The last few months have been a busy time for Young Write Out Loud. After our  successful pedal-powered event in February at the Moonraking festival in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, we were busy preparing for Cuckoo Day in the neighbouring village, Marsden. This year’s Cuckoo festival in April was a very special event which also saw the culmination of the Tenterhooks Project - a unique artistic venture led by Marsden-born poet laureate Simon Armitage, and Jonny Kelly, the programme manager at Marsden Mechanics. 

Back in October 2024 the project invited the people of Marsden to engage in a series of workshops, to uncover untold stories of Marsden’s rich heritage that might inspire a series of new poems and lyrics to be written by Simon. These poems were then to be returned to the community in early February for artistic interpretation. This was followed by workshops, led by poets Louise Fazackerley, pictured right, and Matt Abbott, pictured below, in Marsden Infant and Nursery school, Marsden Junior School and Holmfirth High School, a workshop held by Marsden Community Poetry, and submissions of poems inspired by the four new pieces written by Simon Armitage. These workshops were made possible by the generosity of One Community, Kirklees who helped fund the project.

Mimicking the behaviour of the cuckoo to lay eggs in other birds’ nests, Cuckoo Day this year was appropriately chosen to be the finale event for the Tenterhooks Project. And what a creative and celebratory egg it was!

The evening began outside the Mechanics with a dance performance by the Marsden Morris side, the Thieving Magpies, before moving inside for an evening of two halves. The first half was the local response from creative groups, artists and young people. Poems written by Year 2 and Year 4 children with Louise Fazackerley were confidently and expressively performed to a packed and appreciative audience.

This was followed by Watershed Youth Theatre who brought energy and imagination to their performance, while Unity Choir offered powerful, emotive harmonies that connected generations. Supriya Nagarajan’s piece fused poetic rhythm with hypnotic soundscapes, and O’Hooley and Tidow delivered a moving, folk-infused response that beautifully reflected the project’s themes of memory, place, and collective voice. 

The second half was led by Simon Armitage with Richard Walters and Patrick Pearson from LYR band who performed new compositions of the four poems - ‘Cradle’, ‘Highway A62 revisited’, ‘Tunnel End’ and ‘The Loan’. These were the poems co-created from people’s stories and memories about Marsden and carefully woven together:  

 

I borrowed a book from the village library 

And never took it back. It was bigger than me,

I had to wheel it home on a hurry-cart 

made from an old pram.

                                                 (‘The Loan’) 

 

‘The Loan’ proved to be a particular favourite when working with the children from Marsden Infant and Nursery school. In response to the poem, Marsden was suddenly filled with blue elephants, magic carpets and tractors, all transporting giant library books from the Mechanics to their homes.

 

The evening event was not the end of the Tenterhooks project, but rather, with the creation of a digital archive, an exciting new beginning. 

Jonny Kelly explained: “The digital archive will provide an accessible, permanent home for all the creative work generated through the project, including poetry, music, visual art, and film. Designed to celebrate local voices and highlight community responses, it will act as a living resource for future generations to explore, reflect on, and draw inspiration from.

“Visually, the archive will be clear, engaging, and easy to navigate, optimised for both the touchscreen kiosk at Marsden Mechanics and online access. Visitors will be able to browse by theme, contributor, or art form; watch performances, listen to recordings, and view curated galleries of visual work.

"It will allow community members to revisit their own contributions and invite new audiences to discover Marsden’s rich stories through an immersive, multi-sensory experience. As new work is added over time, the archive will evolve into a growing cultural record and creative legacy for the village.”

And for those of you who are left wondering what LYR stands for - it is Land Yacht Regatta, a name maybe inspired by the Marsden-based Yorkshire Avalanche Dodgers, an amateur dramatic and fundraising group which Peter Armitage, Simon’s late father was closely involved with for many years. We’re sure he would have been very proud of and enthusiastic about the Tenterhooks project.