Hello Marsden! Yes, it’s that time of year again and I’m delighted to advertise this year’s Write Out Loud poetry jam, which as usual, will be held as part of the jazz festival weekend in Marsden, West Yorkshire on Sunday 8 October. This year will be bitter-sweet, for we will also be remembering Paul Blackburn, who did so much for Write Out Loud in its early years, and even after he left regularly supported the poetry jam each year.

But if you want to soak up the last rays of what’s hopefully an Indian summer …  get yourself over to Marsden. After two years’ absence due to the pandemic, last year saw a great turnout of poets. This year we hope to build on that.

Regrettably, at short notice our regular venue became unavailable, so this year we’re very grateful to the Sass Wellbeing Studio and Coffee House for stepping in and providing a superbly placed alternative.  Their yoga centre provides a calm, spacious, Zen-filled atmosphere with plenty of room to spread out and really appreciate the show.  To complete the experience, just upstairs, you can enjoy delicious cakes, pastries and all the freshly made fare on offer at the Sass Coffee House.  The owners, Kate and Gino, who left behind the stresses of corporate life to open this centre, are a pleasure to do business with and I can thoroughly recommend a visit to this venue, with or without the poetry experience!

Happily, we’ve also been able to condense the venue’s name into three syllables, so it fits rather nicely into a song we prepared to sing on the day …  Regulars might already be aware that as compere, I slip in a couple of re-mastered Andrews Sisters numbers at the end of the first act, just to get us in the jazz mood and lighten up the atmosphere.  This year we’ll be ditching our army outfits, leaving behind the blitz and piling on the glitz, so I do hope you can all make it.  If nothing else, it will be dazzling! 

Venue: Sass Wellbeing Studio and Coffee House

35 Peel Street, Marsden, HD7 6BW

Entry: Free. Time: 11am to 1pm.