All Blogposts

  • The enduring appeal of a fountain pen.

    The enduring appeal of a fountain pen.

    It used to be dark green but, sadly, the green eventually peeled away (actually, I peeled it away, in moments of absent-mindedness).  There have been times when I thought it missing forever, and I celebrated as heartily as the shepherd finding his lost sheep when it was found: in the dungeon that lies in the depths of our… Read more

  • My Dad showed me how to be human

    My Dad showed me how to be human

    This week’s photo challenge, ‘Humanity‘,  is a chance to tell you about my Dad, Basil Patrick Dominic Corcoran (1923 – 1992), who showed me how to be a human, who left school at 14 to be a butcher’s delivery boy, who fell off the too-big delivery bike, who mixed up the paper-wrapped meat parcels, who delivered the wrong… Read more

  • Saturday at Winchester Poetry Festival 2014

    Saturday at Winchester Poetry Festival 2014

    I absolutely loved my day at Winchester Poetry Festival on Saturday, 13th September.  I snapped photos and tweeted, encouraged by the organisers’ requests to audiences to help spread the word about this inaugural festival.  But, as Michael Longley said before his stunning reading to a packed auditorium on Saturday evening, “I knew this was going to be a… Read more

  • The holiday’s over…

    The holiday’s over…

    I’m back to work tomorrow and I’m feeling low that my month off has come to an end.  I’m pleased that I’ve managed to work on my pamphlet and now have 18 poems which are as ready as they’ll ever be to send to the printers – although I haven’t had a lot of contact… Read more

  • The biggest adventure of all

    The biggest adventure of all

    ‘Adventure‘, the theme of this week’s Photo Challenge, made me think about some of the quite exciting (but tame compared to most people’s) adventures I’ve had in my life: travelling alone across Europe in my late teens; working in Paris and Monaco for three years as a children’s Nanny in my early twenties; living and working… Read more

  • Poems on a Beermat Prizegiving

    Poems on a Beermat Prizegiving

    A brilliant evening at The Swan Hotel in Bradford-on-Avon last night for the award-giving and readings of the ten poems chosen to be printed on beermats for the Poems-on-a-Beermat-Competition.  The ten winning poems, which can be read here, are:  Rock Plain Boxing Club by Tammy Adams  How She Wrote Your Name by Russ Berry  A Pint… Read more