As 2024 draws to a close, we have been reflecting on the year that is just about to pass and looking forward to some of the highlights to come in 2025. A busy summer festival was followed by a trip to Morecambe Poetry Festival, to renew acquaintances old and new. October brought us performances for Riot Act! at the Mount Without,  Bristol, and a Kertecz Press showcase.  BBC Bristol hosted a 20 minute interview with Isabel early November. We have just completed the fourth and final outing of our seasonal music and poetry extravaganzas, the December show featuring storyteller Michael Loader, wonderful musician Rosemary Yung making a rare visit to the West Country, the inimitable Tom Stockley (aka T.S. Idiot, sharing some of the work from his latest publication Back to the Fuchsia), and with a little help from Melanie Branton, the concluding episode of the box set of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market. Over four shows we have built up a faithful following for this series, and the party atmosphere of the final event did not disappoint, with all the audience taking part with party hats and bubbles, lots of bubbles!

The late spring trip to America which began phase one of the four phase Usonian project, has begun to bear fruit. A lot of work is being created. One of the early spin offs of this project is our collaboration with Clevedon LitFest to launch the MotorCity60 poetry competition, first prize £1,000, judged by Grammy Award nominee Adam White, whose defining “Sound of Young America” is published by Thames & Hudson. The competition runs until March 20^th, coinciding with the 60^th anniversary of the first concert of the UK Motown Revue, and their subsequent appearance on the TV show Ready Steady Go! This project has been in development over eighteen months, but is now well underway and is being promoted worldwide through literary,  music and fans’ organisations.

In December, we were delighted to welcome founder collective member Cassandra Matthews, mounting a concert for Clevedon Music Society, and hope to have her back next year. We have plans to keep Steve and Mark busy through the spring but we can't say what yet. Isabel is trialling a new poetry course in January, more details about that in the New Year, and she is also appearing at the Redgrave Theatre Bristol in February with some of our friends from Sidney and Eden. We are in negotiations for two other major events for next year and hope to bring you news of those just after Christmas...