2018 Readings
Saturday 30 June
RAF Museum, London
Reading next to a Spitfire as part of Armed Forces Day, 2.20 and 3.20pm
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/events/armed-forces-day-festival/
Tuesday 5 June
Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, 7pm
Reflections - music, storytelling and poetry - fundraising concert in support of Holly Lodge
http://www.thehollylodgecentre.org.uk/index.php/support-us/events/149-book-now
Saturday 12 May
The 1940s Relived, Brooklands Museum
Reading in the Bluebird Room alongside Miss Holiday Swing, 1pm
Brooklands Museum, Weybridge
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/whats-on/the-1940s-relived
Monday 7 May
Reading at the annual Mayfly Festival
Square Tower, Portsmouth, 6pm
https://tonguesandgrooves.com/category/poetry-in-portsmouth/
Friday 23 February
Bentley Priory Museum, Stanmore HA7 3HT, 11am
With Melody Foreman, author of A Spitfire Girl: Mary Ellis
2017 Readings
Launch of Fifty Ways to Fly
The Railway, Teddington - 22 March
The Square Tower, Portsmouth - 17 September
Reviewed at Write Out Loud
https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=65760
Saturday 22 April
Write Out Loud Woking
Lightbox, Woking
http://www.thelightbox.org.uk/
Saturday 13 May
1940s Relived, Brooklands Museum, reading by in the Wellington Hangar
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/whats-on/the-1940s-relived
Saturday 21 May
Lunchtime Talk at Brooklands Museum
with RAF plotter Helen Mills and author Melody Foreman
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/btm/member-events/sisters-in-spitfires
2016 Readings
Monday 14 November, 7.30pm
An Evening with Twickenham Stanza poets
as part of the Richmond Literature Festival -
with Rosemary Norman, Paul McLaughlin, Frances White & Judith Watts
Coach House, Orleans Gallery, Twickenham
http://www.richmondliterature.com/shop/4579207128/an-evening-with-twickenham-stanza/8798763
Monday 3 October, 7.30pm
Poetry Swindon Festival
North Swindon Library
Wednesday 5 October, 8pm
Essex Poetry Festival
Southend Poetry Group
Naval and Military Club,
20 Royal Terrace, Southend-on-Sea
http://www.essex-poetry-festival.co.uk
Saturday 20 August, 7.30pm
Amy Johnson Festival, Artlink, Hull
Reading with Ian Duhig
www.amyjohnsonfestival.co.uk
Saturday 14 May, 12.30pm and 3.30pm
Brooklands Museum, 1940s Relived
Reading in the Wellington Hangar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_WObKP_pxs
Saturday 19 March, 7pm
Poetry in the Crypt, Islington
Reading with Christopher Reid and Derek Adams
Wednesday 27 January, 5.30pm
Museum of Richmond
Reading alongside the Museum's WWII exhibition.
Wednesday 6 January, 7pm
Kingston Writing School, Kingston University
With Mike Bartholomew-Biggs
2015 Readings
Saturday 30 June
RAF Museum, London
Reading next to a Spitfire as part of Armed Forces Day, 2.20 and 3.20pm
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/events/armed-forces-day-festival/
Tuesday 5 June
Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park, 7pm
Reflections - music, storytelling and poetry - fundraising concert in support of Holly Lodge
http://www.thehollylodgecentre.org.uk/index.php/support-us/events/149-book-now
Saturday 12 May
The 1940s Relived, Brooklands Museum
Reading in the Bluebird Room alongside Miss Holiday Swing, 1pm
Brooklands Museum, Weybridge
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/whats-on/the-1940s-relived
Monday 7 May
Reading at the annual Mayfly Festival
Square Tower, Portsmouth, 6pm
https://tonguesandgrooves.com/category/poetry-in-portsmouth/
Friday 23 February
Bentley Priory Museum, Stanmore HA7 3HT, 11am
With Melody Foreman, author of A Spitfire Girl: Mary Ellis
2017 Readings
Launch of Fifty Ways to Fly
The Railway, Teddington - 22 March
The Square Tower, Portsmouth - 17 September
Reviewed at Write Out Loud
https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=65760
Saturday 22 April
Write Out Loud Woking
Lightbox, Woking
http://www.thelightbox.org.uk/
Saturday 13 May
1940s Relived, Brooklands Museum, reading by in the Wellington Hangar
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/whats-on/the-1940s-relived
Saturday 21 May
Lunchtime Talk at Brooklands Museum
with RAF plotter Helen Mills and author Melody Foreman
https://www.brooklandsmuseum.com/btm/member-events/sisters-in-spitfires
2016 Readings
Monday 14 November, 7.30pm
An Evening with Twickenham Stanza poets
as part of the Richmond Literature Festival -
with Rosemary Norman, Paul McLaughlin, Frances White & Judith Watts
Coach House, Orleans Gallery, Twickenham
http://www.richmondliterature.com/shop/4579207128/an-evening-with-twickenham-stanza/8798763
Monday 3 October, 7.30pm
Poetry Swindon Festival
North Swindon Library
Wednesday 5 October, 8pm
Essex Poetry Festival
Southend Poetry Group
Naval and Military Club,
20 Royal Terrace, Southend-on-Sea
http://www.essex-poetry-festival.co.uk
Saturday 20 August, 7.30pm
Amy Johnson Festival, Artlink, Hull
Reading with Ian Duhig
www.amyjohnsonfestival.co.uk
Saturday 14 May, 12.30pm and 3.30pm
Brooklands Museum, 1940s Relived
Reading in the Wellington Hangar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_WObKP_pxs
Saturday 19 March, 7pm
Poetry in the Crypt, Islington
Reading with Christopher Reid and Derek Adams
Wednesday 27 January, 5.30pm
Museum of Richmond
Reading alongside the Museum's WWII exhibition.
Wednesday 6 January, 7pm
Kingston Writing School, Kingston University
With Mike Bartholomew-Biggs
2015 Readings
Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington
To sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire, barely wider than one’s shoulders, with the power of the Merlin at one’s fingertips, was a poetry of its own.
Lettice Curtis
A few seconds later I found myself soaring through the air in a machine that made poetry of flight…
Jackie Moggridge
To sit in the cockpit of a Spitfire, barely wider than one’s shoulders, with the power of the Merlin at one’s fingertips, was a poetry of its own.
Lettice Curtis
A few seconds later I found myself soaring through the air in a machine that made poetry of flight…
Jackie Moggridge
The poem 'Out of the Silence Came Chopin' appeared in the concert programme of Warren Mailley-Smith's Chopin recital on 23 October at St John Smith's Square.
Polish pilot Barbara Wojtulanis was walking with fellow ATA pilot Ann Welch past a snowy Winchester cathedral just before Christmas. Bad weather had stopped flying, but an unexpected piece of music kept their spirits up:
Grounded again, just before Christmas,
we passed Winchester cathedral wreathed
in snow, lit only by the stars. Chopin’s
Revolutionary Study cascaded through the silence
from a distant piano and Barbara was rooted
by strains of Polish hope.
The music ended as suddenly as it arrived,
leaving us shrouded in the snow-bound night.
Polish pilot Barbara Wojtulanis was walking with fellow ATA pilot Ann Welch past a snowy Winchester cathedral just before Christmas. Bad weather had stopped flying, but an unexpected piece of music kept their spirits up:
Grounded again, just before Christmas,
we passed Winchester cathedral wreathed
in snow, lit only by the stars. Chopin’s
Revolutionary Study cascaded through the silence
from a distant piano and Barbara was rooted
by strains of Polish hope.
The music ended as suddenly as it arrived,
leaving us shrouded in the snow-bound night.
Solent Sky Museum, Southampton
A reading from a sea plane as part of Southampton's new literary festival So: To Speak, Matthew West launched a pamphlet of commissioned Spitfire poems, Seagulls & Spitfires.
A reading from a sea plane as part of Southampton's new literary festival So: To Speak, Matthew West launched a pamphlet of commissioned Spitfire poems, Seagulls & Spitfires.
British Women Pilots' Association
A reading at White Waltham airfield on Sunday 31 May as part of the British Women Pilots' Association Diamond Jubilee weekend event. More details at http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/News/Areas/Walthams/In-pictures-60th-anniversary-of-British-Women-Pilots-Association-marked-at-White-Waltham-Airfield-01062015.htm
Guest Reader at Poets' Café, Reading, March 2015
South Street Arts Centre, Reading. Hosted by AF Harrold http://www.afharrold.co.uk/
A reading at White Waltham airfield on Sunday 31 May as part of the British Women Pilots' Association Diamond Jubilee weekend event. More details at http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/News/Areas/Walthams/In-pictures-60th-anniversary-of-British-Women-Pilots-Association-marked-at-White-Waltham-Airfield-01062015.htm
Guest Reader at Poets' Café, Reading, March 2015
South Street Arts Centre, Reading. Hosted by AF Harrold http://www.afharrold.co.uk/
