Seasonally Effected March 2014

Hello there - the wonderful Seasonally Effected open Mic is back!

Please join us at the Dot Cafe in Rochester Wednesday, 26 March for an evening of aural pleasures

Anything can happen at one of these gatherings. Dancing, music, films, existential comedy, as well as poetry, singing, stories and alien abduction.

Image Credit: Cohdra

If you do miss the evening, or want to re-live it, the organisers will add a podcast to their website soon after the event

EDIT 02 April. Oops - spoke too soon. The organisers won't be adding live podcasts anymore. But what they will do is add personalised podcasts of performers who have appeared at the open mic. The first one is of Sam Fentiman-Hall and can be downloaded here
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Image source: http://www.morguefile.com 

p.s. I'm kidding about the alien abduction. Probably.

World Poetry Day 2014

Happy World Poetry Day!

Image credit: Click

So, what is there to celebrate? What is the point of poetry?

For me it is about expressing and sharing thoughts, feelings, sensations. With the sharing of these, I find more than a buzz of a job well (or otherwise) done. It helps me to connect with the world and the people who live in it

There is more, it's nice to share but for me it's about owning my world too. It's also about choosing the language I choose to express myself it, too. Which language do you use to tell your story?

The UN have a beautiful description on their website here of world poetry day

Have you spoken your part, yet?

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Image sourced from www.morguefile.com

Spring equinox 2014 - Mindfully

Today is the astronomical vernal equinox. The hours of day and night are perfectly balanced, half and half. For some people, the early spring is the time that they clear out the clutter and assess what they want from the coming year. The question being, is my life fully balanced? So I have time for everything in my life? What do I want to do this coming year? How will I know what it when I see it?

Image credit: P Dell

The answer of course, is to pay attention. Look at the flowers, and smell the earth beneath them defrost and come to life. Yes, I know that there has been all sort of movement and growth beneath the surface, but today I want to see it. And the only way to do that is to be mindful.

Sometimes, the only way to do that is by "doing" mindfulness, such as taking or making a picture. Having an end goal in sight sometimes helps me to focus, gives me a reason to pay attention. An excellent blog post to look at is Mindfully Drawing, from Paula Kuitenbrower: Mindfully drawing for beginners

And for the Irish speakers out there, Feicfidh mé na Bláthanna an Earraigh (I will see the spring flowers)

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Image sourced from www.morguefile.com

Thank you - go raibh maith agaibh 17 March 2014

The Pentacle Drummers, Medway st Patrick Parade
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Go raibh maith agaibh

It means so much more than, thank you. It's more along the lines of "may the good be at you"


Thank you, everyone, thank you pleural. To all of the people who made the parade a success, who helped behind the scenes, filling in forms and directing traffic. Those standing in front of the cameras, waving flags would not have achieved what we did without you

The sun shone, and there was a real feel good factor.

Would you like to know how to say St Patrick's day in Irish? Try this link here

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2014 - An Ghaeilge Abú

Seachtain na Gaeilge, Irish language week, is an international celebration of the Irish language. Events to promote and celebrate the Irish language have been happening all over the world.

Banner designed by Candy Worf of Pinup Payback
Picture credit: SM Jenkin

The Seachtain na Gaeilge festival for this year runs from 1 – 17 March. We are celebrating this festival as part of the St Patrick's day parade celebrations in Medway, as recognition of how important the Irish language is. There will be Irish language banners,  and after the parade the cultural showcase at the St Mary's Social club includes Irish language classes for all levels.


Please note that entry to the post-parade event is by ticket only, to comply with fire safety regulations. To get your ticket, please contact the St Mary's social club.

An Ghaeilge Abú! - The Irish language forever!

Beatha teanga í ag labhairt - the life of a language is in it's use

Mindful Writing 35 - Capstone Country Park

Above me, a blackbird shimmies his feathers. The fog erases boundaries, smudge and sooth over the edges of the winter. Inside it's gentle breath, the wood expands into infinite possibility. Ascending songs echo, resonate while I turn the corner and bare green branches twist into focus; gain a layer of ivy

Image Credit: SM Jenkin

At the edge of the field the fog curtain brushes the grass.; beside the path link green and seasoned slim brown fingers. The sharp angles strewn at right angles with spider webs are garlanded with dew drops, inverting the world.

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Mindful writing is the art of paying attention - being fully present in a moment and then describing it

Headstone unveiled - Louis Brennan

Today, I attended a service of thanksgiving and remembrance for the life of Louis Brennan, which included the unveiling and blessing of his headstone.

Image credit: SM Jenkin

The headstone was arranged by the Louis Brennan memorial committee, and is the result of two years of determined fundraising and coordination from the group. Thank you all very much for your hard work, and for ensuring that Louis Brennan is remembered and honoured this way. Until now, Louis had been interred in an unmarked grave, in plot 2454 St Mary's Cemetary, Harrow.

I'm pleased that Louis is getting the recognition that he deserves, after having being forgotten for so long. This is part of the work we are trying to do with the Medway St Patrick's Day Parade, to celebrate the positive contributions that the Irish communities have made over the years. 

The ceremony was well attended, with many important people from the UK, Ireland and Australia. There was a tribute from An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, TD. Present also were Karen and Gene Bobrow. Karen is a distant cousin of Louis Brennan, and she had traveled over from America. Karen is doing a lot of research into her family, especially her father who had emigrated from New Jersey to the USSR in the 1930s. It's a fascinating story, and she hasn't finished unraveling it yet! I would recommend that you visit her blog Do Svidanya Dad

As Louis is a Maigh Eo (Mayo) man, please do visit their library web page for more information about his life here

Mindful Writing 34 - View from the Delce

The fascia gleams so brightly I cannot tell where it is on the spectrum. The spring blossom glaring back at me from the hill covers orange, pink, daffodil yellow. I move forward only in the certainty of his warm hand in mine. Approaching the dip, the glare sharpens into a box window, twin suns reflected back, trapped in the square.

Image Credit_ J Durham

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Mindful writing is the art of paying attention - being fully present in a moment and then describing it

Image source: http://www.morguefile.com

One week to go - St Patrick's Day here we come!

Well, exactly one week to go today. Next Sunday our parade will be striding out from Smiths' square in Gillingham high street.

Image Credit: Kevin Rosseel

 I'm putting the final touches to our parade line-up. The leaflets are being distributed. After a year of planning, it is finally happening. I'm so excited - hope you are too

Please join us - details are available on Visit Medway

IWD - International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day!

This year, the theme is Inspiring Change

For more information, check out the International Women's Day page here

There is an interesting article about the origins of the day here

So, the countdown starts. St Patrick's Day here we come!

Well, the last planning meeting of our parade group has just ended. It's taken us a long time to get here, but now we have almost no more time!

Image credit: Lily Lawlor Mottram

Medway's first St Patrick's day parade will stride out on Sunday, 16th March at midday. Our parade will will leave Smith's square in Gillingham and walk in a circle around the high street. After the parade, we will have a cultural showcase at the St Mary's social club in Belmont Road.

For more information, visit the website: Medway St Patrick Parade
Event listing on VisitMedway
Or find us on Facebook and Twitter

If you missed the interview on Fizzer's radio show, you can listen again here. Our interview starts at around 29 minutes in. Enjoy!

Forgotten Irish, forgotten stories

I recently attended the launch of Maria McCarthy's latest book, a collection of stories called As Long as it Takes. The stories are told from the perspective of the lost generation of Irish women who sailed to England in the middle of the 20th century to find work. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but Maria's work is usually of an excellent standard and while Maria can write beautifully she doesn't pull her punches.

My family don't speak much of their time in England when they first came over. There is a lot that they won't say, don't want to rake up the past. I feel so ignorant, and that ignorance shames me. There is a whole generation of stories and experiences that have been missed, and will be lost forever if they are not recorded.

Image credit: Chelle

Take my mother, for example, she emigrated to England in the 1950s and then trained as a nurse. In the 1960s she worked in Northern Rhodesia as it was called then, just after independence. She was part of a wave of nurses called "The Sunshine Girls" who went out. But I have not been able to find much in the way of information or stories, or any recording of the experiences of other Sunshine girls. Do you know of anyone who was a sunshine girl? (I think I feel a project coming on)

The one mention I've found online about Sunshine girls is on the Great North Road messageboard
The Forgotten Irish Campaign details are online here

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Image source: http://www.morguefile.com

My favourite things - The Prisoner

Creatabot runs an evening called My Favourite Things - a chance for people to share their passion about something that excites or inspires them. It's a chance to practice public speaking, but also a chance to meet new people and to expand your boundaries.

It was a brilliant, fun and informative evening full of talks about new subjects (geocaching) and heartfelt (clothes making going back generations). And then there was me. So, what is my favourite thing? What inspires me? The answer is a peculiar but intriguing series made back in the 1960s called the Prisoner. It was created by a team of strong minded individuals, all pulling in different directions.That creative tension led to the blend of elements that it one of the most individual series I've seen.

Picture credit: Alvimann

What's unique about it? OK, the basic story is that an unnamed man resigns from his job and escapes. He's taken to a place to be debriefed, given a number. We never learn his name. So far, so sixties spy series you might think. But wait - there is more to it than that. Using this framework, the series managed to pose some intriguing questions about politics and the political system,  but it also addresses questions about identity, freedom, democracy, education and the nature of power. But more than that, it wrapped it all up in a fast paced series. It also has a biting wit, delivered with panache by Mr McGoohan and the other actors throughout the series.

The series has been called by some an allegorical conundrum. But you can enjoy it just as well if you don't want to look any deeper - it's a cracking show.


Would you like to know more? The opening sequence on youtube sets the scene nicely. Here is an example of wit and satire from the election on youtube Here is a menacing yet beautiful scene from Dance of the Dead (Inspired by Jean Cocteau and a film called the Devil and Daniel Webster (details on IMDB here)

The official appreciation society: Six of One. They host an annual convention at Portmeirion where the external shots of the series were filmed

And for fun, here's a little description of the press launch on youtube. It fits in perfectly with the series.

Mindful Writing 33 - Near Wouldham

The low hum fills the air, drowning out the reeds rattling in the gusts skimming across the swollen new banks of the Medway. It's the eerie sound of someone blowing across the top of an empty bottle. But the cloud-sodden sky, grey against grey waves, is empty. The river laps against empty mud trails. The power relay buzzing into view; mystery solved. 

Picture credit: Wally ir

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Mindful writing is the art of paying attention - being fully present in a moment and then describing it

Image source: http://www.morguefile.com