Verse Aid : Poems for the Earth

Back in January I was honoured to be invited by Poets for the Planet to run two workshops at their launch event at the Society Of Authors in London.

“Poets for the Planet is a community of kindred poets, performers, artists and creative activists raising their voices to engage with climate and ecological emergency through poetry in all its forms.”

This took place on Saturday February 8th, and was a fantastically busy day with a Poem-A-Thon taking place throughout the day, alongside other workshops from Jan Heritage, Grace Pengelly, Dom Bury, Philip Gross and Clare Pollard.

In the evening there was a gala reading featuring Imtiaz Dharker, winner of the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, alongside acclaimed poets Mona Arshi, Hannah Lowe and Jacqueline Saphra.

My workshops, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, were based around my latest chapbook and walking project, Sward : Skin of the Earth, and aimed to get people thinking about their local green and wild spaces, how to write about them and how to value them.

Here’s the blurb from eventbrite:

Skin of the earth: Walking and Ecopoetry

Exploring family memories of and connections to local wild spaces through walking and writing about them. We will look at the writings of Victorian author and naturalist Richard Jefferies and think about the concept of deep topography.

I was delighted that both workshops were well attended and each was very different in flavour! The morning workshop was mostly a talking / thinking / exchanging ideas workshop, and the afternoon workshop was a heads-down writing workshop. As each workshop was only 30 minutes long,  a ‘micro-workshop’, I prepared a handout for people to take away with them too.

The monies raised went to two amazing charities:

Founded in 1993, Bees for Development was the first organisation to articulate the reasons why beekeeping is such a useful tool for alleviating poverty while helping to retain biodiversity. http://www.beesfordevelopment.org

International Environmental Charity Earthwatch brings together world-class scientists and individuals from all works of life to work for the good of the planet.

I also took part in the Poem-A-Thon, reading from Sward, and raised money again for Bees for Development – and thanks to everyone who sponsored and supported me!

 

Sward {skin of the earth}

My new chapbook, Sward {skin of the earth}, published by Sampson Low Ltd, is available for purchase here


£3.85 incl UK p+p

Sward represents my walks up and down the central reservation of the A240, Kingston Road, from the Tolworth Roundabout to the border of Surrey, where the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames meets the Borough of Epsom and Ewell.

Inspired by Richard Jefferies, the prolific Victorian nature writer, author and walker, whose seminal work Nature Near London contains essays about his walks and observations of Tolworth and the surrounding areas.

Outside Richard Jefferies’ Home – pic by Paul Atkinson

The Plaque at RJ’s house in Ewell Road, Tolworth

Jefferies lived in Tolworth for several years, and last year Alison Fure and myself, as part of our Tolworth Treasure and the Hogsmill Hum project took between 30-40 people on a walk in Richard Jefferies’ Footsteps, aided and abetted by our friend Ben Henderson who very kindly agreed to play the part of Jefferies on the day, and did so with great aplomb, providing us with a sprinkle of magic for our journey.

The walk, which took place on a hot and sunny May Bank Holiday in 2018, was recorded for a show on Radio 4, ‘The Art of Now: Women Who Walk’,  celebrating women walking artists, and we were delighted to be involved in this.

Richard Jefferies shares a joke with Tolworth Treasure and the Hogsmill Hum 😉 Pic by Paul Atkinson

Richard Jefferies takes a walk down Tolworth Broadway

Tolworth Court Farm Moated Manor, site of The Barn

This is my last walking and writing on Tolworth for now, although there may be a couple of essays lurking. My family has lived here for generations, since my grandparents came over from Wexford, Ireland during the second world war, and I have spent the last few years walking and writing and thinking and trying to engage other people in the treasures that exist nearby, before they are lost.

Alison and I documented our walks for Tolworth Treasure and the Hogsmill Hum, and were glad to meet lots of lovely local folk and make new friends, and we continue to walk, write, celebrate and try to conserve the nature on our doorsteps.

This year I decided to focus on a small patch of nature, a long, thin one, in the middle of the A240 – a narrow but important nature corridor, with grasses, 20-odd mature trees and lots of wild flowers. I named the project Sward after Richard Jefferies’ use of the word in his writing.

Last year this slim but vital patch of nature was placed under threat of being concreted over from one end to the other, as the proposed Tolworth Area Plan wished to see this an extension of the Tolworth Greenway – green stripy concrete.

This central reservation, which helps pollinators and other fauna find their way across the busy road from one green space to the other (Kingston University Playing Fields and Tolworth Court Farm Fields respectively) must be kept and properly managed. It also does an important job of mitigating air pollution – and providing beauty – something we mustn’t overlook!

I was glad that many objections to this part of the plan were received and it has been dropped, but I worry it will happen anyway in increments, as Tfl will be extending the ‘greenway’ to Tolworth Station. Although at the moment this does not mean the loss of all the grassy and floriferous ‘sward’ I have been walking up and down for the last six months – and seeing all my life, it still could be in the near future…

 

Walk with Jane on the Cambridge Estate

Ecologist, bat expert and walking artist Alison Fure

Alison Fure is leading a Soundwalk as part of her Walks with Jane project, in conjunction with The Museum of Walking, through the Cambridge Estate in Kingston Upon Thames, this Saturday evening, 7th September, 2019.

From the Museum of Walking website event page:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Soundwalk will explore the wildlife and human ecology on this large estate with 230 trees.

We will listen to the web of life from replayed recordings of bird song, talking heads and listen to bats in real time (bat detection equipment provided).

This event is free but booking is essential – Call +44 (0) 7867507086

• 19.00 start – meeting place will be revealed on booking 
• Walk with Jane listening to the sounds of a local community
• 20.00 listen to bats in real time (bat detection equipment provided)
• 20.30 finish

Me and the Witness Tree, Museum of Futures, 2018. Pic by Madeleine Elliott

I am currently writing elegies / eulogies for the trees on the estate and will be reading these brand new, site specific poems on the night. Please join us…

The Moon Over Tolworth

Harvest Moon by Samuel Palmer (1905-1881)

In the mundane modern

semi-detached suburbs

slippers, gravel, teatime tables

GCSE revision

the Moon guides me home

welcomes me to this season

with its golden corona

moonflower harvest sky

 

The Moon ~O~

 

I speed down the A3 toward

Tolworth

Tower

follow the curve of the road

there it is again on the right

above the cleared MAFF site

behind the bowling alley

 

The Moon ~O~

 

The Moon is over the fields

Giving it the full Samuel Palmer

Richard Jefferies is walking out

late to see the moonlit silver

gold of the harvest under this

crystal studded Prussian blue sky

almost cold and glowing

 

The Moon ~O~

 

I want to stop the car and see the fields

in this Autumn moonlight

but life like a kite pulls me on

a different journey

I hope darkness prevails in the fields

so I can see them like this next year

 

In the footsteps of Richard Jefferies – Part One

Did you know that one of our most cherished and important nature writers lived in Tolworth? Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) was born in Coate in Wiltshire, but moved to live in Tolworth, at 296 Ewell Road, from 1877 – 1882.

During this time he wrote what is acknowledged to be his finest writing, some of which was collected in a book of essays called Nature Near London. Every day Jefferies would walk along the Ewell Road in various directions, but often he would stroll down towards Tolworth Court Farm Fields and to the Hogsmill. Sometimes he would walk towards Worcester Park, at other times he would wander along the river in the other direction, towards Ewell or Chessington.

We can walk in his footsteps, and still see and experience some of what he saw and wrote about back then. Come with us on a journey through the eyes and feet of this prolific and important writer (and walker!) who put Tolworth on the map in a way that no one else has. His work is hugely important and influential, and people still make pilgrimages to see where he lived, walked and worked.

On Bank Holiday Monday, May 7th, we will meet outside Richard Jefferies’ old home, now a Stack and Bonner Estate Agents, at 11am. Then we will walk down the Ewell Road, just as he did (but with cars and a lot more concrete), out to the edgelands between Greater London and Surrey, where the spirit of Jefferies still haunts the landscape.

We will stop briefly at 11.45am, at the railway bridge at Tolworth railway station, and then continue on, down the A240, to the bridge over the Hogsmill and on to the white bridge at the confluence of the Bonesgate Stream and Hogsmill.

We will then cross over the A240 and go to Tolworth Court Farm Moated Manor, and see if we can spot the kestrels currently nesting there; then head down Old Kingston Road and finish at the Court Farm Garden Centre Cafe between 12.30-1pm.

The walk will end with tea, chat and some optional writing activities, plus a chance to look at old photos of the area we will be walking in, including the barn Jefferies described in his essay in Nature Near London, and the old bridge at Tolworth Hall.

Discover one of Tolworth’s greatest Treasures!

The walk is FREE

Facebook event here!

Disclaimer: walks undertaken at participants’ own risk and responsibility. Please contact re accessibility / mobility*

Merchandise For Authors

I’m very pleased to have been featured as a case study in Melissa Addey’s excellent book, Merchandise for Authors, published at the end of her time as Writer-in-residence at the British Library.

“Merchandise for Authors is a really valuable resource. Melissa has clearly used the time she spent with the British Library to good effect, giving excellent advice to the many writers with whom she worked – and has now generously shared her thoughts in a format that means a much wider audience can benefit. I advise you to take her advice.” Dr Alison Baverstock, Associate Professor of Publishing at Kingston University, author of How to Market Books

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Ghosts POMs and Panopticons: Writing Workshop at the Morpeth Arms

It’s a fair cop Guv’

This Thursday evening, 16th June, I am delighted to be running a writing workshop as part of SouthWestFest, at the Morpeth Arms pub in Pimlico.

The Morpeth Arms

The Haunted Holding Cells

Ghost Cam in the Snug

This haunted London pub has a row of holding cells in its cellar, which were used as holding cells for the prisoners of the infamous Millbank Penitentiary which, in the 19th century, stood on the land now occupied by Tate Britain. The prison was built as a panopticon, or ‘all-seeing’ prison, and was designed by Jeremy Bentham, who saw it as “a mill for grinding rogues honest” .

Un-rehabilitated prisoners were taken through the dark maze of tunnels beneath the streets of Pimlico to the lock up under the pub, where they were kept before being put on boats at Millbank pier, and eventually transported ‘Down Under’…

Panopticon Prison Plan

Millbank Pier (with MI5 in the background)

Millbank Prisoners

There are records of prisoners and prison officers dying in these cells, and in the tunnels connected to the prison, and as Gary, the landlord at the pub, was telling me when I went to do some research, a team of paranormal enthusiasts have carried out readings in the cells late at night….Brrrrrr

Gary very kindly took me and Sinead Keegan, a trustee of the festival, for a tour of the spooky cells, and answered questions about the pub and its history. As MI5 is situated directly across the river, the Morpeth Arms has some fascinating pictures and snippets of information about famous spies on its walls- which could be great stimulus for a flash fiction thriller!

Do join me in the snug, for what I hope will be an enjoyable couple of hours writing stories inspired by this fascinating place!

The workshop is FREE but numbers are limited so please email me to book your place: words@lucyfurlong.com and see the Facebook event here.

Ghosts, POMS and Panopticons at The Morpeth Arms, Thursday 16th June from 7.30-9.30pm, 58 Millbank, Westminster, London, SW1P 4RW

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Geography Workshop Presents: Her Outdoors

 

This Thursday, 14th April, on the mighty Resonance FM, from 8-9pm:

Clear Spot

Geography Workshop Presents….Her Outdoors. Geography Workshop Presents questions assumptions about the ways in which our world is imagined. In this first programme, artists and writers Karen Lloyd, Alison Lloyd, Lucy Furlong and Morag Rose reflect on walking as practise, informed by the pejorative phrase ‘Er Indoors’. How does their work and the embodied practise of walking inform the way they narrate, enrich and question the narratives that dominate nature-writing, landscape and psycho-geography? Presented by Dr Jo Norcup. [Repeated Friday 9am.]

Thanks to Jo Norcup for inviting me to be involved. I had a great time meeting and talking with everyone, and felt inspired and fired-up afterwards.

I hope you enjoy listening in!

 

Óvinir – The Enemies project: Iceland

Sarah Dawson and I will be performing our collaborative sound poem next Saturday, at Rich Mix, as part of this amazing event. More information below and from the Enemies web site:

“Óvinir is an ambitious collaborative poetry project, pairing writers from both Iceland and the UK to create brand new works for readings in London, Reyvjavik and Stykkishólmur January 2016. Curated by SJ Fowler and Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir, and supported by Reykjavik UNESCO city of literature, Ovinir will evidence the best of both Icelandic and British 21st century literary and avant-garde writing, and the powerful potential of collaboration to bring together communities of poets and create dynamic new pieces of literature.”

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Óvinir: London – January Saturday 30th 2016: Rich Mix Arts Centre

7.30pm doors for an 8pm start – Free entry. http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-enemies-project-iceland–ovinir/

Óvinir brings together a host of Icelandic poets and writers to the UK to premiere brand new collaborations with British poets, featuring, as the core cross-nation collaborating poets:

Andri Snær Magnason & Joanna Walsh
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir & SJ Fowler
Eiríkur Örn Nörðdahl & Hannah Silva,
Valgerður Þóroddsdóttir & Jack Underwood.

The London event will also feature new collaborations, in pairs, and in groups from:

Inua Ellams & Vahni Capildeo
Tasimbaradzwa Kanyangarara & tbc
Lucy Furlong & Sarah Dawson
Mohammed Al-Houti, Alex Brinded, Jo Longley, Karly Stilling & Raif Mansell
Rose Ades, John Canfield, Susie Campbell, Joe Turrent & Eileen Daly
Valeria Fioretti, Ana Lucia Beck, Suzie Champion, Ella Frears, Claudia Juhre, Sarah Kelly, Jacinta Lynch, Lavinia Singer,  Simone Gilson & Iris Colomb

clew

At the beginning of this year I was lucky enough to have a poem accepted for issue 3 of Boscombe Revolution, published by Hesterglock Press. I read said poem, and a few others, in Bristol, as part of the launch event, which was a fantastic evening of poetry, spoken word and fiction at the Duke of York pub in St. Werburghs.

This Saturday I am over the moon to be going back to the very same place to launch my debut poetry pamphlet, clew, which is also being published by Hesterglock Press. clew is named after the ball of thread Ariadne gave to Theseus to help him find his way out of the Labyrinth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll be performing alongside Sarer Scotthorne, who recently published her first collection, The Blood House, and Paul Hawkins, who will be launching his collection, Contumacy, published by Erbacce. Adding to this will be music from Sheer Zed, Bristol-based electronic musician and artist, who will be providing ambient soundscapes for some of the poems. The event is part of the Bristol Spring Poetry Festival.

I feel very fortunate to have Hesterglock Press publishing my first collection of poetry. They have been wonderful to work with, and I am chuffed to bits with the finished result. For more info please visit the website.

exit

mouth

of

Labyrinth