Evocative and quirky evening

Laughter, lyrical and well loved!

All present at Settle Sessions in the Folly on Friday 1st July, agreed it was an excellent evening. 

Ed Reiss

Ed Reiss from Bradford got us all laughing as he read a dozen or so of his quirky and thought-provoking poems. Politicians should beware when Ed gets loose on them. 

Jane Routh contributed lyrical reflections, some on life in Tatham showing her deep love of the countryside and others evoking time spent in the Hebrides.

Jane Routh

Four others read more briefly. Among them Hazel Richardson is to be congratulated for her courage in reading her own work in public for the first time – and with considerable impact. 

Hazel Robinson (centre)

Veronica Caperon gave strong renderings of two of her pieces, Joan Lee delighted us with a heart-felt reading of a poem she’d loved since the age of eight, Leisure by WH Davies, and Rodney Hooper took us back to the First World War with Edward Thomas.

Joan Lee (right)

Rodney Hooper

The Folly makes wonderful setting for such an occasion. The volunteers quietly saw to the practical arrangements so that chairs and refreshments appeared exactly as required. The next Session is on Friday September 9^th

Jean Harrison Friday 1st 2016

Entries were invited to two poetry competitions - the deadline is creeping up: 12th August 2016, the details are on our comeptition page on the website.

Party, Music and Poetry all in one evening

We've got a great line up for the next Settle Session on Friday 1st July at The Folly in Settle.

We have our annual reception at 6.30pm with wine and nibbles. This is your chance to suggest what Settle Sessions might produce in the next 12 months. Everyone welcome, especially our members. We'll also slip in painlessly our AGM. At 7.30pm we move into entertainment mode with our readers for the evening.

The entertainment begins with Jane Routh and Ed Reiss.

We are sorry that Chris and John Bousfield are not able to be with us oin July 1st as hris has been taken ill. We wish her a speedy recovery.

But we're delighted that Jane Routh has stepped in at short notice.  Jane has published three poetry collections with smith|doorstop. Her first, Circumnavigation, won the Poetry Business Competition and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for best first collection; Teach Yourself Mapmaking received a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.  She has taken first prize in the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition (with the title poem of The Gift of Boats) and in the Strokestown International Poetry Competition. She contributes reviews and non-fiction to several publications.

A former photography lecturer, Jane has lived in north Lancashire for forty years – looking after an Ancient Semi Natural Woodland, planting new woodlands and keeping geese for the last twenty years.

Ed Reiss lives and works in Bradford. Your Sort was short-listed for the Aldeburgh First Collection Prize 2011. "Ka’aba' (from the same collection) was highly commended in the 2011 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem, and republished in the Forward Book of Poetry anthology. ‘Reiss is not easy to classify — always a good sign’ Helena Nelson

Supporting Act

The open mic ‘Read Two’ slot is filled this time by three locals with a couple of their favourite or their own poems.

Joan Lee has delighted our audiences before with her beautiful readings of classic poems.

Hazel Richardson made up her first poems at the age of 6 to keep me busy while learning to ride my bike - sadly none of those were written down. She enjoys writing poems, has kept a diary since a child & has been on a few writing courses - but only read a poem once in public (at her son's wedding) so this is a terrifying first! 

Veronica Caperon, who usually comperes the SS evenings, has grabbed the opportunity to read a couple of her new poems. Half of the Lippy Logic comedy-drama duo, she also writes and performs in plays sketches.

Tickets (£6, or £5.50 members) are available from Cave and Crag, The Courtyard Dairy and The Folly. Details on settlesessions.co.uk or from info@settlesessions.co.uk

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER OUR POETRY COMPETITIONS TO CELEBRATE NATIONAL POETRY DAY IN OCTOBER - DETAILS ON THE COMPETITIONS PAGE.

From Australian immigration to the Iambic pentameter

REVIEW

Settle Sessions fourth year was launched to standing room only at The Folly. The packed audience enjoyed poems on subjects from the Australian outback to the iambic pentameter.

Jean Stevens

Jean Stevens, well known in the area as a creative writing tutor, read from her new book “Beyond Satnav”. Her poems are accessible with poetic twists and turns. Classical references brushed shoulders with the pedantry of Australian immigration system. “Fell Farmer” spoke movingly of women farmers in a harsh landscape.

Anne Caldwell, literature programme manager for The British Council, certainly knows how to captivate her audience. Her work ranged from grim plain language in “Winter Solstice” about climate change, to a mother’s touching sonnet about her son visiting Gordale Scar.

Anne Caldwell

A sequence based on her late father’s cine films brought Aberdeen and its seascapes to Settle in vivid imagery.

In the Read Two open mic spot, Beryl James shared her simple, effective style, Jackie Allott read from Carol Ann Duffy’s work with humour, Jean Lavelle honoured The Bard and Tricia Robinson bravely read her own work for the first time in public to great approval.

Settle Sessions started as it means to go on – with variety, entertainment and class.

Veronica Caperon

You can order Anne Caldwell's book at this  website

Settle Sessions will have 4 evenings of poetry and short stories this year, including a celebration of National Poetry Day on October 6th at Settle Victoria Hall, with a national and local poetry competition running through the summer. More details on our About and Competitions pages, and info@settlesessions.co.uk

April Poetry

Our first Session of the year will be on Friday 22nd April at The Folly in Settle at 7.30pm

We're delighted that well known Settle based poet Jean Stevens will be launching her new collection with us. 

Jean Stevens

Jean is a poet and playwright. Her poems have been published in numerous magazines, newspapers and anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio Three and Radio Four. She has won the Yorkshire Post Poetry Prize and Leeds Library Writing Prize. Her latest collection of poems Beyond Satnav has just been published by Indigo Dreams. Her previous collection Undressing in Winter was launched at Ilkley Literature Festival. Her poems range from the lyrical to the colloquial, from the moving to the witty and, although her work is rooted in her response to the Yorkshire Dales where she lives, her writing embraces the world from Australia to Zimbabwe.

 

Anne Caldwell

Also reading her new work during the evening will be Anne Caldwell. A poet and literature consultant,  

Anne works for the British Council as their Literature Programme Manager. Her latest book of poetry is out with Cinnamon Press this spring: Painting the Spiral Staircase.

 

Taking part in "Read Two", an open mic session are local people sharing their favourite poems:

Jackie Allott was born and brought up in Otley but has lived in Settle for 12 years. She qualified as a Social Worker and spent much of her professional life working as an Independent Review Officer for NYCC. She can't imagine living anywhere else but Yorkshire. Explorative learning is the challenge now and playing with the imagery and ideas in poetry, a quiet and sometimes teasing pleasure!

Beryl James moved to Settle from Exeter in 2014. She is a lifetime sporadic poet although her output over 60 years has been small due to life intervening. She finds it a good way of expressing strong feelings and says that it may be writing that has kept her sane!

Jean Lavelle was born in Blackburn but has lived in Langcliffe for the last 21 years. She has taught both Art and French, worked with physically disabled children, and brought up a family of five. She is a lover of theatre and has had a lifelong interest in poetry.

Tricia Robinson has always enjoyed poetry and written it, but just for herself. She has drawn it from family life and also from living and working in Africa and Spain. Only three members of her family, and more recently Jean Stevens, have ever read or listened to it until tonight. 

Tickets are £6 (£5.50 for members) and will be available from The Folly, Cave and Crag and The Dairy Courtyard, all in Settle.



Settle Sessions will have 4 evenings of poetry and short stories this year, including a celebration of National Poetry Day on October 6th at Settle Victoria Hall, with a national and local poetry competition running through the summer. More details at settlesessions.co.uk and info@settlesessions.co.uk


For more details contact Jean Harrison on 01729 823305 or info@settlesessions.co.uk

Excellent evening rounds off the year

We were delighted to round off our year with yet another excellent group of writers and poets.

Once again we had a very successful session with an enthusiastic audience. 

Two established poets, Ann Pilling and Chris Considine, had chosen Settle for the launch of their new collections. Ann read from about her life in Hawes, her family and life experiences while Chris focussed on the idea of home, the remote Dales cottage she inhabited for many years and what it was like uprooting herself to move to Plymouth. 

We also had four other readers, Ron Scowcroft from Lancaster, Bob Dew from Kendal, Gavin Wilshaw from Bentham who each read two of their own poems and Kathy Swinscoe from Settle who read two poems she particularly liked by Edward Thomas.

We would like to thank the Anne Read, the curator of The Folly for the use of a beautiful room and the provision of a wood fire that made for a very cosy evening.

2015 has proved to be our most successful yet, with top rated writers and poets bringing stimulating and enjoyable work to Settle.We'll be back with a series of evenings of words and poetry in the Spring. 

Keep an eye on our website for more details

Distinguished and new voices combine in final Session

The final Settle Session of the year starts with a reception open to everyone and a brief AGM followed by a strong programme of published and new poets. The evening takes place The Folly in Settle on Friday 20th November at 6.30pm.

"We've had a very successful year and look forward to celebrating this with friends and members in our reception to start the evening" said Jean Harrison of Settle Sessions. "Our final Session of the year brings together highly respected published poets, with voices new to Settle as well."

The evening's entertainment features two leading poets reading from new work associated with Yorkshire.

Chris Considine is a poet and former school-teacher who lived for many years in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, before moving to Plymouth in 2011.

Chris Considine

Chris's latest collection, In Search of Home, is about her move from Yorkshire to Devon and explores what it means to belong somewhere – what we might mean by ‘home’. Her Swaledale Sketchbook was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in the best first collection category in 2002. Other publications include St. Cuthbert and Bystanders, Learning to Look and Quarll, and Behind the Lines. At the beginning of 2004 she was a Hawthornden Fellow.

Ann Pilling is a distinguished writer of children's fiction and a poet, winning prizes and accolades for both careers. She will be reading from her new collection Ground Cover, poems about remote places, ageing and being young, about death and birth , and about the natural world and its power to redeem. Ann is a trustee of Settle Sessions and lives in The Yorkshire Dales which she calls "the country of my heart".

Ron Scowcroft

Also on the bill will be four writers airing their work in the brief "Read Two" section. Alan Pascoe is a playwright and poet with work heard on BBC Radio 3 & 4. Bob Dew is a priest who has found the space to write in retirement in The Lake District.

Bob Dew

Completing the bill are Founder member of Lancaster's April Poets Ron Scowcroft, and Gavin Wilshaw

Gavin Wilshaw

who writes both humorous and spiritual pieces.

 More information from settlesessions.co.uk or 01729 824537. Tickets £6 (£5.50 members) available from Cave and Crag, The Courtyard Dairy and The Folly.

Excellent combination

We were very pleased to bring together the establishment and the newcomer in our September Session! 

Meg Peacocke and Kim Moore graced the evening and brought a wide spectrum of emotions and observations to the evening.

Mike Barlow was very impressed:
Last night’s event was excellent. Both Meg and Kim. And what an interesting combination, the up-and-coming and the established and venerable. I’m just sorry there wasn’t a bigger audience. It deserved a packed one.

And I thought the local readers reading other poets’ work was also very good to hear and a nice change.


In the Read Two slot, locals Anne Richer, Sandra Fox and John Raubenheimer brought some of their favourite poems to share with a very appreciative audience

Some audience reactions:
A very good balance of speakers • Always an enjoyable evening • Great poets this evening • it was magnificent, the best yet

The next evening will be on Friday 20th November, starting with wine and nibbles reception. This will be your opportunity to suggest how you would like Settle Sessions to be in 2016.