So many great Stanza25 events in June that we have almost created our own mini festival!

New date to be confirmed 10.30am – 4pm

All day poetry study/workshop in our Secret Salon in Abbey Green. We will workshop a selection of our own poems and also discuss the use of form in contemporary poetry. What are the pleasures and the pitfalls of borrowing the forms which underlie so many best loved poems from the past. Are we skilled enough? Can we pay homage to the formal achievements of the past and still retain an authentic contemporary voice? This will be the workshop I had to postpone on Friday 6th June. 5 places available. Contact Sue to express interest in being part of this group.

Wednesday 11th June , 2.30pm

Stanza25’s much loved singer/songwriter MIRANDA PENDER has been invited to appear in the Devizes Arts festival with her musical talk ‘Lifting the Lid – Family Secrets Set to Song’

The Cheese Hall, Devizes Town Hall, St John’s Street, Devizes SN10 1BN 

Tickets £10, available here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/wiltshire/devizes-town-hall-cheese-hall/lifting-the-lid-the-perils-of-researching-family-history-miranda-pender/2025-06-11/14:30/t-yaxkopv

Here is a link to the title track: https://youtu.be/g8EkUhggitQ

Please Note : The 272 bus from Bath Bus Station goes straight through to Devizes Town Hall at approximately hourly intervals. Note Well: Devizes is a great place to get a coffee before or after the show.

Wednesday 18th June

The poets who visited the Radstock Mining Museum last week will gather in the Secret Salon to brainstorm their presentation for our Bath Heritage Open Day event on Thursday 18th September. As you can see from their comments, it was a very pleasurable and stimulating day. Image gallery from EILEEN CAMERON and SUE BOYLE.

Comments from the group

AMA BOLTON, Wells . Radstock Museum was welcoming from the moment we stepped inside. Ann told us what we could find and where we could find it, and even treated us to a Somerset dialect poetry recital! The cafe served much-needed tea and coffee, and Nick took a keen interest in our literary project. There was much to see on the subject of mining, too much to take in at one visit. I for one shall be back to absorb more, and to note down the words of the Dunkerton Carting Boys’ song.

JUNE WENTLAND, Corsham. What a lovely museum. I’d been past many times but had never been inside before. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed the whole afternoon. It has a great little cafe and the museum is chock-a-block with information and interesting displays — from miners’ snuff boxes and poignantly small miners’ boots (about the size to fit a 7 year old boy) to fossils contained in coal and a reconstruction of an old school classroom and grocer’s shop. So much to see!

ANN PRESTON, Bath. It was hot and sunny for our group visit to Radstock Museum (as testified by Eileen’s colourful photos). The staff were welcoming and keen to impart their knowledge of the local area and its history. The museum is spacious and well laid out and boasts a delightful café and even a well-stocked bookshop.

Unfortunately, the very pleasantness of the surroundings made it difficult to appreciate the grimness and hardship of life for the average miner. This may have been partly due to the social aspect of visiting as part of a group. I shall return by myself with more time to study the information boards and concentrate on a few striking exhibits. June mentions the child’s boot and I was struck by the gradual evolution of the clocking-in machines and the vicious-looking devices for attaching candles to the miners’ helmets with all the attendant fire-risk.

EILEEN CAMERON, Bath. In a museum filled with well displayed items, I was especially moved by the contrasting images of miners below ground and miners above ground. On the one hand, a mock-up of a mine showing miners crouched in narrow seams howking coal from the coal face, plus the life-like model of a young boy on his hands and knees hauling a coal cart by means of a chain attached to his waist. Later, I found myself looking at photographs of miners playing musical instruments on band nights and parading proudly through the street as members of a brass band. It said a lot to me about the human spirit.

MARILYN FRANCIS, Radstock. I don’t think I have very much to add to what Ama, June, Ann, and Eileen have already said. It’s a really interesting, well-set-out, museum. I was, as ever, particularly taken with the sinister mock-up of a candle-lit coal seam – a striking reminder of what the working lives of men and boys were like in those days. I’d say it was the highlight of the exhibition. The other fascinating exhibits will take time to think about and digest. I’ll be making a return visit in the very near future – it’s just a walk down the road for me!

Saturday 21st June, 1.30pm for 2pm

We will meet in the Duncan room at the BRLSI in Queen Square, Bath for our Summer Concert of Readings with Refreshing Tea. We are delighted to be welcoming Stanza representative NINA PARMENTER and other poets from the Trowbridge Stanza who will be reading with Stanza25 for the first time. The open mic slots have to be booked in advance, with Nina or Sue ( Bath list already full) , but non-reading friends will be very welcome to join us on the day.

Reading for the Trowbridge Stanza as of the list 8 June :

Peter O’Grady
Andrew Batty
Andrew Stacey
Gordon Vells
Liz Griffiss-White
Nina Parmenter
John Powell

Reading for the Bath Stanza as of the list 8 June:

Caroline Heaton
Amanda Saunders
Alan Davies
Greg Spiro
June Wentland
Miranda Pender
Nick Kearney
Marilyn Francis
Ann Preston
Sue Boyle

More details about the Summer Concert of Readings will become our next sticky post very soon.