A new bi-monthly event in Helensville as The Community Church at 40 Mill Road, next to the Hospice Shop hosts a Story-telling and Poetry Performance evening entitled ‘Poems after dark’ from 6-8pm on the second Saturday of the second month. February 13th will see the next event, which will have a ‘slightly askew’ Valentine’s theme, according to organiser Pauline Denton. If you would like to book a spot to perform contact her via email paulinekiwidenton@gmail.com or just turn up on the night. You don’t need to read out original works, or even perform, but performances will be limited to 10 minutes each to keep things moving. The first event, at Te Awaroa Cafe, was packed out and was the opening event for the 2020 ARTS in the VILLE. December saw 10 performers at a very enjoyable evening where, amongst other performers, William Robert Boyd read a series of Memoirs from his boyhood. William is a painter and used words as his brush to paint some beautifully lyrical pictures for the listener. In William’s own words “I was 14 before I had grandparents. Although born in Scotland we emigrated to America when I was 11 months old and we remained there until we returned to Britain when I was 14. I loved my grandparents and would sit and listen to their stories for hours. It was always my intention to capture their stories on tape but it never happened. I was determined to not make that mistake with my parents but they unfortunately died relatively young with me on the other side of the world in NZ.
“That has been the motivation to put my own childhood down in print for my grandchildren. The tales I was told by my parents and grandparents I have interwoven into my stories.
“Hopefully it will be interesting to my family. Every effort has been made on my part to make it informative, funny, poignant and a window into a bygone time. Until the last POETRY AFTR DARK only my younger son had read what has been written so far. He approves and is encouraging me to finish it. So how it would be received by others not personally invested in me was an unknown quantity. To my great surprise and pleasure it was very well received. That’s why I am attending the next event at Pauline’s request to read another selection of extracts from this memoir which is becoming a true labour of love.”
Both Hannah Arnold and Pauline are to be applauded for creating this very different evening for the people of Helensville to enjoy. It is more than poetry it is a celebration of the spoken word. These evenings deserve to grow in popularity as a really fun night out.’
Enjoy more of William’s Memoirs, and listen to experts from Field Candy’s book ‘Every Living Thing’, packed full of beautifully observed short stories of life on a rural NZ farm. There will be a $3 cover charge and you are invited to ‘bring a plate’.