Tangled Feet - Collective Endeavour

Jen Rhodes from Leeds Arts Development team writes … .

As I am sure you will know, this summer Leeds is a host city for the Rugby World Cup 2015, with two key games taking place in September. To celebrate this  Leeds City Council has joined forces with Dep Arts to bring a number of interactive, innovative and city-wide experiences under the umbrella TRY. 

As part of this TRY cultural programme Tangled Feet are looking for 300 volunteers to perform in Collective Endeavour. One for each of the starting players at the Rugby World Cup 2015.

Volunteers will perform in a large scale piece of theatre about the power of teamwork and what can be achieved when people unite. It will be an unforgettable show in Millennium Square on Friday 25 September. 

We are asking for our key partners to help spread this message, and share with their networks this amazing chance for volunteers to be part of this brilliant opportunity.

Performers do not need to have any previous performance experience or training, just energy, humour and a willing attitude. They will perform simple movements to make large images for the audience, telling the story of community and teamwork. Volunteers would only need to attend 2 days of rehearsals in Leeds and the dress rehearsal.

I would be extremely grateful of you could help spread this message through your channels, and help us get behind this brilliant event. Full details on the event and how to sign up can be found at www.tryleeds.com

 Get those arms and legs ready for a bit of collectivity!

Trumpet transformed

St Chad’s Primary School, 23 June 2015

Sheila Chapman writes:

                                        Photo: Kevin Hickson

This afternoon the children of St Chad's primary school made 'Something Else' of a battered old trumpet using the power of poetry. They used all their senses and their endless imagination to transform this 'useless' object. They imagined how the trumpet had come to be damaged, how it was saved, how it felt when it lost its music, what powers it had, and what it symbolised. They then shared their poetry at a special school assembly and every single one of them stood up to read their own original work - what courage and what talent! Read on to see what they thought of the experience and to see some snippets from their poems.

Poet James Nash used the same trumpet a few months ago at another primary school. Read our blog report at http://headingleylitfest.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/brudenell-poetry-assembly.html?

Some comments from the children - in response to four questions: What has been the best thing about this project? What have you learnt? Why is it good to share your work with other children in school? What will you remember about this project?

- The best thing has been sharing ideas with everyone. I have learnt how an object has different stories to tell. It is good to share work with other children because they get inspired. The thing I remember from this project is imagination

-  I have learnt how poems aren’t always need to have a rhythmic pattern.  It is good to share work with other children because they could give you tips.

- The best thing has been learning what a good poem is. I have learnt how to write a poem. It is good to share work with other children so you can practice taking in front of people. The thing I remember from this project is how good everyone was.

- The best thing has been writing poems on the trumpet. I have learnt how to shorten longer poems. It is good to share work with other children so you can hear the feedback and use it in another poem and they can use yours as inspiration.

- The best thing has been the creativity you can put in writing the poems. I have learnt you can be very creative with writing. It is good to share work to inspire other children. I will remember that writing can be creative.

- The best thing has been writing about the trumpet. I have learnt how to put more expression in my writing and how to improve my writing. It is good to share work with other children so then they can get ideas from our poems.  What I remember about this project is, in one word: EVERYTHING!!!

- The best thing has been writing poems and ideas about my poem and writing a poem about a item. I have learnt that it’s amazing writing poems. It is good to share work with other children so they can have an idea about their poem. I will remember that rhyming words make your poem sound good.

- The best thing has been writing up our poems. I have learnt that to write a poem you need your five senses when describing. It is good to share work with other children to inspire them and to improve your confidence. I will remember my poem.

Some lines from the poems

 My own tunes have tired me

My own power is my enemy

My music gave me power to control lives

My brass is my story

Trampled on by wet wellies

I used to be proud of my silver body

I can no longer hear the sound of my music

Music will never end

No-one plays with me anymore since I am battered and bruised

I am a symbol of peace, sign of hope

One single piece of everybody

Life had a purpose now I have none

Will I ever get found

I’ve lost my home

Fire damaged me, my owner made me whole

I slipped out of my soldier’s hand …. The fisherman saved my life

Children danced to the noise of the trumpet

I loved how I played

Sparkle and shine

As the days go by I sit waiting to die

You illuminate my mind

I am a symbol of peace

No-one wants me - every day it rains

I was greater once

Protest and Passion in the Seventies and Eighties

Sally Bavage writes:

Ray Brown                       Photo by Richard Wilcocks

A substantial audience crowded into the New Headingley Club on Sunday evening to hear Ray Brown talk about his recently published* novel In All Beginnings, subtitled 'a novel of protest and passion.  I can’t say it is a new novel because it was first written twenty-five years ago but a publisher rejected a book about a “dirty little town in the north.”  That was our Leeds. It was our story.  The audience had been there, you The Reader have been there.  That party branch meeting, those local politicians, the trendy gathering, those pubs, those relationships. 

The miners’ strike and the peace movement are the major themes running through the factional life of Simon and a cast of other characters in vignettes of the changes in politics and society richly described. Anecdotes were both achingly funny and achingly sad reminders of what has changed.  Read this and revisit your younger years: so little is written about these themes in the mainstream press, then and now, that conventional history has almost expunged the reality.

Ray himself moved from academe to authorship, morphing into broadcaster, writer and playwright (http://www.armleypress.com/#!ray-brown/cj3a)  This book was originally to be the chronicle of an adult William - the character from Richmal Crompton's stories for children.  However, what he really wanted to write about, with acid wit and even anger, were the political changes that impacted all of us.  Still do.  Still inspiring Ray with his waspish comments.  The passion and protest are still there.

*Armley Press has now published nine books by local authors.  To find out more visit their website http://www.armleypress.com/

Audience Comments:

Lovely to be reminded of a period in our history that isn’t officially recognised, isn’t quite counterculture but nevertheless still makes you feel … angry, disappointed, dispossessed, cheated, manipulated.  Same old same old.

Excellent.  Should be more like it.

Very funny, interesting evening with lots of memories.  Good to have an event with local authors.

Funny and relevant, a really good evening. Glad I came.

Comfortable venue.  Interesting evening; brought back memories from the 70s and 80s.  good to raise the issue of education about the miners’ strike.

Very good event, well presented.

I enjoyed this very much.

Very enjoyable – really looking forward to reading the novel.  Ray and Doug a great double act!

Vintage Ray.  Funny, warm and politically incorrect in the best sense.

Very enjoyable.

Great to hear local work by a local writer published by a local press.

Have Your Cake

Doug Sandle writes:

Linda Marshall and Lis Bertolla              Photo by Sheila Chapman

During this year’s March LitFest we held two events at the delightful Meanwood Institute and we decided it was the perfect venue for a pleasant Sunday midsummer afternoon listening to readings of poetry and prose on the theme of cafés and food and drink generally, presented by two local poets Linda Marshall and Lis Bertolla -especially as there was an opportunity of an afternoon cup of tea and to partake of the delicious cakes on offer. 

The Institute decked in bunting and the stage set up with a table, cake stands and tea cups, the two poets entertained a full house with their readings. The programme featured the writings of such as Nigel Slater, John Betjeman, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carrol (the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party of course) as well many of their own writings. A highlight was an amusing dialogue between the two that was based on a conversation overheard by Linda in a café in downtown Leeds. With titles such as Making Jam Tarts with Mother (Nigel Slater), At Betty’s (Linda), The Friendly Cinnamon Bun (Russell Hoban), How to Eat an Orange (Lis), In a Bath Teashop (John  Betjeman) the audience soon had an appetite for the delicious cakes on sale. 

The two highly talented poets entertained a very appreciative audience, many of whom remarked that it was a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon – and please could they have some more!

Many thanks are due to Mary Francis of the Headingley LitFest, Tracy Cooper of Café 57 and currently on-line purveyor of antique china (The Leeds Vintage House)* for their delicious cakes and  to Malcolm Coles for flowers from his allotment - and of course to the two café poets, Linda and Lis themselves. [*https://www.facebook.com/TheLeedsVintageHouse]

MADEIRA (Linda Marshall)

If only Madeira

Were nearer -

Then happily I would meander

Under the blue jacaranda.

Meander - I say it with candour,

Because after the sweet, heavy wine,

I'm unable to walk in a line.

If only Madeira

Were nearer

For the sake of the tea and the cake

And the view

At the Villa Cliffe.

If only Madeira were nearer,

Then our lives would be simply

Superior.

How to eat an orange (Lis Bertolla)

First, lift gently in both hands. 

Raise it to your nose, inhale the sharp sweet smell

of sunshine, the excitement of childhood Christmas -

whatever is there for you...

Then, use your eyes; study the skin, porous yet

protective. Regard the navel, recall your own births.

Remember, imagine, orange blossom on laden trees

fragrant in some foreign land.

Look and smell...

Inside, a small miracle of segments, contained yet

conjoined, nudging each other for comfort.

Ease them apart; the first one you select is important.

Now put it in your mouth, the skin will break

without force, release juice.

Finally the richness is yours, a trickle of goodness

bathing in the taste buds, soothing the throat...

Thank God then, for simple, complicated things.

Ray Brown's launch of 'In All Beginnings'

Challenging yet exciting

Serene Leong writes:

Serene Leong

Heading to my first event at The New Headingley Club, I was mixed with emotions of excitement, anxiety and nervousness. That was the first time I was meeting the literature and arts lovers of the Headingley LitFest community. 

I checked the bus timings again and made sure I wouldn't be late for the show. Within minutes of getting there, I was greeted with smiley faces and was immediately welcomed by the committee. I helped out with leaflets, feedback forms, collected tickets by the door and even got the chance to talk to the director and actors! 

Throughout the next month, I attended various events and got to know people and listen to their stories. Working with the committee was challenging yet exciting. I was given freedom to organise my work schedule and voice out my opinions for input. Headingley LitFest is made up of volunteers passionate for the arts and promoting it within their community. This small and intimate setting allowed me to realise my potential for initiatives and at the same time starting up something on my own, the LitFest Instagram.  

I am grateful for this opportunity to work with a group of talented and dedicated individuals. I made friends and I experienced new things. I’ve been to Headingley before, but Headingley LitFest brought me to places I didn’t know existed. Thank you for welcoming me into the Headingley LitFest community with loving arms. It’s been a fun ride and I can’t wait to get involved next year again!

(Serene was our student intern this year)