got that. Cucumber, Celery, Radishes.”

Down at the shop. “Hello, Fred. Tot this lot up will you and give me some stamps as well, would you. First class

should do I think.”

“Seven pound and nineteen pence for this lot, Bill.”

“What do you reckon, Fred. Will this lot go through the post box slot or will I have to go down to the post office?”

“Wouldn‟t have thought that you‟d get them through the slot, Bill. Too wide you see and anyway what do you want

to do that for?”

“I dunno, Fred. It‟s what the wife told me to do. She said I was to post some lettuce for her.” (CMH)

NEW PROJECT WORK: LUCIUS [comments please CMH]

Chapter One

Britannia Inferior. Nones of Maius 786 AUC [13 May 164 AD], near Inveresk [Antonine wall.]

“They're out there somewhere, I can almost smell them.” I muttered, almost to myself, as my eyes and ears

strained into the blackness beyond the parapet.

“When you talk to yourself in that tone of voice I know you're going mad.” The gently glinting shadow that

had silently appeared at my side murmured in reply. “Jupiter! Of course they're out there you clown! The ques-

tions are: who is out there and how many of the buggers are there? What did the sentinels say when you did the

rounds?”

“Mainly, 'Nothing to report, sir'. As you'd expect, seeing as how they're short of water and food and are half

asleep after yesterday. Not that most of them would know when some-thing‟s wrong anyway. Except for the man

on the Principia Portus, he said that there'd been a dogfight or something a little earlier. Said a fox had called and

there was some snarling and stuff.”

There was a very short silence, then the quiet order, “Stand the men too Optio! That was neither fox nor wolf,

this is the wrong kind of country for foxes and the wrong time of day for either them. Whatever it was; that wasn't

an animal that we want know about. But do it quietly, we don't want the Picts to know that we know. They're go-

ing to get a warm welcome when they do appear.”

“The lads haven't had a lot of rest or food, sir. They'll still be whacked from yesterday.”

“Not lot of choice, Lucius.” The shadow who was Centurio Crescens told me. “You've been my Optio for

long enough to realise that. They can be rested, and dead when those blue painted bastard come over that fence,

or they can be tired and ready to get a few of them as an escort across the Styx.”

“I know, sir. Dis take them! We've only got to last another two days here and then we can pull out.”

“Moan afterwards, Lucius. Sometime when we're sitting with a jug of wine, somewhere warm and clear of

blue painted tribesmen. Get those men on the walls. Now!”

LETTERS ASSIGNMENT: A letter to the past: If the fates would allow and I could have written a let-

ter to my late grandmother Florrie to tell her how her life story had so inspired me, and how grate-

ful I was to her, for overcoming adversity at the time of the First World War then this would have

been the letter I would have written:-

To Mrs Florence Birks, Barnsley, Yorkshire 1918

Dear Florrie

This afternoon and looked again at your photograph: it was the one you and Bernard had

taken before he left for Flanders. I could hardly see your face hidden under the brim of that enor-

mous hat.

But, those were happier times weren‟t they? You looked so excited in your Sunday best frock

and button boots on Bernard‟s arm and him all dressed up and looking such a gent in his army uni-

form with the shiny buttons and putties. He was even twisting his moustache for the camera with

such a swagger. Happy days! So full of national pride and our army of volunteer recruits so keen to

put the world to rights.

It will be a small consolation to you that you are not now totally alone in your grief. Thousands

upon thousands of women are now wearing black. The trenches were bad enough without the in-

fluenza epidemic sweeping across Europe as well. No words of mine in condolence will be ade-

quate to convey my sense of kinship with your recent tragic loss. For any mother to bury her son is

incomprehensible to most of us and some things never change across the years. That you had to

bury two of your little sons on the same day is a tragedy beyond comprehension.

Take heart that Billy and little Alan are now feeling no more pain, their suffering is past. The

flu like pestilence is leaving so few families unscathed; children and the elderly are dying like flies.

Even across the years there seems little medicine can do even now to avert effects of that smallest

of our enemies: contagious disease.

The one ray of hope I see in your grief is that Bernard has been found. We must give praise

for that one small mercy. That awful brown envelope from the telegraph office saying „Missing In

Action‟ was a blow you did not need in your time of such deep mourning. That his wounds are be-

ing treated in that French hospital is another blessing, when he‟s shipped home my dear I urge you

to do as he suggests.

It seems only good sense to leave Barnsley. There‟s nothing left for you there now but misery

with your two boys lying under the sod. Do as he says and do come to Tixall. The promise of work

for Bernard at the prisoner of war camp on Cannock Chase is not to be sniffed at. You‟ll like the

wide open countryside. It will lift your weary spirits and present boundless opportunities for your

other five children to flourish.

Through your darkest days try to focus on the blessings there are still to count, you and the

other children have survived the influenza, Bernard is coming home soon as a wounded survivor

and a hero and he has a job to come home to. You both have the chance of a new start. He‟ll need

your love and tolerance to support him when he comes back to these shores. He too has lost so

much. When the War Department commandeered all his drays and wagons for the war effort I saw

the light dim in his eyes.

Pray think on this advice and realize as I do that although many things do not change with

time some things do. You can‟t go on spending your days in the cemetery; your other children need

you to be strong. Bernard needs you to be there for him on his return from that hell hole. Pull to-

gether the strands of your life my dear and go onwards, don‟t look back, in that way lies madness

and despair. Time is a great healer and I pray that in time to come you will learn to cope more and

more everyday with your sad loss and will pick up the pieces. With dearest love from your grand-

daughter.

Footnote: Florrie did up-sticks and move to the Staffordshire countryside with all her brood. Ber-

nard survived and after the end of the war they set up home in the village of Tixall. Florrie died

aged 86 years in the 1960s. She, and her beloved Bernard, are both now buried in Baswich

churchyard, Stafford. Without Florrie overcoming the loss of her babies to the flu epidemic, had

she turned to madness while Bernard was overseas, it is likely the remaining children would have

been taken into the workhouse where many died young. Life for the following three generations of

sons, daughters, grand children and great-grandchildren would not have been the same had,

everyday-heroine, Florrie Birks, against all the odds, not pulled herself back from the brink of de-

spair and sallied forth.

Fiction Project: ARE WE THERE YET?

Editor’s notes. A message from the manuscript

editor:

Character list: Charlie Witters and his brother, Brendan They own the coach company

Angelo Driver FC Tours Coach No: 666 – Anglo-Italian – diamond smuggler

Samantha Goodright Courier FC Tours – niece of the Witter brothers

Ted Fetler Relief driver FC Tours

Vera Pensioner - bladder weakness (Coldwynd Sands and Fare Deal)

Gloria Pensioner - tubby companion to Vera

Dan Forthright Inept, pompous PI – former rank DCI (Coldwynd Sands and WTAWTAW)

Pete Ferret Sidekick to Forthright PI— insurance agents for stolen jewels

Tudor and Dewi Davies Welsh sheep farmers won a ticket in a raffle

Cyril & Muriel Pinkney Pompous Headmaster and long-suffering wife - hots for Henri

Henri, Comte de Monte Donne - French aristo (?)

Henri’s unnamed brother – a black sheep

Mrs Richardson (Fare Deal) carrying Dickie’s mortal remains in a carrier bag

Bobby Owen (Fare Deal) accompanying Mrs Richardson

Jason Ratisson (JR) and Jacqueline Gardien (Jacqui). Lovers having a preliminary honeymoon.

Martin Man of Mystery — go-between for jewel thieves and buyers

Mick and Meg Dale Mick has wandering affection

Mrs Grace Ferret

Pete’s wife and partner in the PI business. Doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Mavis.

Mrs Mavis Forthright

Dan’s wife and partner in the PI business. Doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Grace.

Lady Antonia Garibaldi Italian grand dame – diamond smuggler in cahoots with driver

Miss Wainright Mousy companion to Lady Garibaldi (might be a man, as yet undecided)

Barry and Beryl Smith Pools Winners. Parents to Harry and Cilla

Sandy Rathe, and his friend, Julian, Grapes of Rathe Guesthouse

Sister Margarette and Sister Bernadette – the fake nuns on the run from One Legged Eddie

Sister Ignatius and Sister Teresa - the real nuns

Issue 216

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Assignment Topic: One man’s meat is another man’s poison Random Words Exercise : condemnation, Stetson, rainwear, mandarin,

bones, Harold, screaming, imperfect, red, chillies

This project is now in the wind down stage in

readiness for the new project starting in January.

RBW does not endorse any competition.

RBW does not endorse any competition.

NEW EXERCISE

Some folks are getting bored with our weekly random words exercise

while other folks love it. So for those who fancy a change, or having a go

at writing tight, here‟s another exercise to try.

In 20 words, or fewer, describe an everyday object, or task, without actu-

ally naming it for other group members to guess what it is. (Another way

of thinking of this is making up cryptic crossword clues.)

E.g. Shiny in the darkness, glowing receptacle forged in fire, waxed-ivory

melted from bees, combination illuminates path to nod. (19)

(Brass candlestick & candle)

Issue 216

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Press Release:

“Colin’s Story… the Hezekiah Years”

by Penny M Wheat

Stafford author, Penny Wheat is launching a new book

to raise funds for Katharine House Hospice. “Colin‟s

Story… the Hezekiah Years”, is a heart-rending story

of a warm, funny man; no Holy Joe, but an uncompli-

cated person, and his great God. It is a story of love,

loss, bereavement and grief: factors which impact at

one time or another on everyone‟s life; - and how a

belief in an afterlife can make all the difference to

those left behind. His was one of the cases investigated

at the enquiry into the scandal-hit Stafford Hospital.

Colin was an ordinary man who had to suffer an

extraordinary catalogue of illness. In a two-year pe-

riod, he was struck down with obstructive jaundice,

renal failure, Mrsa, septicaemia, Clostridium Difficile,

cardiac arrest, diabetes, urine retention and pancreatic

cancer. At one point, he was clinically dead.

Yet throughout everything, he maintained his

faith and was an example to all around him. The book

is the story of his battle with ill health and poor hospi-

tal care. Anyone who has lost a loved one will identify

with Penny‟s feelings of regret, guilt, fear, loss and

pain. But besides this it is a story of triumph and of

God‟s faithfulness. A tale full of hope.

It is also a love story. Yet not just between two

people, but between an ordinary man and His Lord.

The story of a faith so strong that it inspired many peo-

ple who generally had nothing to do with church or

religion, yet who recognised in him a man whose trust

in God made a vital difference to his own life and to the way he treated and related to others. Some-

one who loved his fellow man and lived out his unshakeable beliefs on a daily basis.

Pam Rhodes, Patron of the Hospice Movement., and presenter of BBC TV‟s “Songs of Praise”, says

of he book: 'This is a tale of love, commitment, passion, challenge, tears, laughter, pain and the deepest of faith - faith in each other, and faith in the God they both love. Penny writes with searing honesty - and yet this is a story which will touch the heart and lift the spirit.'

Penny is a part-time lecturer in silversmithing and jewellery at Stafford College, and popular public

speaker. Her book about prison friendships on America‟s Death Row, “And You Visited Me”, was

published by Monarch in 2005. She has also had several nature poems accepted for publication since

then. Both she and her husband, Colin, were born and bred in Staffordshire.

The book launch and signing is at Church Lane Evangelical Church, Staf-

ford on Saturday, December 3rd at 11.00 am followed by refreshments. All wel-

come! Penny will also be conducting book signings at Stafford Town Library on

the same day at 1.00 pm and at The Baptist Church on the Green, Stafford at a

time/date still to be arranged.

There’s another new 2 hour mix of material in The Loop on Radio Wildfire – Now play-ing 24/7 a completely new selection of stories, satires, poetry, spoken word, music and inter-view @ www.radiowildfire.com - another two hours of live literature and chat. AND there's Walsall Wellbeing Recharged a special show repeating four times a day as part of Walsall Celebrates UK Disability History Month - details below. The Loop brings you Interviews with Symphony Hall Poet in Residence Julie Boden about her new poem/animation project The Mechanical Musical Marvel; with the team from BE magazine, the literary glossy newly published out of Worcester; and with Sue Johnson talking about her new novel Fable's Fortune and Creative Alchemy: 12 Steps from Inspira-tion to Finished Novel, both hot from the presses. There's Poetry from Sally Clarke, Jenny Hope, Fernando Smith and Dave Finchett who tells the strange story of Swiss Elvis, Heather Wastie's Hallowe'en Nightmare and a Radio Wildfire archive interview and reading from Angela France about First World War poetry from the French trenches. The Loop brings you Monologue and Story in the shape of Chris Hoskins' Me Self and Martin Underwood's Saving The Seeds ... and Music from Cornwall based poet and songstress Sally Crabtree with Song of the Night, and from Manni with Leave The City. PLUS: Irons In The Fire: Jan Watts' Laureate's Diary - the monthly diary from Birming-ham's Poet Laureate AND there's Gary Longden's Listings, the only regular spoken run-down of what's on in the spoken word community in the Midlands and beyond - check it out you might just be featured! And at 02.00, 08.00, 14.00 & 20.00hrs UK time each day we are retransmitting Walsall Wellbeing Recharged the live broadcast that we made from the New Art Gallery Walsall for Walsall Wellbeing Festival as part of Walsall Celebrates UK Dis-ability History Month - full details on our listings webpage. Join us and listen by going to www.radiowildfire.com and clicking on The Loop The Loop will play online continuously for the next month, except during our live broadcast on Monday 5th December starting at 8.00pm UK time with a full programme. Radio Wildfire is an independent online radio station which blends spoken word, poetry, per-formance literature, comedy, storytelling, short stories and more with a novel selection of word/music fusion and an eclectic mix of musical styles. www.radiowildfire.com currently broadcasts live 8.00-10.00pm (UK time) on the first Monday of every month.

POETRY LIBRARY NEWS: GEOFFREY HILL Sunday 11 December: Geoffrey Hill has been described as 'the greatest living poet in the English language'. Hear him read from new collection Clavis. Book tickets / More info >> http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/geoffrey-hill-61672 ECHOES OF GEOFFREY HILL Sunday 11 December New poets including Katherine Kilalea and Niall McDevitt read from their work and the poetry of Geoffrey Hill in celebration of the revered poet's influence. Admission free /More info >> http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/echoes-of-geoffrey-hill-61655 TS ELIOT PRIZE READINGS Sunday 15 January Described as 'the world's top poetry award', experience the best poetry of the last 12 months in one evening. Hear this year's shortlisted poets - John Burnside, Carol Ann Duffy, Leontia Flynn, David Harsent, John Kinsella, Esther Morgan, Daljit Nagra, Sean O'Brien, Bernard O'Donoghue and Alice Oswald - read their work introduced by Ian McMillan. Book tickets / More info >> http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/t-s-eliot-prize-readings-62036

SAVE THOSE UNWANTED XMAS PRESENTS

RBW’ INDOOR TABLE TOP SALE

IS BEING PLANNED FOR EARLY IN THE NEW YEAR

BOOKS, BRIC-A-BRAC & VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Issue 216

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Issue 216

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THE POETRY SLOT

This item is from The First World War Poetry Digital Archive, University of Oxford www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/

Licensed for n-f-p educational use. (Article is reproduced slightly abridged.)

Ivor Gurney (1890–1937)

Ivor Gurney was born in Gloucester on 28th August 1890, the son of David

and Florence Gurney, a family of tailors. The Gloucestershire countryside,

was to be a major influence constantly drawing him back. He was educated at

the King's School in Gloucester Cathedral as a chorister and organist, and his

love of music was to be a dominating influence. In 1911 he studied at the

Royal College of Music under Sir Charles Stanford.

Gurney tried to enlist at the outbreak of war, but was rejected due to

poor eyesight. He eventually joined on the 9th February, 1915, as a private

with the 2nd/5th Gloucesters. He was injured in early 1917, and later during

the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) was gassed and invalided home. Whilst on active service

Gurney began to concentrate on poetry. As well are producing poetry, he also commented on the

works of contemporary poets. He corresponded with a friend Marion Scott throughout, who assisted

in getting his poems ready for print. In 1917 Severn and Somme was published, and then a further

collection in 1919 War's Embers.

In the Gurney archive at the Gloucestershire Archive are numerous drafts of poems, many un-

published. An indication of the sheer range of his work became evident in editions by Edmund Blun-

den (1954) and Leonard Clark (1973), but particularly with the publication of his Collected Poems

(edited by P. K. Kavanagh, 1982) which included c. 300 texts. Interest in Gurney has grown consid-

erably over the years with the appearance of his War Letters and Collected Letters (1983 and 1991,

edited by R. K. R. Thornton), further editions of his poetry, and detailed studies of musical output.

Two collections of his songs - Ludlow and Teme (1923) and The Western Playland (1926) – demon-

strated early on his talent, followed by a further collection in 1938.

In 1995, the Ivor Gurney Society was set up.

Gurney was a musician and a poet, who combined skills of song writing and wordplay. Yet

throughout he was a troubled man, and attempted suicide in 1918. Many people have assumed, there-

fore, that Gurney was a victim of shell-hock or „neurasthenia‟ but it is generally accepted now that his

illness predates the War, and his experiences there, and notably his injuries from gas might have wors-

ened his condition (this may relate to a failed relationship with a nurse in 1918). At the same time, the

ordered life provided by the Army may have provided him with a period of stability. After he returned

from service he attempted to pick up his studies at the Royal College of Music, but found it too diffi-

cult. His behaviour became more extreme and in 1922 he entered Barnwood House Asylum in

Gloucester, then moving to the City of London Mental Hospital. From 1932 onwards he was visited

regularly by Helen Thomas, wife of Edward

Thomas. Helen Thomas described their initial

meeting at the hospital: ‘we were met by a tall

gaunt dishevelled man clad in pyjamas and

dressing gown, to whom Miss Scott introduced

me. He gazed with an intense stare into my

face and took me silently by the hand. Then I

gave him the flowers which he took with the

same deeply moving intensity and silence. He

then said, ‘You are Helen, Edward’s wife and

Edward is dead.’ And I said, ‘Yes, let us talk of

him.’ (H. Thomas, Time and Again: Memoirs

and Letters, ed. M. Thomas, 1978, pp. 11-112.)

Ivor Gurney died on 26th December 1937 in

the City of London Mental Hospital from tu-

berculosis.

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