Poetry at the Rose & Crown last night....



Guest poet, Sarah Salway, in action



Lovely poem called memories

The Tonbridge Arts Festival is alive and kicking. Anyone who's ventured into the town centre over the last few days couldn't have failed to notice at least something. The Big Picture depicting an Olympic scene against the Castle Wall, the bunting and paintings along the riverside railings. Last night's Poetry night at the Rose & Crown proved at least one thing: that poetry, as an art form, is well and truely in fine fettle in Tonbridge. The organisers (and I was one of em) really didn't have much of a clue up to a day before as to whether there'd be ten people turning up or a hundred. The lack of football on the TV probably helped for, as it turned out, there was a sell out audience of around 70 people; all lovers of poetry in one way or another. The range of ages was encouraging, we even had a nine year old girl read out her winning poem from the under 16 competition, as were the varied styles of poetry. There wasn't quite any Scroobious Pip or any hip hop but the range was still pretty broad. The prizes for the poetry competition, which had been organise a few months ahead of the festival were awarded. Congrats to the winners and also everyone else who took part. If you missed out on this competition then keep an eye out for the next one as the prizes were hard cash of £500! Worth putting pen to paper for I'd say especially as it was free to enter. A fabulous evening and a real breath of fresh air. I can feel a regular Poetry at the R&C Night coming on. Watch this space! I'll leave you with the line I used in my introduction to the evening, which I actually paraphrased from the singer, Sting, who once, when accepting some prestigious music award, said that there was no need for any awards at all as: "Music is its own reward" So I'd like to say this to anyone who writes or appreciates poetry: Poetry is its own reward....



Guest poet Susan Wicks reads her powerful poetry