29th January 2015, The Swan Hotel, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire BA15 1LN
Guest poet Sue Chadd warmed us with her poems of 'fair summer weather' (I particularly liked Knitting Crisp Packets in a Shed and Sunshine Breakfast Blues), along with a whole natural history programme of birds and plants. The underlying sense of Sue's work being about escape from an enclosed space to a freer one - or vice versa - seemed particularly pertinent on such a cold, dark night. Then again, in our lively open mic session, Andy Fawthrop's poem about weather reporters' hysterical attitude to a mere drop in temperature made for a very funny reality check. We had lots of other great open mic contributions - on subjects as diverse as issues brought to mind by Holocaust Memorial Day, wassailing, and cats...
