Morecambe Magic

Hello Poetry Lovers

Yes, I’ve returned to Southern soil after a long weekend at the Morecambe Poetry Festival.

This is Sharron and I at our first ever Morecambe bus stop, newly arrived and ready to take it all on

Well, where to start… our first ever poetry festival and obviously there would be poets there! But such a multitude..!

At the Kings Arms, our first poet was the intriguing and intense Rowan McCabe and his unique triangle of the south. Well known for his door-to-door poetry, he shared his last ever call. A great start to our intense weekend of poetry.

We went on to the splendid (if chilly) Winter Gardens to see a recording of Loose Ends and then a double bill of Mike Harding and Henry Normal. I saw the latter previously at the Poetry Cafe. Wonderful poet.

Then back to the Kings Arms for Atila the Stockbroker – whom I adored in the nineties with John Ottaway. What ravers we were!

Writing this has already exhausted me so the following is a montage of all our poetry encounters and adventures…

Yes, do not adjust your sets! You saw correctly! That was indeed Pam Ayres. Lovely woman and so so sharp and clever. And yes, that was Raymond Antrobus and Lemn Sissay there. Plus the wonderful Martin Figura and Helen Ivory. I don’t just rub shoulders with ‘any old one’!

That nice man posing in front of us is Matt Panesh who jointly made this whole thing possible. What a guy!

And this is me on the open mic on Sunday, having lost my nerve the day before!

And this is us encountering the wonderful Lemn Sissay on the journey home. A lovely and charming poet. The icing on the cake!

The above features Sharron Green in action, a poet called Rowland, and Anna Somerset. I also had the pleasure of getting to know Heather Sullivan. The top picture is of me having a well deserved coffee. That’s my advice to any festival attendee, lots of coffee!

Phew! I’ve got to lie down now, even just recalling my wonderful Morecambe adventures is exhausting!

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry adventures real soon…..