The Worcestershire Literary Festival in association with Apples and Snakes is proud to announce the latest in our series of Learn: Eat: Perform workshops, taking place at the Arts Workshop in Worcester on the third Sunday of every month.

This workshop will be led by Rob Gee.

Poet, comic, and reformed psychiatric nurse, Rob has performed over 2000 shows around the UK, Europe, Australia and North America. He’s performed with Harold Pinter, Jo Brand, Alan Carr, Frankie Boyle and Jimmy Carr, and won numerous poetry slams, including The Arts Council’s Lit Up Slam and BBC2’s Why Poetry Matters Slam. He leads poetry and comedy workshops with mental health service users, and is sometimes sent into schools as a warning to children.

www.robgee.co.uk

Take part in a workshop in the morning – have a wonderful lunch – then put into practise what you have learnt at the morning workshop.  So you simply Learn: Eat: Perform.

Eat at lunchtime in Cafe Bliss, who have a wide range of different cuisines available.

Book your tickets via Paypal belowor visit our Facebook shop

Learn Eat Perform Workshop

Full Price £6.00 Concessions £5.00

 

 

“Parole Parlate : The Spoken Word” is back on Thursday 5th January 2012 and is a dedicated spoken word and “music that tells a story” platform. If you would like the chance to read your short stories, poems, prose, try out your performance poetry or music that tells a story, this evening is for you!

Hosted by Little Venice in Worcester, there will be a full bar service, cakes/snacks and you can of course take advantage of their full menu and enjoy their delicious pizzas, pastas or salads. Try out their £7.95 menu which includes a main course and a drink.

Already confirmed to perform on January 5th:

Suz Winspear
Nathan Williams
Edward Unique
Shabz Ahmed
Tony Judge
Ruth Stacey
David Calcutt

Plus a very special performance by The Decadent Divas, which is the creation of Charlie Jordan (past Birmingham Poet Laureate), Maggie Doyle (Birmingham Poet Laureate finalist and Bard of Worcestershire finalist), Lorna Meehan (poet and actor) and Laura Yates. They launched themselves on an unsuspecting public at The Mac Theatre, Birmingham during the Birmingham Arts Festival this year, where they received an extremely warm welcome. Further performances in Birmingham have included the Highlight Comedy Club, Rhymes and The Road House. This foursome wittily, nostalgically and, on occasions, poignantly, take you through their various decades from twenties to sixties via chatty conversation on a “girls night in”. Skillfully crafted in their personal styles there is something for all, even men!

ENTRY FEE AND HOW TO PAY

The entry fee for this event is £3.00 on the door, but if you pay in advance using Paypal the entry fee is reduced to £2.00.

Please visit our facebook shop – www.facebook.com/worcslitfest to pay via paypal or pay via paypal below:

Parole Parlate Tickets: 5th January 2012

Advance Price £2.00 GBP

 

We will then email you an entry ticket on receipt of payment via paypal. NB – if you are purchasing more than one ticket, please enter the amount you need in the quantity section on the paypal page.

Please note that all money raised will go towards funding these events and future Worcestershire Literary Festival events.

TAKING PART AND PERFORMING

If would like a slot to perform on one of these dates please let us know by emailing info@worcslitfest.com, leave a post on the wall of this event or visit www.facebook.com/worcslitfest and leave a post on the wall.

Performers get free entry, a choice of an alcoholic or soft drink and cake for taking part.

ADVANCE INFORMATION

“Parole Parlate : The Spoken Word” is on the first Thursday of every month, so advance dates for your diary will be:

Thursday 2nd February 2012
Thursday 1st March 2012
Thursday 5th April 2012
Thursday 3rd May 2012
Thursday 7th June 2012
Thursday 21st June 2012 – Worcestershire Literary Festival “Parole Parlate” Special.

Hosted by Little Venice in Worcester, there will be a full bar service, cakes/snacks and you can of course take advantage of their full menu and enjoy their delicious pizzas, pastas or salads. Try out their £7.95 menu which includes a main course and a drink.

Already confirmed to perform on February 2nd:

Michael R Brush
Catherine Crosswell
Michelle Crosby
Amanda Bonnick

Plus a very special performance by Richard Tyrone Jones

ENTRY FEE AND HOW TO PAY

The entry fee for this event is £3.00 on the door, but if you pay in advance using Paypal the entry fee is reduced to £2.00.

Please visit our facebook shop – www.facebook.com/worcslitfest or pay below using paypal:

Parole Parlate Tickets:2nd February 2012

Advance Price £2.00 GBP

 

We will then email you an entry ticket on receipt of payment via paypal. NB – if you are purchasing more than one ticket, please enter the amount you need in the quantity section on the paypal page.

Please note that all money raised will go towards funding these events and future Worcestershire Literary Festival events.

TAKING PART AND PERFORMING

If would like a slot to perform on one of these dates please let us know by emailing info@worcslitfest.com, leave a post on the wall of this event or visit www.facebook.com/worcslitfest and leave a post on the wall.

Performers get free entry, a choice of an alcoholic or soft drink and cake for taking part.

ADVANCE INFORMATION

“Parole Parlate : The Spoken Word” is on the first Thursday of every month, so advance dates for your diary will be:

Thursday 1st March 2012
Thursday 5th April 2012
Thursday 3rd May 2012
Thursday 7th June 2012
Thursday 21st June 2012 – Worcestershire Literary Festival “Parole Parlate” Special

Young people will expand their range of genre and develop their critical thinking skills and above all have fun. Worcestershire is ahead of the Government in announcing our policies to promote reading for pleasure, as mentioned by Nick Gibb last week.

Titles on shortlist:

Ultraviolet by R. J. Anderson Diary of a lottery winner’s daughter by Penelope Bush An act of love by Alan Gibbons

Wish me dead by Helen Grant

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

There is no dog by Meg Rosoff

For more information, contact:

Dawn WoodsManager:SLS
dwoods@worcestershire.gov.uk
01905 420273

Worcestershire journalist’s stirring tale of soldier relative’s ordeal in the fateful summer of 1914

THE chance discovery of an old coin has led to a First World War hero’s incredible story being published on the internet.

Journalist John Phillpott became curious after finding a Boer War Kruger shilling while tidying a drawer at his home in Worcester.

He remembered a family story that the coin had been carried as a talisman by his late great-uncle, a soldier who fought with the Northamptonshire Regiment during the opening battles of the war in France and Flanders.

Armed with information supplied by the regimental museum in Northampton and Kew public records office, London, Mr Phillpott  embarked on a personal pilgrimage.

He traced the journey of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) after its arrival at French ports in August, 1914, and followed the army’s route as it advanced to stem the German invasion of Belgium.

Mr Phillpott, aged 62, said: “I discovered that colour sergeant Ernest Phillpott was the first man to be commissioned in the field during the First World War, eventually rising to the rank of captain. This was quite an achievement for a working class man who had left school at the age of 13.

“The German Kaiser called the BEF ‘England’s insignificant little army’ and this somehow became translated as ‘contemptible.’

However, the soldiers wore the intended slur with ironic pride and that was how the legend of the Old Contemptibles was born.

“I tried to be as faithful as possible to the original route taken by the BEF. From Le Havre, where the Northamptonshires landed, I went to Mons in Belgium, the site of the first battle involving the British Army.

“I then traced the line of its withdrawal – the legendary Retreat from Mons – crossing the rivers Aisne and Marne where the German flank had been finally turned.

“That action brought about the so-called ‘race to the sea’ and this was why my journey ended at Ypres.”

With the help of the War Research Society, a Birmingham-based organisation, Mr Phillpott was able to locate the actual field near the Menin Road outside Ypres where his relative had been wounded attempting to carry a seriously injured fellow officer and friend to safety.

Mr Phillpott said: “The British soldiers were outnumbered seven-to-one at the First Battle of Ypres. For more than two weeks, they held the Germans at bay.

“Then at midday on October 31, 1914, the thinned ranks of exhausted men buckled and broke. The line would be restored two hours later by the heroic action of the Worcestershires at Gheluvelt.

“Despite the mortal danger, my great-uncle stayed behind to help his friend and was shot through the shoulder dragging him to safety.

“After the war, the wounded man – his commanding officer, Major Harold Cartwright – presented my great-uncle with a silver teapot as an expression of his gratitude.

“This is a story of great fortitude, steadfast loyalty and remarkable courage in the face of overwhelming odds. The sacrifice of the small army that left Britain in the hot summer of that fateful year has largely been forgotten now. But my account will hopefully help to put that right.”

The Shilling is published as an e-book by Graficas Books, Cwmbach, Glasbury-on-Wye, Powys HR3 5LU phone 01497 847894 e-mail studio@graficas.co.uk and can be downloaded by visiting Amazon.co.uk using a Kindle or similar device.

John Phillpott’s contact details: 28 The Hill Avenue, Worcester WR5 2AW phone 01905 358212 e-mail c.philpott480@btinternet.com

Dr. Mikel Koven is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Humanities and Creative Arts at Worcester University, as well as the director of ‘The Splendid Cinema’. This is a film-lovers group that meets at the Worcester Arts Workshop every other Sunday to screen a variety of arthouse, film noir, underground movies, cult classics, independent cinema, and World Cinema . Details of ‘The Splendid Cinema’ can be found by following the link below:

http://www.worcesterartsworkshop.org.uk/whatson.asp?menuID=Splendid%20Cinema&menuGroup=Events

He had this to say about the talk this Wednesday:

“The HBO television series, True Blood, has been thrilling TV viewers on both sides of the Atlantic for a few years now with its sexy and gruesome storytelling. This paper explores the folktale elements within the series, and suggests that, as a fantasy series, True Blood is very much rooted within the fairy tale tradition. Furthermore, Koven continues, is a surprising connection between the vampire of popular culture and the dark fairy of the oral tradition.”

For details on his talk, have a look at the address and details below:

Woodbury Building

University of Worcester

Henwick Grove

Worcester

WR2 6AJ

Wednesday 9^th 2011

5pm, Woodbury 137

EVERYONE WELCOME – no tickets necessary!

“Charles Dickens’ Feast of Festive Frighteners”

The Bear and Ragged Staff, 28 Appleton Road, Cumnor, Oxfordshire, OX2 9QH,

Saturday 3rd December 2011 4.30pm

Tickets prices: Adults £10.00    Children £6.00

Tickets available to purchase at The Bear and Ragged Staff or telephone 01865 862329

Their September 2012 Production (seen below) is already accepting bookings!

To book your tickets, visit http://steampunk.synthasite.com/evening-entertainments.php

Although this book deals briefly with such as the late evening bus,

the intricacies of sleep and sleepwalking , dreaming etc., it is mainly a

book of passion.

These poems were written to be playfully passionate, seriously sexy, darkly dangerous, and because of their intended love and tenderness, equally appealing to the both sexes.

The author’s aim is to bring people closer together, and one could say

this volume was written in aid of a universal global warming.

At its best, the night is a loneliness shared.

Pre-publication copies are available to friends and fellow poets

ready for Christmas.

Give a little passionate nudge to your partner or potential partner this Christmas, or consume it all yourself.

£7-99, plus £1 post and package from me at 25, Griffiths Road,

West Bromwich B71 2EH; cheques made out to G.Stevens.

For European purchasers, postage is £1-70.

…and for American friends $12 plus $4 post and packing, cheques

made out to G.Wall, and sent to the same address, will get your copy

air-mailed to you promptly.

Dharmavidya Dr. David Brazier is well-known as a Buddhist teacher, writer and psychotherapist but his spiritual perspective is broad, encompassing mystical traditions of all faiths. He is a founder member of the Amida Order of socially engaged Buddhism and travels extensively in Europe, Asia and North America in support of the Order’s spiritual, educational and social work. He was recently listed along with the Dalai Lama as one of the twelve Buddhist commentators on current affairs most worth following on Twitter.

This event will be held in the gorgeous ‘The Grove’ in central Malvern, from 7.30pm on Friday the 11 ^th of November. Entry is free. There will be drinks and nibbles, an introduction and a reading from David, and plenty of time to ask questions and chat afterwards.

Do contact Fiona for more information on fiona@writingourwayhome.com , or call 01684 572444. We’d like to get a rough idea of numbers, but do feel free to just come along on the night.

The Facebook invite is here – do feel free to invite your friends, the more the merrier! http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=212177478852144

Mervyn Peake was born in China in 1911, during their revolution.  His father was there with the Red Cross.  Mervyn served as a war artist during World War 2 and witnessed the liberation of Belsen.  He became a wonderful illustrator of children’s books and his own brand of nonsense verse.  Then he wrote Gormenghast: a surreal fantasy, or allegory, of Tolstoyian proportions.  He raised his family on Sark and spent a lot of time with Dylan Thomas and Graham Greene, who gave him some appalling financial advice.

Sebastian Peake, his son, has been a wine merchant since the 1960s.  He’s a fine jazz musician, who spent time with Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck during his youth.  His brother, Fabian, is an exhibited artist.  His nephew is Jack Penate, the singer.  He has spent the past 20 years ensuring that his father’s work is properly presented.  It was undervalued, certainly, during his lifetime.  He also works with Parkinson’s Disease charities – the illness that killed his father.  It’s a fascinating talk and an enjoyable evening out.

Prints and books will be available for purchase afterwards.

by Robin Clarke.