m&p

Art Exhibitions

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Screenshot from Thornthwaite Galleries

A couple of quick plugs for great local art exhibitions

– in the case of C-Art at Rheged [#rheged] because time is running out fast and it’s absolutely worth a visit before it closes this coming Sunday 13th November 2016. Ray Ogden’s Fisher King (image at Ray Ogden) got a mention here – but there’s so much other inspirational art to whet a writer’s appetite too.

– and after you’ve been to Rheged and are wondering where else you could enjoy a fab teashop and take in a bit more art whilst you’re about it, our own Sylvia Stevens, gifted poet and painter, has an exhibition of some of her work at Thornthwaite Galleries [#thornthwaitegalleries] and Teashop.

– M&P

Raindrops, remembering and more

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A dozen writers met in Mungrisdale today for what turned out to be an inspirational morning, buzzing with light and ideas. Our tutor Angela Locke’s ability to listen to a piece of work with loving acuity enables her to offer precise and pertinent advice, together with encouragement, in every case. This gives us a marvellous sense of making progress!

Once again there was great writing from all participants and some of this will be posted here over the next week or so. The pieces posted today are Sue’s We will remember them and Tanya’s Moments.

Angela’s proposal for homework to be heard at our next meeting on the 24th November invites

a 1st person speech (soliloquy using “I”) by someone who isn’t you but you have to research a bit (eg – a countryman or woman, a streetwalker etc). The piece can be either prose or poetry in 150 words or fewer. You might look to Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ or to TS Eliot’s ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ for a bit of inspiration.

– M&P

Trevor West – The Bold Collegian

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Photo at Lilliput Press

Mungrisdale Writer Charles Woodhouse is one of the distinguished essayists just published in Trevor West – The Bold Collegian  (Lilliput Press) (also at Amazon sellers)

‘Trevor West was a remarkable man: a Trinity academic, mathematician, Senator, Junior Dean, sportsman and sports administrator, historian of the cooperative movement, peacemaker and governor of Midleton College, Cork … West was crucially involved in the administration and development of sport in Irish universities, as well as contributing in a significant way to the Northern Ireland peace process … The Bold Collegian is a collection of more than twenty-four essays by notable contributors including Mary Robinson, Sean D. Barrett, Charles Woodhouse, Ulick O’Connor, Professor John Kelly, Dean John McCarthy, Iggy McGovern and Michael West, a fitting tribute to a much-loved legend.’

– M&P

Dreams of the Blue Poppy

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dreamsofthebluepoppy

Our resident tutor Angela Locke’s Dreams of the Blue Poppy is here. Some of her other publications can be seen / purchased here.

‘Forbidden to walk because of his illness, Charles Fergusson is growing up a spoiled sickly child. He dreams of becoming a plant hunter, and of finding the fabled Blue Poppy which grew in his grandmother’s garden in Sikkim, but it seems that he will be trapped forever in the dark house in the Cumbrian fells …’

– M&P

Maryport Literary Festival

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Photo at Senhouse Museum

Literary Festival 2016: Wild!

Friday 18th – Sunday 20th November 2016

This year’s festival will look at writing inspired by our relationship with the landscape. The festival will be launched by mountaineering legend Doug Scott.

Speakers appearing during the festival weekend include Eric Robson, Steve Matthews, Kim Moore, Robin Ashcroft, Tom Pickard, Josephine Dickinson, Juliet Barker, Catherine Anderson and Simon Yates.

There will be an appearance from the Lakeland Dialect Society and writing workshops will be led by Nick Pemberton and Grevel Lindop.

– M&P

C-Art Cumbrian Artist 2016

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An Eden Arts project in partnership with Rheged

Friday 9th September – Sunday 13th November 2016

The C-Art Cumbrian Artist of the Year has returned to the Gallery at Rheged and I’ve just had a great morning there – noting the colours of Autumn’s own natural art as I cycled in.

In association with Cumbria Life, this year’s exhibition, says Rheged’s website

‘showcases an excellent cross section of Cumbrian visual and applied arts by Conrad Atkinson, Margaret Harrison, Maddi Nicholson and Paul Scott have been specially invited to exhibit this year. These artists are widely regarded as some of the most established and internationally renowned artists working in Cumbria today. Their work will join a cross section of artwork from the wider Cumbrian artistic community, selected from an open call by a group of young curators aged 16-24, guided by Eliza Bonham Carter, Head of the Royal Academy Schools, and Nick Rogers, Curator at the Lakeland Arts Trust. Alongside the exhibition, there will be a major new Rheged-commissioned sculpture trail, with three major new commissions which respond to the architecture of the building funded by Arts Council England.’

Look out for a flood-damaged piano that’s been inspirationally drawn into new musical and artistic life. And – for we writers – who might also do a bit of sketching here and there, there’s a lovely art shop including writing/sketching journals, watercolours, other arty bits and pieces and a bright little selection of books.

Definitely worth a visit and I’m glad that MW committee meetings are held there because I’ll be certain to tour the exhibition again.

– M&P

YouTube inspires

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The sharing of resources is part of our regular conversation at Mungrisdale Writers. Some of us spoke recently of the huge inspirational value we find in YouTube videos. Poets of every kind can be heard reciting or discussing their work – and our own Angela Locke is among these. So, type ‘Carol Ann Duffy’ or ‘Donald Hall’ or Ted Hughes, or ‘Angela Locke’ into YouTube’s search box and you’ll wile away a couple of happy hours before you know it. And then you could have a coffee and p-p-pick-up-a-pen …

– M&P

Meeting 10/Nov

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Mungrisdale Writers will be meeting on Thursday 10th November 2016 from 10.30am-1.30pm. Our tutor Angela Locke proposes

Homework is to look at Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Prayer’  and try to create a piece of prose or poetry inspired by it, preferably in the 1st person!

Closing my eyes now, I can hear the shipping forecast …

Incidentally, YouTube is a fabulous resource for writers – where any number of prose authors and poets can be heard discussing / reciting their work.

Hope to see you there.

– M&P

Meeting 27/Oct

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homework
Photo at Pixabay

Mungrisdale Writers will be meeting on Thursday 27th October 2016 from 10.30am-1.30pm. Our tutor Angela Locke suggests

‘If you feel like doing any homework – no pressure! – a piece of prose or a poem in the present tense and the 1st person, that is, I and me, which is about or includes a sense – taste, touch, smell, sight, sound, or even a 6th sense?’

Autumn colours are providing us with some wonderful inspiration. Hope to see you there.

– M&P

NFG Arts & Crafts Fair 25,26,27/Nov

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northernfells

The Northern Fells Arts and Crafts Fair 2016 will be held at our home venue, Mungrisdale Village Hall, on Friday 25th (Preview Evening 6–8pm) to Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th November from 10.30am–4.30pm

Light refreshments available all day

Unusual and unique gifts for Christmas – all produced in Cumbria, by local artists and craftspeople

Booking being taken now for tables, or to volunteer in our ‘Café’ please contact Philippa Groves

– M&P