Write Out Loud members send poetic protest to council
Write Out Loud members at Stockport have composed an e-anthology of poetry which has been sent to Stockport council, expressing their feelings about the future of their meeting place at Stockport art gallery, which also houses Stockport's war memorial. The gallery is threatened with council spending cuts that, if they go ahead, will see it closed on weekdays and only open at weekends. Write Out Loud Stockport currently meets once a month on Monday nights at the art gallery.
Poets in the e-anthology are Meschach Brencher, Linda Cosgriff, Nigel Astell, Andrew Nicholson, Joanne Green, and Dorinda McDowell. As Joanne Green says in her poem The Poets they are
"Aiming to remain without lobby or revolt
In the home of historic reverence
Culture and heroes of past and present."
Earlier this month Peter Ashworth, head of culture and leisure at Stockport council, came to a regular Write Out Loud meeting at the art gallery to hear members’ views. He was due to give a 10-minute talk on the situation but ended up staying for over an hour to hear what people thought about it.
Write Out Loud Stockport’s organiser, John Keane, said members were told that the planned closures would save £25,000 a year, out of several millions in savings that the council is looking for. He added: “The decision will be made in April 2013, so there is plenty of time to exert some pressure yet. The decision is very much hanging in the balance.”
More signatures are needed for the petition opposing the closure plans. As Andrew Nicholson puts it in his poem If the Art Gallery's Shut:
"If the art gallery's shut
Wher would you
Be encouraged
To look at life
From a different angle."