Spoke - in the Lamp
History
The first seven events of Spoke - in the Lamp, in 2019, took place monthly except for giving way to Walsall Poetry Fest which claimed the building during July of that year. In September we started to invite feature poets as headliners. During the great coronavirus pandemic lockdowns were introduced and during 2020 and 2021 there were several cancellations to due those government restrictions placed on all public activities.
Here are all the events for Spoke up to March of 2022 and the headline performers.
2019 - 16 January, 13 February, 13 March, 10 April, 8 May, 12 June, 14 August - Open mic
- 11 September - Alan ‘Kurly’ McGeachie : Kurly is a Spoken Word Poet and a Hip Hop artist who works in schools and the community to help build literacy confidence. Has been shortlisted for Birmingham Poet Laureate and recently performed at the Royal Albert Hall.
- 9 October - Clive Oseman : A proud Brummie based in Swindon in Wiltshire. A multi-slam winner who came 6th in the Farrago UK slam finals in London. He writes a combination of serious and humorous material, much more comedy at present as the world seems to disintegrate around our ears.
He has featured/headlined at events in many Towns and Cities and adds Brownhills to his list of victims. Clive’s third collection "It could be worse..." is out early in 2020, following Happy (2016). He also runs performance poetry workshops and co-hosts events under the Oooh Beehive banner
- 13 November - Billy Spakemon
- 11 December - Heather Wastie
2020
- 29 January - Brendan Hawthorne
- 26 February - Dan Webber
- March - July Lockdown 1
- 26 August - Emily Rose Galvin
- 30 September - Open mic due to Kuli Kohli caught in Wolverhampton restrictions
- 28 October - Richard Archer
- November - June 2021 - Lockdown 2
2021
- 28 July - Kuli Kohli
- 25 August - Chris Fewings
- September - Lockdown 3
- 27 October - Willis the Poet
- 24 November - Roy McFarlane
- December - Christmas cancellation
2022 - starting bi-monthly sessions
- 26 January - Spoz - this was held as a ‘Zoom hybrid’ event with some open mic contributions from homes via internet video links
- 30 March - Pandemonialists (Emma Purshouse, Steve Pottinger, Dave Pitt
- 18 May - Gary Longden
- 27 July - David Calcutt
- 28 September - Scarlett Ward Bennett
- 30 November - Bert Flitcroft
2023 - details to be confirmed
- 25 January - Mel Wardle Woodend
- 29 March - Rob Francis
- 31 May - Gary Carr
- 19 July - Dawn Jutton
- 27 September - Tom Allsopp
- 29 November - Gerald Kells
2024 - the final three Spokes
- 31 January - Ann Atkins
- 27 March - Paul Elwell
- 29 May - last of the Spoke-he-cans - open mic only