The Originals Poetry Group Meeting

Featuring Jim Bennett
Originals Cafe, Hoylake
10th May 2006

Our May meeting, which was the first of a newly structured format, was an extremely enjoyable evening that achieved our objectives of providing a forum for the stimulation of new talent together with an appreciation of great poetry and the opportunity to hear a highly skilled and talented guest poet.

A good sized audience, ranging from families with children to very experienced poets, attended the meeting on a warm and pleasant evening at the Originals Café in Hoylake. After registration of the poets who were going to perform their own work in the open floor session, the poetry began with readings by Group members of great poetry on the theme of Spring. In addition to such timeless pieces as 'Daffodils' by Wordsworth there was a reading of 'Tulips' written by our very own Wirral poet and broadcaster, Peggy Poole. This was made all the more special by Peggy being present at the meeting and participating later in the open floor session.

After the opening readings, we went into the highlight of the meeting by welcoming Jim Bennett as our guest poet. In a very full half hour session, Jim entertained us with enormous skill and professionalism. From humorous to serious poetry, evocative recollections of Liverpool life in the docks; from folk ballad to punk youth; and even an improvised poem to music using scary subjects provided by the audience. This was a comprehensive demonstration of the art of the poet acquired over a successful and very active lifetime of performing to many and varied audiences in different parts of the world. Everybody greatly enjoyed being entertained and educated by Jim, including the choir who 'volunteered' to help him out with the presentation of one musical piece. We were incredibly fortunate to have Jim give his services to the Group. We are very grateful for his performance and sincerely hope that as a locally resident poet he may be able to visit us again at future meetings. Thanks Jim.

It was a daunting proposition for our open floor poets to follow the work of such a great professional as Jim Bennett, but they certainly rose to the challenge. Six poets ranging from very young poets starting out on their literary creativity through to those with a lifetime of successful writing, teaching and performing competed for the votes of the audience with a small prize going to the best poem of the evening. The majority of votes went to a very new, young poet, Emily Milne, with a clever spring poem of the boing variety rather than the season of the year. In addition to the £10 voucher that Emily won, her poem will be published shortly on the Group website and will appear in the programme of the June meeting.

The Group meets on the second Wednesday of each month at Originals Café in Hoylake at 7pm. At our meeting on 14 June 2006 our guest poet will be Peggy Poole, so please make a note in your diary and join us for a friendly evening in which you can enjoy listening to fine poetry or perform your own work with the possibility of winning a prize and greater recognition of your work.