Past programmes

To give you some idea of what we do, here are the programmes for some past years.

2011

JanuaryDiscussion
FebruaryDuncan Breckels
 Working meeting
MarchMartin Figura and Helen Ivory
 Read their own poems
AprilAndrea Porter
 Talks about her latest work
MayIan Wilkes
 Talking Heads
JuneAlison Chisholm
 Wordsworth, the Dove Cottage years
SeptemberMember's meeting
 Bring a favourite poem
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
NovemberBrian Burden
 The Stories of H G Wells

2010

JanuaryBrian Burden
 Walt Whitman
FebruaryJudith Palmer (Director of the Poetry Society)
 About the Poetry Society (An open meeting)
MarchPauline Stainer
 Reads her own poems
AprilWorking meeting (theme of Autumn/Winter)
MayMichael Kingdom
 John Betjeman
JuneLeonee Ormond (Tennyson Society)
 Tennyson and Landscape
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by the Manningtree Stanza
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by preparation for literary evening
November Evening meeting for the Stebbing Ladies Group

2009

JanuaryMervyn Linford
 Reads his own poems
FebruaryChristine & Brian Burden
 Edward Thomas
MarchRonald Blythe
 On being a writer
AprilBreaking free: Poems from Manningtree Stanza
MayDerek Adams
 Catullus
JuneDavid Shacklock
 Sabine Baring-Gould
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Adrian Green
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by a report on the John Clare Society
NovemberAnne Hudson and David Gallifant
 George Meredith

2008

JanuaryPeter Hyland
 The life of Robert Burns
FebruaryWorking meeting
 Bring something you have written for the group to discuss
MarchJo Burch
 "Insufferable twaddle and mawkish absurdity" —
Letitia Landon and the Literary Annuals
AprilDavid Gallifant
 Milton interpreted by Blake
MayEstill Pollock
 Reads his own poems
JuneChristine Rigden and CS Rowland
 Read their own poems
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Derek Adams
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by @
NovemberAlan Byford
 The life of Edmund Blunden

2007

JanuaryMembers' meeting
 bring favourite poems on the subject of "winter"
FebruaryMichael Mann
 Spanish ballads
MarchPeter Hyland
 Poetry of war
AprilSeona Ford
 Dorothy L Sayers: her life in poetry
MayWorking meeting
 Poem inspired by a picture
JuneAnne Hudson & David Gallifant
 Anne Stevenson
SeptemberPoetry Competition in conjunction with
the Saffron Walden Literary Festival 2007
 Adjudication by Martin Newell
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
NovemberTed Evans
 Arthur Ransome's life and loves

2006

JanuaryPeter Moyse
 In the footsteps of John Clare
FebruaryAnne Berkeley
 Reading her own poems
MarchAnne Hudson
 The British poet Kathleen Raine
AprilDuncan Breckels
 Poetry Jukebox
MayDavid Gallifant
 Thomas Moore and the art of writing
JuneRoger Johnson
 "Look to the Lady": the life and crime fiction
of Margery Allingham
SeptemberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by working meeting
OctoberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Pauline Stainer
NovemberThe Lord Philips of Sudbury
 Early Nineteenth century Suffolk poets

2005

JanuaryKeith Chandler
 Reads his own poems
FebruaryDavid Gallifant
 Catching up with John Clare
MarchIan Wilkes (of Ian Henry Publications)
 Sherlock Holmes in Frankfurt
AprilJan Williams
 Essex Story Tellers
MayMichael Laskey & Joanna Cutts
of Smith's Knoll magazine
 Invite us to share in an editorial meeting
June"Joinedupwriting"
(Christine Rigden and Huw Evans)
 Present their own poems
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Ronald Blythe
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by members reading favourite poems
NovemberDuncan Breckels
 Working meeting

2004

JanuaryAnne Berkeley
 Reading her own poems
FebruaryThe Untapped Writers
 present their own work
MarchRonald Blythe
 George Crabbe
AprilFavourite poems
MayNicholas Nottage
 Henry Howard
JuneDuncan Breckels
 The works of John Redwood Anderson
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Joe Barnett
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
 Followed by members reading favourite poems
NovemberWorking meeting
 Write on a subject picked at random during the meeting

2003

JanuaryDavid Gallifant
 Walking with writers
FebruaryMembers meeting
 Favourite poems
MarchChristine Rigden
 Reads her own poems
AprilAnne Hudson
 Christina Rosetti
MayJohn Fitch
 The "Bab" ballads of W S Gilbert
JunePeter Moyse
 Illustrated talk on behalf of
the John Clare Society
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Keith Chandler
OctoberAnnual General Meeting
NovemberAGM adjourned from October

2002

JanuaryRonald Blythe
 Writing a rural Journal:
Word from Wormingford
FebruaryKeith Chandler
 Reading his own poems
MarchDuncan Breckels
 Prose working meeting
AprilSally Carr
 Reading her own poems
MayDr Joe Allard
 Aspects of Modern Poetry—
getting published in little magazines
JuneJohn Fitch
 The poetry of R N Curry
SeptemberPoetry Competition
 Adjudication by Joe Barnett
OctoberCancelled: bad weather
DecemberAnnual general Meeting

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