| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Group leader: | |
| When: | On Mondays 2:15 pm alternate weeks |
| Venue: | Wells |
Leader:
Norman
Autumn 2026 Report
Who wrote this poem in 1919?‘A dead statesman’
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young? *
How do you like your poetry? For humour you can read Ogden Nash or Wendy Cope; perhaps angry poems by Denise Levertov, Siegfried Sassoon, or Wilfred Owen; and almost every poet wrote love poems at one time.
Our small group reads them all. Every other meeting a member choses a poet and the rest of us find their poems to read, then for the other meetings someone choses a subject, such as Wheels, Floods and Storms, or Machines.
In the summer we always have a day out to somewhere with a literary connection, which is always enjoyable. Our year ends with Christmas and Winter poems, and a small party.
If you would like to join us we have vacancies.
Norman
* The poet was Rudyard Kipling.
Please contact the group leader using the link above.
Summer 2025 Report
Which poet also wrote regular jazz record reviews for the Daily Telegraph between 1961 and 1971.*
We meet every two weeks to read poems by a selected poet, or poems on a particular subject, all chosen by members of the group. This year we have explored poetry as diverse as The Brontë sisters and James Joyce (I for one never knew he wrote poetry) as well as modern poets such as Caroline Bird and Jo Shapcott.
Each summer, before our August break, we have enjoyed the hospitality of one of our members in Wilton. The subject was ‘War and Peace’, most appropriate as in the past Wilton suffered two battles, one in 871 between King Alfred and the Vikings and the other in 1143, during an early civil war known as the Anarchy between Stephen and Maude/Matilda. There was also a literary connection, as in Tudor times the then Countess of Pembroke in Wilton House presided over an “Arcadia” of artists, writers and poets including Shakespeare and the highly likely first production of ‘As You Like It’.
Norman
* The poet was Philip Larkin
