Pop Up Poetry at the Bar des Arts in Guildford in October succeeded in raising £70 for Oxfam through voluntary donations at what is normally a free night of poetry, songs and spoken word. We had a great time, with the Leano, Cathy Flower and Steve Pottinger adding their magic to a line up of fantastic open mic contributors, including some new faces whom we're looking forward to inviting back as features in the New Year.

Dónall Dempsey hosted with his usual mixture of Irish charm, persuasion (that's how we raised the £70!), and teasing banter, and delivered some favourite poems as well as new ones.

There was something for everyone from the feature acts - full-on love and feel-good songs from Leano; madness and passion from Cathy and Steve Pottinger's intense word pictures and messages delivered in his laid-back conversational style.

On Steve - do visit his new poem on his web site and help to send his new poem on tax evasion viral! Here's the link: http://stevepottinger.co.uk/poems/ and while you're there, read some more of his stuff - it's worth reading.

Leano spread love and hugs throughout the room, (though they learned from one member of the audience that love has to be spread tactfully and it's best to take no for an answer as quickly as you can!) Their songs were warm and tuneful and Guildford loved them back.

Cathy was a huge hit, with her surprising phrasing and her wide range of tone and pitch - her performance was memorable, entertaining and original as usual.

I won't single out any of the open mic performers this time but will say that there were some surprises (of the best kind) and we'll look forward to seeing them again at our next do.

That's on Tuesday 20th November, when we'll have five feature acts in a longer evening than usual to mark my birthday next day (21 again of course) and lovely Sue Kucko of the Bar des Arts has given us leave to go on till midnight. That gig is up on the Write Out Loud calendar - and will be free as usual. Hope to see you there if you're anywhere near Guildford!

Janice Windle

http://www.facebook.com/PopUpPoets