'Much Merriment At Meet Of The Tongue & The Steelyards Collective'

Things have been pretty full on this last few weeks so apologies for my lack of posts this year. Sadly, much of what I have been up to has had little or nothing to do with Christmas mores the pity other than searching for Christmas presents/writing/delivering/sending cards and the like.

I did manage to get away from the stress for a bit though last Sunday at a 'Winter Get Together' at  Horam. Jane and Keith Trott have a lovely home there with plenty of grounds and a nice, warm stone barn that is ideal for Storytelling/Poetry & Song evenings. Jane is a 'creative sort' who writes a lot of poetry and Keith loves his old Penny Farthing bicycles and loves to listen (as well as ably preparing the mid-interval refreshments) so its always nice to see them both and feel 'part of something', you know?

Jane Trott (left) and Yvonne Rees

Yvonne Rees, who was given the task of hosting the dual event, is another well-known local Poet and Artist and is always good for a giggle with her witty, observational poetry. As for the other 'acts' well, that's where you and I come in! Both The Steelyards Collective and Meet Of The Tongue are rather like old time family Christmas gatherings because the idea behind both is that people meet up for an evening and provide their own entertainment - taking it in turn to sing/read/perform their work or just listen to others or maybe provide a bit of something by someone who has inspired them. It never really matters who does what because we ALWAYS have a good time and each others company no matter what!

Wendy is all smiles telling her tale!

I chose to read out a Christmas story of mine called 'The Cellar Door'. It was written more with children in mind but seeing as some of the pieces before it had been a little 'dark' in theme for the time of year I thought it might help to re-connect people with the wonder of Christmas that only kids really ever feel. It is such a shame as we grow older that we seem to lose the ability to get excited 'wide-eyed and open mouthed' about anything and I love thinking back to when I was small and how even the simplest thing then seemed to have a sprinkle of magic about it when it was associated with Santa, Tinsel and twinkling fairy lights... 

Lorne plays Christmas Carols on his flute.

What made this particular afternoon so nice was the fact that, due to one thing and another, both 'Meet Of The Tongue' and 'The Steelyards Collective' have not been able to hold their usual regular monthly meetings for a few months this year. Seeing everyone again and feeling the sense of community that these meetings help to re-instate in todays rather isolating society was really nice and I even 'threw in' a little 'surprise' for hosts, Jane and Yvonne at the end of the evening to make everyone smile!

I don't want to say too much more about that here because I am hoping to repeat the feat when doing my Christmas Radio show with, Jeff Belton next Monday! Yes, folks! The 23rd is only 6 days away now!

If you think you would like the kind of traditional evening that I talk about here why not come along to one of either 'Meet of the Tongue' or 'The Steelyards Collective' (hopefully) monthly meetings in 2020? You will be ever so welcome and it does not matter a jot if all you want to do is sit at the back and listen - ears are as welcome as voices! You can see photos of some of the 'performers' and performances here...