Write Out Loud is coming to the West Midlands! A new monthly Write Out Loud night is to be launched later this month in Worcester. It will be organised by Jan Scrine, and will take place at the History and Heritage Pod at Crowngate, on Monday 24 January, from 7-9pm.

The Worcester Write Out Loud flyer says: “For those who would like to share their own work, poems or short pieces, or read someone else’s – or just listen … with a cuppa and biscuits at half-time. A vague theme to get the first half going, then free rein. Comments/discussion may flow, but it’s an informal get-together, not a critical workshop!”

Organiser Jan Scrine said she was inspired by another Write Out Loud night to set up Worcester Write Out Loud. “A decade ago, while I was living in West Yorkshire, a friend introduced me to the Marsden Write Out Loud monthly meetings, under the benevolent eye of Julian Jordon. I’m only an occasional scribbler of creative stuff but enjoy reading aloud so an outing to the ‘Poetry Village’ became a regular and enjoyable event.

“What a friendly group, what inspiration bubbled up! Julian was then very supportive of our Crossing the Pennines bid for funding by The People’s Millions on ITV and you can see his input on YouTube, along with a song I wrote for the occasion, The Jagger’s Refrain.

“To me, poetry is a vehicle for exploring experiences, ideas and emotions and for sharing these as appropriate. I’m a founder member of the Milestone Society and wanted to engage the public, especially young people, in learning more about the significance of these quirky lumps of rock and rusting metal sitting quietly by the wayside, so I asked Write Out Loud to run a national poetry competition as part of our Finding the Way project funded by the Heritage Lottery in 2015-17.

“It was a new experience for Write Out Loud and went very successfully, attracted over 500 entries and was judged by Brian Patten.  The winners read their poems at our annual conference at Long Compton in Warwickshire and the prizes were presented by Steve Pottinger of Write Out Loud. 

“So why Worcester? I moved here in 2016. The city has a number of well-supported meetings for “proper poets”, such as Dear Listener, 42 Worcester and Speakeasy, and a Goth night, but nothing to accommodate the hobbyist scribbler as well, like Marsden, where the work of others can be read, too. The university’s English Department ran the occasional event in 2019 and I approached the lecturer to suggest this might become a regular, informal forum. Lockdown thwarted our timing, but recently we were offered use of a new community room, the History and Heritage POD in the Crowngate shopping centre. The previous Worcester poet laureate and other writers are very enthusiastic about the idea, too.”

The Crowngate manager is providing the facility free of charge, but a suggested donation of £2 for refreshments would be welcomed. You can park for £1 in the Crowngate multi-storey car park. after 5pm. For more details email WriteWorcester@outlook.com (07934 269560).