Creative Writing: 'Parade' by Alexandra McCauley

Alexandra is a third year studying joint honours in English and Creative Writing at the University of Cumbria. 

The following poem was awarded joint first in the University of Cumbria Andrea Pendlebury poetry prize.

Parade

We hear the ‘duddlum, duddlum’

of the lambeg drum

their arms swinging possessively

all the youngsters love to copy

all ages are marching in the band

keeping flags in their hands

and the stalls full of tack,

shiny plastic toys covered with the union jack

the roads are cordoned off by police

as the crowds flood the street

here they come, right incline

marching without a foot out of line

drunken protestants fight and curse

here for the parade, but no faith to the church

they yip and yo as King Billy arrives on the horse

every year the tradition is enforced

now comes the bowler hats and oranges sashes

loyalist men in black with handlebar tashes

the people line the route that the bands take

Granda taps his foot and to the sound the flutes make

a security announcement is made to the crowd,

there has been a bomb scare, everyone must leave now.

By Alexandra McCauley

Prize Giving Event for the Andrea Pendlebury poetry prize and the Helen Clark prose prize

The event will be held on Wednesday 4th December, in the View, between 6-9pm.

The poetry winners: Alex McCauley, Helen Pye and the prose winner Hannah Tosh will be presented with their prizes and will read from their work. 

After this there will be an open mic session where people are invited to step up and read their own work. There will be some nibbles and a glass of wine or soft drink provided.

All English and Creative Writing students and staff are welcome, and would be lovely if we could all go and support our fellow students.

Lancaster Litfest: Charlotte Kovac, an experience.

This year Lancaster’s very own ‘Litfest’ reached its 35^th year of bringing together a plethora of poets, performers, writers and readers and celebrating literature. The entirety of Litfest is run by a small, yet enthusiastic team made up of Andy Darby (artistic director), Dawn Diaz (finance officer), Maria Major (marketing manager) and Claire Dean (interim deputy director). Alongside these was an army of volunteers, of which this year, I happened to be one.

My volunteer duties were basic, helping with the box office and tickets sales, showing people to their seats and generally being on hand and helpful when needed. Although these tasks seem small, without volunteers performing them, the event wouldn’t run as smoothly or successfully. It’s also a great and easy way of gaining experience if you want to be involved in literature events in the future.

The biggest perk of volunteering at Litfest is being able to attend the event after. I helped out at the ‘Short Stories: Wide Horizons’ event where Alison Moore and Aamer Hussein coincidentally both read out short stories relating to swans. Moore’s short story ‘The Egg’ had a cold and eery tone that captivated the audience with nervous anticipation. The story revolved around a man’s special collection of bird’s eggs, and one egg that has allured him, but has yet to collect. Moore’s descriptions of various birds’ eggs were beautifully detailed and accurate; her writing is meticulous in every sense. The ending was dark, haunting and poignant, something the audience will remember for a long time.

Hussein’s short story entitled ‘The Swan’ showed just how varied two stories relating to the same thing can be. ‘The Swan’ is a love story, based around Hussein’s own real-life experiences. The swan, lovingly named ‘Satin’ is the catalyst of the entire story, the man and woman often go for walks in the park where Satin resides and develop an unspoken relationship. The story tells us of how the two people flit in and out of each other’s lives, and has an interesting and unique ending.

Litfest is a great way of interacting with writers, whether it’s enjoying old favourites or being introduced to something new, as I was with Moore and Hussein. Litfest has been running for a long time, and should keep running and be a part of Lancaster’s culture scene as it is now. I do however feel that Litfest could be improved if it had more involvement from students, such as holding an event for students to recite their own works, or have alumni from both universities come and read at the festival. Overall Litfest is a great experience to be a part of and I would urge everyone to attend next year’s event, whether it’s in the role of a volunteer or as a member of the audience.

Volunteering at Bowerham Road Primary School by Maeve Lane

I am a 3^rd year English BA student at the University of Cumbria. I first looked into volunteering at Bowerham Road Primary School in my second year at university; September 2012. I looked into volunteering as it would boost my C.V and I was looking into doing a PGCE after university. To become a volunteer at the school I emailed them and was subsequently forwarded onto the volunteering co coordinator; Mrs Pollock. I met her and we discussed which age group I would like to work with, what experience I had and about me getting a CRB check, which is mandatory to work in a school. The school were very supportive in getting me my C.R.B and helped me with the process.

There are 2 teaching assistants, a teacher and me in the class I work in. I get on well with everyone and I do different jobs every day. These can vary from helping individual children on work they are struggling with in class, to helping to design displays for the classroom, to listening to children read. The days in which I volunteer have always been very flexible from the beginning and I volunteer for 6 hours a week.  Ms Pollock also helped me in becoming a tennis coach in America for 8 weeks during the summer 2013, through the company CCUSA.

I enjoy working at the school as it has given me valuable work experience and has taught be to organise my time between volunteering and university work. It has taught me to be patient and to think of more exciting ways to engage the children to work. I would highly recommend any trainee teachers and fellow students to gain as much work experience and volunteering experience as soon as possible. This will increase your chances of getting a job when you graduate.

The teaching experience has been very rewarding. It has given me an interest in working with children and potentially becoming a Primary School teacher in the future. It has also given me valuable experience of working. This experience will hopefully stand to me when I look for a job once graduating at the end of this year. 

Open Mic Night: In Pictures

Some pictures from the fantastic open mic night! You can see more pictures on the English Society Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/English-Society-University-Of-Cumbria/253660334781253?fref=ts

English Society: Open Mic Night by Freya Gallagher-Jones

Freya is a third year student studying BA(Hons) English here at the University of Cumbria, and as head of the English Society, she reviews the first major event for the society this year. For more information on the English society see the Facebook page for updates, news and events. 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/English-Society-University-Of-Cumbria/253660334781253?fref=ts

“They have seen where you sit each day,

They have even seen where you buy those cigarettes,

despite you saying just the other day you’d quit,

They have seen your meetings,

both the ones people know about

and the others you’d hope to keep secret” - Extract from London Pigeons by Jake Tinsley

Like the disapproval of those London Pigeons, performing your own work in front of a large group of people can more often than not feel like the beady eye of judgement waiting to peck at the foundations of your art. And while the daunting prospect of the proverbial pigeon of criticism is what often drives many creative types to avoid publicly performing their work, it really needn’t.  For many of the performers at The University of Cumbria English Society 'Open Mic Night', found nothing but a warm, witty atmosphere, laden with pre-empted Christmas themed coffee and an audience of open minds.

The event took place from 6-8 on Wednesday the 30^th of October, and was held on the second floor of Market Street Starbucks, Lancaster; which was kindly lent out to the society, for free, after hours!

Students from the University of Cumbria and locals alike came to the first major event since their re-establishment last year. The event was arranged by the society's newly appointed Long Term Events Organiser, Jake Tinsley, and my what a mighty job did he do too. Around 40 people packed into the cosy coffee shop to watch around 16 diverse performances.

 The intent of the event was to offer a free, friendly public forum, in which people could perform. The range of performances varied between poetry, prose, improv, and dramatic monologues, however, basically any art form that required a relatively low amount of technical savvy was warmly welcomed. 

Many people chose to read out their own work, though we did have a dynamic reading from Livvy Stringer of a favourite poem; Carol Ann Duffy's Dementer . There was a fantastic range of genres and styles on offer; from Roz Stimpson's  intertextual children's story Buttons, Geraint Straker's beautifully crafted Sonnet sequence, Sonnets of the Seasons’, Rachel Strachan's short story Death Row,  and John Sharpe's dark and satirical epistolary reaction to Bram Stoker's Dracular titled The Crumb Correspondence. Athena Draper read her darkly comic and jovial short story One Girl and Her Satan. Sam Williams' performed an extremely witty and ironic piece Non-Sensical, his dry, humorous delivery leaving the audience rollicking in their seats. The hauntingly apt love poem Tonight was performed by Roxy Emery, who's performance had my attention locked throughout.

 Arguably, the most entertaining performance of the evening was Connor Simkins' gut-bustlingly, hilarious rendition of "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe" from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He narrated the story and requested 5 willing volunteers to come to the stage and act as the characters. But, as with any improv performance, the script itself was a mere backdrop to unplanned interactions between the actors, and provided a thoroughly entertaining piece.

All in all, the event was an incredibly relaxed evening, and a brilliant opening to a new tradition of Open Mic Night's from the English Society. I was certainly proud as punch to see the society do so well. The second one is set to be around the end of November so keep a look out!

Creative Writing: 'Time' by Rachel Strachan

Rachel is a third year student at the University of Cumbria, studying joint honours in English Literature and Creative Writing. 

Time

This smile has been fading
since the year of ‘92
Off his Lovable, caring lady
But if only you really knew.

My Dear Michael, I do wish
I could tell you, no detail small
But I’ll highlight our major parts
Right here, no time at all.

In my life I have never met
Such a charismatic man
Who truly lived everyday
and acted like Peter Pan.

He saw life as a gift
Every morning needed a smile,
We woke up bright and early,
If only it were for a while.

We’d dance into the night,
He’d bring me flowers in the day,
‘For you, my loveable caring lady’
That is what he used to say.

We loved, laughed and shared
Talked adoringly about future life,
We were together till the end
And at twenty he made me his wife.

Our house wasn’t all that much,
And we barely had a dime,
We made our house into a home
what we valued was our time.

We were blessed with our children,
Smitten by waves of love,
He taught them all they know
From the Earth’s ground, stars and above.

Grand kids completed our family
You were all his world, it’s true.
We still laughed, danced and cared
Before bed saying ‘I do love you.’

These are my dearest memories
I long for one more dance,
Only seems like it was yesterday
When he had me at first glance.

Every day I sit and wonder
How fast time passed us by,
Only seems like it was yesterday
I heard our first born’s cry.

The highlighting has been done,
Of my life spent with one man,
who treasured all In sight
and promised he was Peter Pan.

Even then his pride still shone
Though pain was seen in his smile,
We continued to wake up bright
But we haven’t now for a while.

In my dreams we are still dancing,
He’s still picking me flowers every day,
‘For you, my lovable caring lady’
I can clearly, still hear him say.

Rachel Strachan