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| Maria Stephenson with Osmondthorpe Hub performers Photo Richard Wilcocks |
Sally Bavage writes:
A Sting in the Tale
Intriguing Tales with the Headingley
and Osmondthorpe writers' groups
The audience comments really have said
most of it – the descriptions of writing that was fabulous,
excellent, amazing, wonderful, humorous, rich, inventive give you the
general idea. What mere words alone can't give you is the palpable
sense of anticipation as reader after reader exposed their work to
the keenly-listening ears of friends, family, colleagues and other
audience members. We would have whooped and hollered with glee if
sometimes the work had not been a bit dark for an explosion of joy -
but we did practically clap the skin from our palms.
Group and single – and singular –
poems. Flash fiction. Mini novellas. Pleas and polemic. Life
histories and lies. Hopes and heartache. Travel and tragedy. Pets
and places. Nature and nurse. Our writers took the LitFest theme of
'Intrigues' and simply ran with it. Well, not simply: much of the
writing had a complex sting in the tale.
Sex and relationships, legends and
love, murder and madness, distopia and paradise, yearning and youth,
psychological torture and a hitman's reminiscences, unfaithful
spouses .. all human life was here. Breathtaking.
Thanks are due to our star bakers
Rachel Harkess (one of the founders, along with Biddy Coghill) of
this now-annual event and Mary Frances, who treated the 50-strong
crowd to a cornucopia of feasting on a splendid range of home-made
cakes that had absolutely no calories in them at all!
Thanks too to the WEA for supporting
many of the costs for the hire of equipment and the venue.
This event wouldn't happen without the
dedication of the staff who take up so much of their time to support
the nervous performers and the reluctant debutantes and turn them
into swans. Alison Taft
tutors the Headingley writers' group and Maria
Stephenson tutors the Osmondthorpe Hub writers. Not least, thanks
to the fantastic team of carers from the Hub – Anita and Claire –
who worked so hard alongside technicians David and Gavin to give
these writers back their voices.
Headingley Writers: Lynn Alexander,
Howard Benn, Karen Byrne, Liam Fitzsimons, Michael Freeman, Malcolm
Henshall, Simon Hunt, Hazel Kilner, Dru Long, Jim Mallin, Alice
O'Donnell, Jackie Offord and Val Wright.
Osmondthorpe Writers: Malcolm Banks,
Paul Bugler, Gaynor Chilvers, Julie Conroy, Lisa Daniels, Jackie
Fisher, Carl Flynn, Sue Heath, Mandy Hudson, Paul Jeffrey, Lee
Rowley, Jenny Ruddock, Robert Thorpe and Winston Whiteley,
Audience Comments
I really enjoyed the event, and found
it inspiring to listen to everyone's poems and stories. The event
was well organised and professional and hopefully will continue for
many years to come.
Full of interest and variety in the
interpretation of the theme
An excellent performance by both
groups. The Osmondthorpe group were exceptional. Well organised and
professional; hope the event will continue for years to come.
A fantastic morning! Well done to
everyone who took part – the hard work that has gone into this was
very obvious.
Fantastic event - good to give an
opportunity to aspiring writers. And wonderful to have the
Osmondthorpe group here. Superb writing from both groups. Thanks to
all involved in the organisation.
Some very talented writing both
humorous and moving. Osmondthorpe Hub were again very moving and
talented.
An excellent event which gave a great
opportunity to hear different voices. Thanks.
Some very good and serious poetry from
both of the Headingley and Osmondthorpe Hub groups. I particularly
liked both of the (illegible) from the Headingley group and thought
that is was good that the poetry from the Osmondthorpe group was
projected on the big screen
I'm a Yorkshire born person visiting
from New Zealand. A fabulous event. The quality of the works was
amazing. I might come back next year!!
Very thoughtful rendering of different
situations. Very skilful – amazing stories and poems – what a
feast! The poetry from Osmondthorpe students was very
thought-provoking. A GREAT MIX!
Another excellent two hours. The
talent and breadth of writing is amazing.
Amazing talent. Amazing tutors –
let's have more.
Excellent!
Outstanding!
Absolutely brilliant – so moving.
An EXCELLENT show! One of the
highlights of the Festival
An interesting mix of writings. Thank
you.
As always, enjoyed listening to the
writing group from Osmondthorpe. Thank you for the invite.
Very enjoyable and impressive range of
material
Fantastic to listen to such wonderful
poems and meet fab people.
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