I have worked hard to set up a regular poetry night in my area and BLAZE is my latest effort. It’s been running since January, in a pub in Hartford. We have had some great guests and workshops and some quality open floor readers and singers.
However, audiences have been small and so I have decided to take a break till September. I will be moving it from the third Wednesday of the month to the second to avoid a clash with an event in Liverpool. We have had one session at the new venue, Hartford Hall, where the room is palatial!
This month’s guest is Dominic Berry and the evening is on 15 June. Workshop starts at 6 and open floor starts at 8.
However, there’s a big event coming up to mark the end of the season: BLAZE concert at Nantwich Festival of the Arts, featuring Angela Topping, Rebecca Sharp with her Celtic harp, and followed by the trio Onya Wick. Come to Nantwich players theatre on 19th June for a family friendly concert. £5 adults, children over 10 half price. It’s not recommended for younger children. It starts at 1.30 but is preceded by a free rehearsed reading of a play, and followed by a great one man show on Wagner, for another £5.
Rebecca Sharp - mesmerisingly good
Nantwich is a great place to visit anyway, so why not make a day of it?
Angela Topping 
Hi Angela,
I’ve really enjoyed BLAZE and met some interesting people there. It’s been great to feel a part of the local writing community and I’ve found it a spur creatively though I tend more towards prose than poetry myself. So it’s a big thankyou from me, for all your hard work in organising BLAZE. You’ve done a wonderful job and thoroughly deserve a break!
I’ll have to skip Wednesday as it’ll be my granddaughter Evie’s seventh birthday, but I’ll pop over to Nantwich for the concert on Sunday if I can (fancy footwork will be required as I’ll be having Father’s Day visitors).
Will September BLAZE now feature Matt Simpson’s Collected Poems? I hope so as I’d like to be better acquainted with his work.
See you soon.
Paul