written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Sunday 10 July 2011

Dead Good Poets’ Society

06:35:00 Posted by Ashley Lister , , , 8 comments
by Katy Evans

Picture the scene.

Lunchtime. A classroom at Blackpool & The Fylde College. A small group of people, a mix of students and teachers alike are sitting and listening or standing and reading poetry, their own poetry.

Fast forward three years, standing room only. That inaugural meeting of what would go on to become Blackpool’s Dead Good Poets’ Society flails in comparison to the events of today.

I don’t think any of us really knew where this would lead when we first met back in 2008. We were, in our minds, simply a group of friends, with a passion for poetry, whether it be writing it or listening to it. We were a compendium of faculty and alumni, mainly the latter. I, amongst many others, hailed from the BA English course, and was simply happy to have an outlet, a captive audience, and a platform for me to perform my work on.

The lunchtime meetings quickly grew in popularity. Soon an hour wasn’t long enough and a classroom not big enough to accommodate all the poets and their audience. A plan of action was required. A plan that was to be formulated by a skilled team of individuals willing and ready to take over the world... Well, we formed a steering group if that counts! But a plan was made and the evolution of The Dead Good Poets began.

Our first mission, if we were to accept it (which we did, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this now!) was to secure a venue large enough to house our ever growing collection of participants and followers. We were lucky enough to find the perfect place to hold our events and for me, having attended every meeting at this venue, it will always be my favourite. I know you will all join me here in a moment of silence for Chester’s Tea Rooms.

R.I.P Chester’s

From here on the group was free to grow in whichever way it wanted, we had become independent, flown the nest as it were (The nest being the classroom at the college of course!) The fledgling had found its wings!

A society built on inclusion and entertainment for all – Everyone deserves the chance to fly!

I am proud to be able to call myself a founding member of The Dead Good Poets’ Society (I even have the t-shirt!). I may no longer be geographically able to attend every event, and some of the things I see you have planned I would simply LOVE to be a part of, but with the aid of Facebook I know I will never be left out of the loop and would be welcomed back at any time – which I hope will be in the not too distant future!

DGPS is more than just a poetry group, it’s a chance to make new friends and be a part of something special!

8 comments:

Ashley Lister said...

Katy,

Thank you for bringing back so many fond memories. I've read this three times now and each time it's brought a tear to my eye. Either this is very emotive writing, or I'm becoming hormonal.

Great post,

Ash

The Green Girl said...

Thanks Ash, being honest I had tear in my eye writing it! Miss being an active part of the group - but silent member is better than nothing, and we all know I'm far from silent!!

Katy

Query said...
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Ashley Lister said...

Katy,

I dearly hope you can make it up to Blackpool for one of our forthcoming events.

Ash

Damp incendiary device said...

I imagine this is how it feels to stand on top of a famous monument in a Batman costume looking at a text from your ex. It has a photo attached of your child on their first birthday. You only found out they existed after they started school so you missed all that stuff.

Obviously DGP is better than a one year old because it came with free cake and never peed on anyone (that I'm aware of, maybe that post is still to come).

Standard said...

I missed this post! I didn't think Sunday was a posting day! I rememeber reading to other classes on the BA English course and really enjoyed it. Once I graduated though, I found I had no medium to express myself or impetus to do so (My friends are musicians and painters in the main) Having DGPS come out of the BA Anglais that came afterwards was fantastic for me as it gave me a reason to write again and somewhere to get inspired - so, so important for being creative. I missed the Chesters times but am very thankful you lot put it together - Hopefully we'll see you at the #5 Katy :)

Lindsay said...

Sniff sniff, I miss Chesters. I also miss the free butties in college which dwindled to a couple of stale digestives we had to fight over in the middle of the room. It was at lunchtime on my college day and I probably wouldn't have been involved otherwise, as I've never really written much poetry and having joined the 3rd year wasn't taught anything about it. May it long continue, great post brought back some buried memories :)

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