17th April 2017, Greenhill Cottage Gallery, Brokerswood Road, Southwick, BA14 9PR
When Liz Watts suggested I ran an edition of Words & Ears within her ceramics installation Beached at Greenhill Cottage Gallery, I immediately said yes, because the gallery is such a wonderful space and because Liz's work is stunning. But I didn't anticipate it working quite so well as our Easter Monday event. That was down to a combination of things - Liz's inspired staging of her award-winning, sea-themed ceramics; guest poet Rebecca Gethin's superb, salt-tanged sets, which took us to Zennor and Co Donegal, into the company of turnstones, mermaids and whales and to the dark side of the lighthouse; and to the enthusiasm of the audience and open mic contributors, who really entered into the spirit of things with some great sea poems. Lovely to see new faces, Words & Ears regulars and old poetry friends - Lesley Saunders, Ruth Sharman, Paul Brokensha, Chaucer Cameron, Tom, Sue and Iris Anne Lewis among others. My thanks to gallery owner Martyn Slade, to Liz and her family, and, poignantly, to Mary, Martyn's partner, who, after last year's event at the gallery with Cristina Newton said to me 'we must do another one of these soon'. Sadly, Mary passed away at the end of the summer; for me, the evening was a fitting honouring of her enthusiasm and support.
