The competition evening took place on Tuesday 27th October at our new venue for the evening ‘The Red House’ on the A37 1 mile South of Yeovil. We had to switch venue at short notice due to the closure of the Helyar Arms.  It was a well attended and enjoyable meeting with the pictures featured by the poems projected onto a screen.  Several members of the Yeovil Art Group also attended as their pictures were featured in the competition poems.  Our judge, artist Jane MacKey, gave an excellent resume of the 10 top poems.  The competition winner was Juliet Lacey with her poem “Autimn walk : Charcoal”- see our competitions page. 

Stephen Boyce has been widely published in magazines, journals and online and has won a number of awards including the Kent & Sussex Poetry Competition and the Leicester Poetry Competition. He has two collections to his name, Desire Lines (Arrowhead 2010) and The Sisyphus Dog (Worple 2014)as well as the pamphlets In the Northland (TegArt 2011) and Something Persists (TegArt 2014). His work has been described as “intelligent,sophisticated and formally-assured…” and “… poignant, exquisitely phrased poems full of thoughtful observations of everyday life in which he makes unexpected connections.” He is a founding trustee of Winchester Poetry Festival and co-directed the first festival.

Juliet lacey leads this celebration of the work of Welsh poet Alun Lewis.

£2 entrance

Informal, impromptu, inviting, in the apple loft.  Just bring some poems to read.

£2 entrance 

Bring some poems to read or just come and listen.  These open evenings are always popular.

£2 entrance

Poet and Writer Kate Scott came to East Coker and had put together a fascinating workshop style meeting that had the group thinking hard about the featured poems.  A most interesting evening.

The West Coker Poets presented the whole of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood.

This is a classic and the West Coker Poets put together an excellent performance including sound effects.

Anne Gullo lead this meeting which was something different for the group.  There is a long history of the story and verse being linked together.  Many early poems were ‘narrative poems’ telling a story in verse – most Anglo-Saxon and Celtic poetry that has survived is of this sort. 

Many favourite poems such as ‘The Ancient Mariner’ are stories in verse. 

This was a chance to tell a short story or read a short ‘narrative poem’ or read part of a longer poem. 

Trains and boats and planes…….

Poems with a visual evocation of travel.  A ‘poems and pictures’ evening.

£2 entrance

Bring some poetry to brighten this Autumnal evening – any subject; any style.  Or just come and listen.

£2 entrance