Last week I blogged about my visit to the Archaeology Fieldschool, where I met Richard Thomas, the lead archaeologist. There was a lot to take in, both information and atmosphere. Richard is clearly a great communicator, explaining the site to me as well as leading the work of the students. The job requires incredible attentionRead more
At the end of July, I was delighted to be able to visit the Archaeological Fieldschool at Bradgate Park. Run by Leicester University, it offers students experience of a real piece of research: digging, recording and interpreting. It’s an intensive few weeks, with seven hours digging all day – I was lucky to be ableRead more
Jim York is 93, so this walk in the park was a feat of memory, undertaken from the armchair in the front room of his house in Leicester. Jim was cycle-racing competitively into his 80s, but is now less mobile. That didn’t stop him from talking about memories from lots of different periods of hisRead more
One of the most enjoyable aspects of my Poet in the Park residency at Bradgate has been running workshops for the public. I’ve met some talented writers from the area, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how they respond to the prompts. They have been good-humoured about my habit of coming up with daft names at theRead more
Shruti Chauhan is a poet from Leicester. She has created a reputation for sensitive and heartfelt performance poetry, first as part of ‘Three the Hard Way’, a national tour with Lydia Towsey and Jean Binta Breeze, and more recently with Yoni-Verse Poetry Collective (https://www.yoniversepoetrycollective.com) a group of female spoken word poets of South-Asian heritage. She’sRead more
One of the fascinating things about this residency is discovery how different people see – or read – the landscape of Bradgate Park. A couple of weeks ago I went for a walk with Sue Graham, one of the Park’s volunteers, and a wildlife expert. Over the course of nearly two hours, she showed meRead more
Last week’s workshop at Bradgate Park was very enjoyable: a full house despite the rainy weather. We wrote poems loosely (very loosely) based on sonnet forms. In the time since the last workshop, I visited the Record Office at Wigston (https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/history-and-heritage/visit-the-record-office/about-the-record-office). If you’re interested in local history, family history and related subjects then it’s aRead more
As I’m sure you know, Lady Jane Grey is a character strongly associated with Bradgate Park, and as the recent TV mini-series shows, fascination with her life is as strong as ever. On February 12th, 1554, Lady Jane was executed on the orders of Queen Mary. On the anniversary of her execution, there will beRead more
On my last visit to Bradgate Park, in December, the place was covered with sheet ice and the car parks were closed. This was a shame, because I’d taken one of my creative writing students from Loughborough University for her first visit. But one of the attractions of Bradgate is how the weather and seasonsRead more
This morning was the first workshop of the residency. The day was cold and clear, and we were able to observe Bradgate Park in its Winter glory. The workshop was over-subscribed, which was great to see. We weren’t sure if anybody would want to write poetry on a cold Wednesday in December, but with 15Read more