Working with Fulham Palace

I'm looking forward to working with Fulham Palace and Eleanor Sier, the Education Officer there, to facilitate some poetry workshops for local schools leading up to Apple Day at Fulham Palace, on 13th October.

One of the aims is to use the trees and natural landscape of the gardens as inspiration for the poems (with links to the National Curriculum in English, Geography, History and addressing PHSE and SCMS requirements).

Another is to encourage more local children, families and schools into the grounds of the Palace to experience nature in action.

Situated in between Fulham Palace Road and the Thames next to Putney Bridge, the Palace provides 13 acres of respite from the busy-ness of urban life. The site dates from the 7th century when it was acquired for a Bishops Residence and remained as that until 1974 when Hammersmith Council opened it to the public.

Now restored after their post war decline, the gardens are tended and grown according to the seasons. They offer a reassuring sense of transformation and renewal each year, plus the opportunity to wander in cultivated and wild areas, which makes a change from concrete pavements on the edge of roads!

Organisations such as Outdoor Nation, the National Trust and Green Lions are concerned about the lack of opportunities for children to play outside and connect with nature. The grounds at Fulham Palace provide a beautiful experience and antidote to this for children who live nearby in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, and Kensington and Chelsea.

http://www.projectwildthing.com/#network

 

The Walled Garden

Becoming a Poetry Therapist

Since January I’ve been Regional Co-ordinator for London Lapidus – part of the national Lapidus organisation working to promote words and writing for health and wellbeing.

We meet every two months at the Poetry Cafe in Betterton Street, near Covent Garden. The meetings are an opportunity to form connections and catch up with news and developments in this exciting area of work. Our next meeting is on 28th September when Victoria Field will be leading a workshop on Becoming a Poetry Therapist.

Victoria writes:
When I went to my first ever ‘poetry therapy’ workshop in London in 1999, it was like a light going on – here was the profession I had been looking for all my life without knowing it existed. Technically, in the UK, it doesn’t, so I trained via the US Federation for Poetry-Bibliotherapy.  Over a decade later, I am still fascinated by the idea of the poem and its potential for offering transformation and insight.  I receive a steady stream of enquiries regarding poetry therapy training and have now been approved to take on international trainees for the NFPB.  I’ll talk about poetry therapy, offer an experiential exercise and answer questions about training.

Victoria’s blog is at www.poetrytherapynews.wordpress.com


If you’re interested in attending the meeting just drop me an email and I’ll send you more details.

Why not check out the Lapidus facebook page