Helên Thomas

5th JULY 2007
(click the headline for website)

Helên is a published poet who performs regularly throughout the UK. In 1985 she was a runner up in 'She' Magazine's National Poetry Competition and won the Manchester Poetry Festival Slam in October 2000. Appearances include: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival; The Bristol Poetry Festival and The Cheltenham Festival of Literature.

She also organises poetry events for the Lymm Festival and for Hot Wire Poetry events. In 2003 she was commissioned to write ‘The Lymm Festival poem’ along with fellow writer Jo Warburton.

ALISON BRUMFITT

7th June 2007
(click the headine to go to Alison's Myspace) biog to be added when received.

MARK GWYNNE JONES

3RD MAY 2007
(click on the headline to go to his website)
Some press on Mark Gwynne Jones

The brilliant Mark Gwynne Jones. Passionate…captivating and slightly mad, mind altering poetry.
Edinburgh Three Weeks

Mark Gwynne Jones is to poetry what The League of Gentlemen is to television. He should be ruined with fame and money before he shows the rest of us up for the bunch of sissies we are. But if you don’t want the truth, don’t call a poet, at least not a real one.
Martin Newell of The Independent

Astonishing… You’ll love this show!
The Daily Mail

I always stipulate that who ever is on with me hasn’t got to be any good – this one got past me - I don’t know how, but heads will roll.
John Cooper Clarke

A charming performer. Hear him live!
John Hegley

Shakespeare wouldn’t approve, he’d just be jealous.
mixmag

The king of mind-altering verse, Mark specialises in mad, narrative poems with an almost music-hall edge.
Apples and Snakes

A spiritual merge point of all human experience.
Living Poets Magazine

SOME WORDS FROM THE SECRETARY

What is “Word Up”?

“Word Up” is a once a month Performance Poetry Night in the Cellar Bar under Castle Café, currently organised by local performance poets Sue Hamblen and Jim Harwood. We aim to give a platform to all poets, from first timers to experienced stand up performers. Don’t be shy. Give it a try. You will be sure of a warm welcome.

If you do not wish to perform yourself you can always be sure of a lively and varied evening’s entertainment packed with original ideas and enthusiasm. No two sessions are the same.

Cardigan was the site of the first ever Welsh Eisteddfodd, with its long history of supporting the bardic tradition of the spoken word. “Word Up” seeks to keep the tradition alive, and bring it bang up to date.

How do I get there?

Just park down at Somerfield Car Park, walk up the hill along Quay Street, and the Castle Café is on the corner of Quay Street and High Street, just opposite the entrance to the Castle.

A Short History of the Cellar Bar

Steve and April Greenhalgh opened the Cellar Bar as a place where people could enjoy a meal with a drink, and experience entertainment ‘with a difference’ which was not generally finding a platform. Since it opened it has become a magnet for musicians, singers, poets and a wide variety of talented performers from the Cardigan area and beyond.

It is also rapidly building up an audience who are desperate for something different, not as formal as a theatre or a restaurant, not as boring as your average pub night out, not as distant or exhausting as going to a gig with no food and no seating. April and Steve seem to have found the balance.

Check out their programme. Enquire at the Café ( tel no <>) or check the local press for details. You will be amazed at the variety and quality of the entertainment on offer.

A Short History of the Word Up Night

Steve and April suggested early in 2006 that they would like to run a performance poetry night as part of their programme. They approached local poet Sue Hamblen with the idea, and the first session took place on Wednesday March 8th 2006.

The “Word Up” Night is now a regular feature at the Cellar Bar. Poet Jim Harwood from Pembroke Dock has joined the team. We have had guest poets from near and far. The quality and variety of our guest poets has been astounding. The open mic slots have been a huge success. Many who have never performed their poems in public have taken to the stage at our “Word Up” Night for the very first time. Some have gained the confidence to perform at other venues. Some have gone on to become regular contributors.

What can I say about “Word Up” so far? It has proved a great venue. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming. It is lively, and open minded, giving a platform for entertainment you will not find elsewhere…..yet! The audience and performers, whether visiting professionals or local enthusiasts, are of all ages, all backgrounds, and all walks of life. What can you expect? Well, frankly, there is only one way to find out. Come and see for yourselves.

We welcome anyone who wishes to perform on any topic, and run frequent competitions with prizes.

STEVE ROONEY

APRIL 5TH 2007
We kick off the new season in fine style with a performance from leicester-based Poet Steve Rooney, check him out on the link to his myspace (click on the headline).
The theme he has given us for a poem for the night is "Reason"

Sue’s Comment:

The most laid back stand up I have ever seen. I saw Steve perform at Cheltenham last October. He held that huge audience in Cheltenham Town Hall in the palm of his hand, and none of us knew what to expect from one minute to the next. He had us laughing one moment, crying the next. I knew that I wanted to book him and I am thrilled that he has agreed to perform for Word Up in the Cellar Bar.

Jim's comment:

I think she fancies him...

MAJOR REFURBISHMENT

We had our first committee meeting last night in the new refurbished cellar bar and got a few things sorted out. We have our regular slot of the first Thursday of each month confirmed up to December, and we're now booking in the acts. The changes to the Cellar Bar are excellent - the stage takes a more prominent position, and the place is generally bigger.
The Word Up! committee for 2007 is:
Chairman: Jim Harwood
Secretary: Sue Hamblen
Treasurer: April Greenhalgh
Committee Meetings will take place at 7pm on the first Thursday of each month and anyone can attend.

CLICK ON THE HEADLINE TO GO TO THE CELLAR BAR MYSPACE

XMAS by HANNAH WRIGHT

Scratchin the dirt again
Flirtin in the path again
Hatchin out a plan for a meal of food

Its not a conversation
Its an oration of opinion
U shud thinking of your condition
In the position yr in

Precision in every component of the plan
Decision in every moment if ya can

Good wishes an cassarole dishes
Have a whole new tint
Starin at ya from the sink
Bringin ya to the brink

Old crone
Rotten to the bone
Sittin on ya throne
Like a master of nuthin but a
Number crunchin mass of real crime

Keeping the speal in time
Tryna to the slime is
Another horse,saucy stuff.

Xmas is lovely
Like excema that covers me in an irritatin itch
A conspiritory bitch

Sellin me stuff
Swellin ma debts
Goin down the launderettes
Cos menai collect
Have taken my washing machine
Is this a dream?

Im afraid not
You prayed an you got
What you wanted
Consoled
Dated debts
And no home just a toaster
Finished in chrome
Oh no.

RANDOM IMAGES 4TH JAN

A few more interesting photos from George the Bat

JAN 4TH

The Jan 4th meeting was amazing for the number of "talking heads" (floorspots) and the quality of work offered. many thanks to my friend George the Bat who accompanied me on the journey and took the photos throughout the night - I always have my camera with me (and sometimes leave it behind - D'oh!) but usually I'm so involved in what's going down I forget to use it... there were actually more readers than photos, so we apologise for anyone who is missing - you'll have to come back again! I've left names off because I'm shockingly bad at remembering them correctly, and I don't want to offend anyone by getting their name wrong.

THE TALKING HEADS 2

IMAGES FROM JANUARY 4TH - THE TALKING HEADS

IMAGES FROM JANUARY 4TH

The Harwood with Sue and April at the end of a fine night, and with Steve at the start of the night

IMAGES FROM JANUARY 4TH

Sue Hamblen in action doing her stuff

JIM'S OLD WEBSITE

click on this
to go to my old website which never got finished as I no longer have ftp access to it, some interesting history, poetry, artwork and photography on there, as well as a plethora of interesting links!

FORTHCOMING POSTS

Sue Hamblen is corrently working on a History of the Word Up! Poetry Night, and as founder member, she should know. Where did she get the idea? What's the point of it all? Where does it go from here? I think we should be told! And we will be!

INSTRUCTIONS FOR POSTING

http://wordupcardigan.blogspot.com/

is the address of the weblog (blog) for the WORD UP! Poetry Night.

Anything of relevance to the poetry night can be posted on the blog. In particular we’d like to get some of your poetry out there.

Please visit the blog, add it to your favourites.

If there’s anything you’d like to post there, please email it as an attachment to Jim Harwood – and include “word up” in the subject line of your email to: jimboharwood@gmail.com

If you can include a photo or graphic which is relevant to your post so much the better.

· Your text needs to be sent as a Word Document (.doc) or as a plain text file (.txt) this is preferable. You can use Microsoft Word or Notepad. DON’T BOTHER TO FORMAT IT, IT WILL ONLY MEAN MORE WORK FOR ME UNDOING ALL YOUR HARD WORK!

· If you’re sending an image, it needs to be sent as a Jpeg (.jpg). of medium resolution. No fancy framework please. If you don’t have a digital camera or scanner, I usually have my camera with me at the poetry nights.

· DON’T send stuff like Powerpoint Presentations or Publisher files, they’re incompatible with web applications and I probably won’t be able to open them anyway.

· DON’T send any images in your word documents, keep them separate!

· If you want to send a sound file, it needs to be MP3.

The more content the blog has, the more interest there will be in it, and the more active the blog is, the more people come to the poetry night, so get working! If you don’t have email, you can give me your submissions at the Poetry Nights, but I would prefer them typed.

If I’m not there you can leave them with Steve or Sue and they will pass them on to me.

Let’s make the Word Up! Poetry Night and the Wordupcardigan Weblog the stuff of Legend!

WORD UP 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR! blwyddyn newidd dda!
The first WORD UP! 2007 will take place on Thursday 4th January, usual time and place and is a night for LOCAL POETS to air their work, which of course they can do every month, only this time they might get longer spots. In the absence of anyone better JIM HARWOOD will act as guest poet.
Beyond January things are none too certain at the moment - it looks like we will be taking a break through at least February and March due to the proprietors of the venue demanding things like holidays - how very dare they?
However, all things being equal, which they rarely are, we will be back in April, and the poetry nights will henceforth be monthly on the FIRST THURSDAY of each month.

THURSDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

Guest Poet Will Hames cannot attend. Who Cares?
As usual when this happens, Sue Hamblen and myself step into the breach and the whole evening degenerates into the thoroughly ramshackle and shambolic affair that a good poetry night should be. See you there! If you want a theme for writing, it's PHOBIAS, OK?

GET IT OUT THERE!

Once you've done it, there's nothing quite like getting it out and showing it to people, is there?
Of course I'm referring to writing a poem...
People who take advantage of the WORD UP! open mike spot and air their poems in front of the discerning and attentive CELLAR BAR audience can also now feature their poems on this here BLOG so the whole wide world can read them!
How?
Give us a copy of your poem, either in person on the night (preferably typed), or you can email it to jimboharwood@gmail.com (title your email wordup poem) and if you wish to include a jpeg photo of yourself so much the better!

WORD UP AUGUST

The next WORD UP! Poetry Night is on Wednesday August 16th, starting around 8pm as usual.
Guest Poet is A F Harrold:
Finalist in Spoke-Fest, UK Slam Championship, 2006 and winner of poetry slams
including Chippenham Festival of Arts Slam 2005 and Hammer & Tongue November
Slam 2005, A F Harrold is a performance and literary poet who will engage
you in a show of works ranging from compassion and sensitivity to an outrageous
and comedy packed performance. He recently featured in Mean Fiddler?s Latitude
Festival (with such poets as John Cooper Clarke and Patti Smith) and at WOMAD
comedy stage. He is currently based in Reading where he has been running
a regular poetry cabaret. Be prepared for a wonderful evening?s entertainment.

As always, Word Up is delighted to welcome local poets to the stage. Please
arrive by 8.15 if you wish to perform.
A F Harrold has selected a competition theme for the evening. Can you write
a poem entitled ?POISON.? ? There will be prizes, so get writing!