Poets let their imaginations run wild (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Poets let their imaginations run wild

A series of poetry writing, speech and drama masterclasses were run at Wootton Bassett Library to promote the Wootton Bassett Arts Festival.

Poets let their imaginations run wild

The poetry classes were run by Sue Chadd, a local poet, story teller and creative writing tutor. A member of the local poetry group, Bluegate Poets, she has had many of her poems published including in the local publication, Pulsar Poetry.

Participants were encouraged to look at different kinds of poems such as Kennings and Acrostic poems, as well as dealing with the use of alliteration, similes, metaphors, rhythm and rhyme.

The speech and drama classes were run by drama teachers Sandra McDowell and Jacquie de Creed. The workshop included poetry reading and performance acting.

“We gave them some guidance on best use of the stage and how to adopt the right physical expression of their characters, and away they went,” explained Jacquie de Creed. “Everyone performed their scene and then watched the others, so we learned by doing and sharing other people’s ideas too.”

The Festival, which takes place from June 10-14, offers classes in music, creative writing, speech and drama and art. The syllabus is now available from Wootton Bassett Library, Brian Taylor Music in Wootton Bassett or can be downloaded from www.wbaf.co.uk