2024 was a great year for me creatively. This was largely down to other people, but it was dependent on being motivated to develop my writing, music, and voice skills. My writing mantra for 2025 is ‘Up the weirdness’, which doesn’t apply to life in general. Here is a map produced in Venice in 1776.
The final gig of 2024 was as Hampshire’s leading panda harmonium duo at Chipping Sodbury Folk Night’s Christmas party. The audience joined in enthusiastically, and we even finished off the evening with a folk song!
For King’s Walk Festival I have been putting together (with Sellotape and scissors!) a Community Poem, based on lines written by visitors to the event. Local poets have been writing about specific shops, and my other contribution has been a poem about Elephant Records.
As part of a Winchester Poetry Festival fringe event, a few local poets have been reading poetry on a moving bus. The technique of holding the microphone with an arm wrapped around a pole prevents the poet from falling over – most of the time!
A trip to Edinburgh Fringe busking as Panda-monium, Hampshire’s leading panda harmonium duo, with Damian. We set up HQ at Mortonhall for the week. Near William McGonagall’s memorial in Greyfriars Kirkyard we spotted a notice which could easily have been penned by McGonagall himself.
I visited Apothecary at its new venue, the former skittle alley of the Tiger Inn in Bridport. Before the event I caught up with organiser Carolyn for a chips and editing in my mobile office.
I’ve been on an excellent poetry retreat at the National Writing Centre for Wales, where the tutors were Vanessa Lampert and Vicky Morris. I’ve definitely found a new Happy Place!
It was great to take part in Sound Winchester, a one-day festival at Arc with music and poetry from local performers and community groups. Here we see Hampshire Poet Damian Kelly-Basher accompanied by an audience member on a toy piano (photo by Amy Brown).
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