Our workshops, reading groups and writing groups

Our meetings follow this monthly programme:

First Tuesday - workshop,  everyone welcome 
Includes a writing exercise led by a member of the Society (please bring writing materials), and a read-round of previously written work (please bring about 8 copies of one or two of your poems). Poets read their own poems and give/receive constructive comments in order to help us all in the editing of our own work. Comments are intended to be helpful and supportive.  £4 per session, including tea, coffee and biscuits.  This is reduced to £2 per session for subscribers (£8 per annum). For people joining before July in any year, subscribing and paying the lower fee is definitely the way to go.  Those joining in the second half of the year will find it better to pay the higher session fee, and consider subscribing from the following January.

Third Tuesday - reading group meeting, everyone welcome 
In June, August, October we will each bring about 8 copies of about four poems written by a published contemporary poet - for reading and discussion.  In July, September and November we will bring poems on specific topics/themes, for similar reading and discussion.  This is a chance for people to introduce each other to new poets and new poetry.  £2 per session including tea, coffee and biscuits. No annual subscription is payable by people who just come to reading group meetings.


Fourth Tuesday - writing group for experienced poets 
This group is limited in number to ensure there is time for thorough and rigorous critiques; currently we have no vacancies in this group so please consider coming to workshops on the First Tuesday instead where commenting is intended to be helpful and supportive.
Members of the Writing Group are all payers of the £8 annual subscription, paying an additional £2 per session. Refreshments are included.

Finding us

Several people have recently reported difficulty in finding 13 Parmoor House, Lypiatt Terrace, Cheltenham, GL50 2SX where we hold our regular meetings.
This map will help:
Map of Lypiatt Terrace

Here is a picture of what the building looks like from the outside:
Parmoor House, 13 Lypiatt Terrace

This Cheltenham Civic Society building is used by a number of groups.
Cheltenham Poetry Society meetings take place on the SECOND FLOOR, in the Rosalind Room.

All meetings are on Tuesdays, 7pm - 10pm, with a refreshment break mid-way through the evening.

Next Workshop - Tuesday 4 June

Our next workshop will be at 7pm - 10pm on Tuesday 4 June at Parmoor House, Lypiatt Terrace, Cheltenham.  The writing exercise will be relevant to the theme of "Memory" which is the theme for this year's Gloucestershire Writers Network competition - so it offers a good opportunity to prepare a poem for submission to that.  There will be a chance to read back our drafts for mutual constructive feedback, but there's no obligation to share if we don't want to.  After coffee/tea, we will read our already-written poems, brought to the meeting, again giving and receiving feedback to help us in editing our work.  Please bring writing materials and about 8 copies of one or two poems you have already written.  These workshops are great value at £2, to include refreshments.

Writing and Socialising, May 2013

Successful Launch of "Beyond the Well-Mapped Provinces"

Eight members of the Society's Writing Group read poems from our new anthology, "Beyond the Well-Mapped Provinces" on 24 April, during Cheltenham Poetry Festival. The well attended event, upstairs at Cafe Rouge in the Promenade (a first-rate venue for poetry readings) provided a feast of 40 poems from the anthology. These showcased the varied interests and styles of David Ashbee, Robin Gilbert, Sharon Larkin, Michael Newman, Stuart Nunn,  Michael Skaife d'Ingerthorpe, Sheila Spence and Roger Turner.  Other poets represented in the anthology, but unavailable to read on the night, are Judi Marsh and Gerald O'Shaughnessy.

Here is a review of the launch:

"The poems in this anthology are excellent. But I have to particularly commend those of retired nurse Sheila Spence, often about water, including her wise and compassionate Salt Water; Submerged, about the flooding that regularly assails Gloucestershire; and Waiting, likening a new baby to a starfish".  
(Greg Freeman: Write Out Loud)

The event was also an opportunity to publicly thank Robin Gilbert for overseeing the anthology's publication and Abi Ponton of Pigeon Illustration for cover artwork.  We are indebted to both.

Copies of "Beyond the Well-Mapped Provinces" are selling well.  If you'd like a copy (£5 plus £2 p@p) please email us on: Cheltenham.Poetry.Society@gmail.com

Performing Poetry - The Poet's Voice

Although it wasn't a Poetry Society event as such, a workshop entitled "The Poet's Voice" was held on 11 April which several members and former members attended - all women.  The speaker was Dorothy Daniels whose career has been in voice training - with an impressive list of organisations and individuals she has worked with to help people become more effective and confident public speakers and performers. Those of us attending this recent workshop will unhesitatingly attest that Dorothy helped us too.

As well as reminding us of the mechanics of standing in front of an audience, making and sustaining contact, breathing correctly and so on, we benefitted from time spent reading our poems aloud as if at a public reading, but paying far more attention to modulation - the power, pace, pitch - of our delivery, noting where to emphasise words and phrases, where to pause, where to slow down or speed up and so on.

For me, personally, this was the best investment of time and money - in poetry terms - in a long time.  A well-timed event, too, in view of the forthcoming Poetry Festival ... when most of those attending the workshop will be performing.

Expect some engaging performances!

Poetry Reading Group - Tuesday 16 April

Newcomers are always welcome in our Poetry Reading Group. Just bring 6-8 copies of 3-4 poems by a contemporary poet and share what you find interesting or exciting about them! 7pm-10pm at Parmoor House, Lypiatt Terrace, Cheltenham. £2 - includes refreshments.