listen up north!

Taking time to ‘Stand and Stare’

  Another busy week – not one thing finished but lots of different strands pushed further forward and useful networks made.  Lots of irons in the fire and as usual I am skirting around the business aspects – still can’t find/build the right framework for monitoring cash in and out .  I’ve still got a hang-up about this which I’m going to have to sort out.  Looking into Data Protection and checking out different legal implications for Intellectual property also takes up time as well as setting up a business bank account.  Despite all the pressure there’s still time to ‘stand and stare’ at the winter aconite and snowdrops pushing through in the sunshine - relief after the miserable weeks of snow.

Recently Stencil Helen suggested starting up a ‘Front Room Theatre’ at her show home in Stocksfield Hall where I and other writers can showcase our writing in audiodrama format.  Brilliant idea – slight problem that the last episode out of 5 is still not finished even though it is has been drafted out longhand. Must have a concerted push this week to get that out.

More and more things are added to my ‘to do’ list with less and less crossed off.  Perhaps I should get up earlier and go to bed later – perhaps not go to bed at all?   Why can’t I be organised like Wonderhubby? 

I am preparing my prototype website.  Therefore I need to write my pages to provide written content, probably about 50 – it’s a tall order but first I must get touch with all the writers and actors that have contributed so far, ensuring all contracts are completed so that I can use their work, requesting biographies and photos so that they can have a portfolio.  I’m amazed to find out how many have accumulated since I started recording.  Now I need to ensure I have sufficient spoken word content.  I have 4 audiodramas, 8 monologues, half a dozen novel extracts and probably upto 50 poems record by a dozen poets all in various stages of editing.  I ring Richard at Core Music – we have several sessions to tie everything up re editing and sound effects  so that I will be ready to go.  Already I must start thinking ahead to future content beyond the prototype.

  Building contacts and updating skills is also important ; this week I have also found time for a writer’s event for the launch of The Writer’s Block at The Institute of Digital Innovation, Teesside University, a digital media networking breakfast at The Settle Down Cafe in Newcastle and a Screenwriters meeting at the wonderful Lit & Phil also in Newcastle where writer/director John Allen gives an excellent masterclass on putting his short film Real Must Have together.

Tom Rawling – A Passion for Ennerdale

One thing about developing this spoken word website is my own personal discovery of lesser known yet most accomplished writers.  Those that are skilful not merely in the art of composition but in putting together words that can leave the reader or listener with a greater breadth of understanding about life and also elevate them to a higher emotional level. 

 
Such is the work of Lake District poet Tom Rawling.  I was first made aware of Tom through Cumbrian writer, John Murray who asked whether I would consider featuring Tom on my website. I did not need to consider this for long.  Although I had originally intended to develop the website primarily for North East writers, I was delighted to extend the boundaries.  I soon wondered why I and many others had never heard of this poet.  Obviously a secret treasure hidden deep in the hills from whence he came. 

Tom was born in Ennerdale, then Cumberland, in 1916 and spent his childhood around the family farm of How Hall.  He left Ennerdale as a young man, returning for family visits and for his great passion of fishing.  However, it wasn’t until his retirement after thirty years of teaching away from Ennerdale that he began to write poetry, drawing from his rich boyhood experiences and his time serving as a soldier in World War II.  This resulted in several collections to his name before his death in 1996.  Well done to Michael Baron, Stan Buck and The Lamplugh and District Heritage Society which has recently put together a collection of Tom’s poetry in the book How Hall Poems and Memories, A Passion for Ennerdale together with a CD of Tom himself reading some of his work.

These are beautiful poems about a beautiful part of the world, some deeply moving, but all without pretension or romanticism.  In them I found a great respect and sensitivity to the environment as well as total honesty about the crudeness and brutality that Tom observed in nature and farming as he grew up in a remote area of the Lake District in the 1920s.  The book How Hall has been thoughtfully arranged with Tom’s own recollections of his time there together with photographs of his family and surroundings which give a wonderful context in which to place this poetry.  Listening to Tom’s voice on the CD only enhances this appreciation.

 The book and CD are available to buy online from bookscumbria.com

Or by post:  Book - £8.50 and CD - £6.00 including p&p (UK)

Send a cheque  to

Lamplugh and District Heritage Society

Owsen Place

Lamplugh

Workington

CA14 4SQ

Click below to listen to Tom reading Bridge End

Bridge End by Tom Rawling

Click below to listen to Tom reading I can’t put it all on a Picture Postcard

I can't put it all on a Picture Postcard by Tom Rawling

Click below to hear Tom reading Two Swifts at Standlake

Two Swifts at Standlake by Tom Rawling

You can also hear Michael Baron read Tom Rawling's work at A Poetry Reading  The Words by the Water Literature Festival at The Theatre by the Lake, Keswick on Friday 12th March starting at 7pm in The Studio.

At the same festival, John Murray who has recorded for this site will also be talking to Sue Allan about Comedy, Cumbria and Dialect on Monday 8th March at 11am, also in The Studio.