Tales from the Wood

James Nash                        Photo: Sally Bavage

… Ireland Wood, to be precise.  Wednesday 26 February saw the last school in our current group of primary schools complete their writing of poems and stories with a performance assembly.  ‘LitFest: Surviving’ once again harnessed the talents of local writer/poet James Nash (“the best poet”, it said on the birthday card the year 6 youngsters joyfully presented to him).

We had excerpts read to us of some beginnings, some middles and some cliffhanger endings of the poems and stories they had crafted with the support and guidance of a professional artist for whom class teacher Adrienne Amos had nothing but the highest of praise.  We even had one of the stories that Heather had been inspired to write, along with others, for the Radio Two 500-word story competition.  

Their work was displayed across the whole of the assembly hall for all children in the school to see, a fantastic model for others to follow. Three whole afternoons of writing were not enough, said one youngster shyly and the young man in the wheelchair threw up his arms with joy when he had read his contribution out to the audience. The clay head used by James to inspire the budding writers worked its magic once again.     (Sally Bavage)

Exhibition of historic photos of the wartime hospital.

Richard Wilcocks writes:

Photo by Theo Wilcocks

Photo by Sally Bavage

Thanks to all of you who climbed up the stairs to the Ridge Room in the Headingley Heart Centre yesterday evening. I hope to see you again at one of the LitFest events, soon. The exhibition is there for six weeks, so anybody using that room for a class or a meeting will get a chance to study the photos. Isn't that long 1917 panorama amazing! Have you noticed how nearly all the people in it (about five hundred of them) are either squinting, screwing up their eyes or looking down at their knees because the summer sun came out just as the shutter clicked. And why were five members of the kitchen staff, wearing white linen pancakes on their heads, placed right in front of the high-ups like Lt-Col Harry Littlewood and Matron-in-Chief Euphemia Innes?

The Story of Dorothy Wilkinson

A Yorkshire Post feature today - a shortened (too shortened) version of the true story of Dorothy Wilkinson. The full version will appear in Stories from the War Hospital.  Go to this link - http://bit.ly/1bcUgLZ










This is Dorothy in 1917. Photo was taken in a studio shortly after she first became a VAD (nursing member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment) who was sent to work at Beckett Park.

Extraordinary poetry from Quarry Mount School

Sheila Chapman writes:
A lovely sunny morning, for a change, and some lovely poetry too from the children at Quarry Mount primary school.

We listened to seven poets, drawn from the various years of the school, with the youngest coming from year 2 and the oldest from Year 6. The children’s interpretation of the theme ‘surviving’ was original, perceptive and brimful of imagery and linguistic dexterity - what a joy to listen to in such an intimate atmosphere. Here are some comments from the poets

-        I liked working with James and writing a poem. I liked working with all the other children as well ...

-        I liked working with James because he gave me good ideas and helped me.

-        I enjoyed the whole experience and working with the head and James, I would love this to happen again.

Each child could invite some friends to listen to them and there were also parents and teachers in the audience. Here are some of the comments from the audience

From children

-        It was all grown up and interesting and cool.

-        I thought it was very interesting and it was very emotional. They should do it more often.

-        I think the poems were extraordinary. They should do this more often.

-        In my opinion James gave them the power to be brave. I wish you can do it more often.

-        I think we should do this more often listening to creative people.

From teachers

-        This was a very special opportunity for the writers to share their work and the invited audience to hear such emotive poetry. A really valuable experience for all involved.

 Karine Hendley - Headteacher

-        A wonderful event – 3 weeks of quality work. The depth of work was first-rate. A great creative and learning process for the pupils – thanks to James and Headingley LitFest. Andrew Howdle – Year 5 teacher

-        Standard of writing and reading brilliant. Extremely moving. Great to see profile of poetry raised within school. The children very proud of their work.

Lynne Blackwood

From parents

·       It is very good to carry on, this will give children confidence and improve their skills.

·       Fabulous I thoroughly enjoyed the poetry and was pleasantly surprised at the maturity in the children’s writings. Amazing effort. Thank you James.

Thank you from Quarry Mount for such a wonderful morning

Big and green

The printed version of this year's LitFest brochure - twenty pages long - has arrived. If you can help by distributing or 'placing' it, get in touch. If you are in Headingley at the Farmers' Market this coming Saturday (8 February) you will see some rain-lashed people giving it out. Ask for a fat handful if you can use it.

Wonderful youngsters

Sally Andrews writes:
Monday 27 January finds St Chad's school assembly hall crammed with 160 keen pupils and their teachers listening in rapt attention to some of their peers in Year 6 read out poems written with the inspiration of James Nash, local writer and poet working in the school as part of Headingley LitFest's support for community schools.

Once again the compelling gaze of the sightless clay eyes of a terracotta head used by James inspired children to write about the current LitFest theme of 'Surviving'.  They wrote movingly, with wide-ranging vocabulary and read out their work with such mature assurance that it only served to illustrate the value of such opportunities to extend their experiences of poetry, poetic imagery and performance.  

As Holly said, “It was very inspiring to hear and see a real poet; it made me want to write more poetry.”  Her classmate Hajra added that “Planning the poem and setting out my ideas” had also been exciting. Their class teacher, Ms King, was delighted in the spur for her “pupils to keep writing poetry after James has left his mark on the school” and headteacher Mrs Pratten praised those “wonderful youngsters who showed courage in sharing their work with everybody and who had written in such a thought-provoking way.”

Jo Shapcott – multi-award-winning poet in the main LitFest on 20 March 2014 – it seems you have a lot to beat!