BOOKIN A DAYaa

On Saturday September 20, 2014, Ossett Observer Presents in partnership with Wakefield Lit Fest set out to capture the voices, wishes and aspirations of the people of the town. 2014 marks the 150th Anniversary of the founding of the original Ossett Observer newspaper by the Beckett Brothers. In celebration of that anniversary we wanted to have a look at the town now, who lives here and what stories they have to tell.

We invited writer and broadcaster Ian Clayton to help us to create the book; he came to Ossett for a day and spoke to people in the library, in the market place and at the Festival In A Day event being held at Trinity Church.

We invited all 9 of Ossett’s Junior and Infant schools to take part in creating a community poem for Ossett called ‘Our Ossett’, which was performed in public for the first time at Festival In A Day. We captured people’s ideas and slogans for a Happy Life in our ‘Sloganism project’ where participants had the chance to try out traditional printing methods with Nick Loaring of The Print Project. We invited people to write wishes for Ossett on our tree of pigeon wishes and we invited people to bring their memories of the original Ossett Observer to share in our Pop Up People’s History Museum.

These are their stories.

WWW.WAKEFIELDLITFEST.ORG.UK WWW.OSSETTOBSERVER.CO.UK

Mandy RawsonWhen they were making the film “This Sporting Life”. My Mum was stood at a bus stop at the top of Westgate with my Auntie. They ended up being in a crowd scene in the film. I’ve heard that story told at family gatherings for years. Now I have started to repeat the story, but I’ve never seen the film. I will now though that I’ve told you about it, I’m going to phone my Auntie Gladys as soon as I finish work today.

I came to Ossett from Netherton when I was nine, though I was born in Durkar. I have worked at this library since I was sixteen. I love this library and I love Ossett. I have lived in four houses here and I’ve always been able to hear the Town Hall clock.For generations since, the wool makers of Ossett have given gifts in gratitude to the sheep for making Ossett a prosperous town.

Donna CottonWhen the Town Hall clock was out of action while they did it up, it was ever so weird. You knew something was missing, but you couldn’t quite put you finger on what it was. People weren’t quite tuned in to their day. I came to the library just as it started chiming again and an old lad said to me “That’s a nice sound, we can all hear again now.” It’s part of the day for Ossett people, you hear its quarter hour chime, look at your watch and realise “I must get on.”

John Cotton I’m from Lupset, near Snapethorpe School. Donna worked in the cheese factory here and I worked for the council at the old tram depot by the side of the park. It made sense to look for our home here when we got married. We have brought Laura and Martin up here, they both went to St Ignatius School. Everything you need to bring a family up is here. You have a routine, you go to the butchers, the bakers, the bank and just lately we’ve started to go to the library. I started buying second hand books from the charity shops and then I realised I could get my books for free from this lovely library so I’ve become a regular user, sometimes twice a week.

Boyd Makepeace

I think my Dad thought I might become a film star or a sportsman when he christened me “Randolph Boyd Makepeace”.... and look at me, I’m a butcher in Ossett! I’ve worked for Richmond’s for twenty years and came to Ossett round about the millennium. I think people still come to butchers for special occasions and the older end come every week because they know exactly what they want and they know it’s name, like that lady who just came and asked for a piece of “corner lift” for her Sunday joint. Our main rival isn’t the supermarket as people think, it is time. The supermarket stays open 24 hours so people go there to suit their day. We can’t compete with their opening times. When the horsemeat scandal broke last year, a lot of people came back to us, but you know memories can be short. But in the end, quality always counts and that is what will see us through.

Karen Noble

My partner lived in Middlestown and I lived in Alverthorpe, when we got together it made sense to come to a place in-between and that’s Ossett. We love it here and it’s just big enough to walk everywhere and know people. I won’t say it’s got everything, because I’d like to see more shoe and clothes shops, but we’re better off than some places. I like market days, because the town really comes to life then. The people here are lovely, it’s true what they say, a town is in its people and you can never have enough lovely people.

Mollie ListerI had a fish shop on Bank Street for ten years. I ran it myself with two girls helping. I’ve seen a lot of changes in Ossett, some of them not for the good.

I’ve been on the committee at The Railway Club for seventeen years and its secretary for the last eight. I love that club, it’s been part of my life for a long time now and it gives me a purpose. At my age I need something to bring me out and socialise and that is what the club does. Many years ago it was The Liberal Club, a non-alcoholic place, then it was a nightclub for a while before British Rail bought it and had it as their social club. Nowadays it is owned by its members and you can hire rooms there for all sorts, weddings, christenings, birthday parties, all sorts.

Lily BroadheadI like Ossett because it’s not too big and it’s not too small, it’s just about right in size. I go to Southdale School. At the moment we are doing a topic about Brazil. I come to the library every week with my grandma, so this morning I have decided to come here to research my notes on Brazil using the library’s computer. I used to be a writer and started writing my own books of fairy tales when I was eight. I wrote one called “Rosie and the Beanstalk” really weird and based on, well you can guess what. I’m ten now so I have retired from fairy story writing and decided to be a dentist.

RanjitI like Ossett, I like the people who live here, but I do not like the car park in front of my shop. I have been here for going on twelve years, but just lately I am getting fed up with the young people who congregate on the car park at night, they need something else to do, somewhere to go. Give these kids something to do.

OSSETT STORIESA Saturday Morning Snapshot

Interviews with Ossett People from Ian Clayton’s Walk Around Town

David JonesIt was a crazy notion. I bought some Ossett brewery beer in York, in a beer shop called “The House of Trembling Madness.” My wife said “Why the heck have we come all the way to York to buy a beer that comes from where we live?” I said “I don’t know where to buy it in Ossett.” On that day an idea was born and here we are three years later at a shop called “The Bier Huis.” I wanted to call it “The Yorkshire Bottle” but a Calor gas firm in Doncaster had already beat me to that name, so we called it after the Dutch for beer house as the next best thing. We stock over 400 beers from around the world, mostly from micro-breweries.

Rebecca HinchliffeI don’t remember this, but my Mum swears it’s true. We went to the Co Op to see Santa. It was the old Co Op buildings and you went upstairs I think above the electrical department. The big thing in Ossett then was going to see Santa there. My Mum says that as we got there, a cleaner was sweeping up with a fag between her teeth. When she saw us, she nipped her fag, dropped her brush and picked up a cotton wool beard and transformed herself. My sister Naomi and I were of course completely oblivious; we truly thought that Santa had come to Ossett Co Op.

Darren GarveyI’ve been in Ossett for a year and a half now, I was born in Dewsbury Moor, but brought up in Horbury. Now Horbury and Ossett never got on, especially the two comprehensive schools we didn’t like one another, or at least that’s what we were supposed to think. We’ve all grown up since then. I see lads now in Ossett who I think I used to fight with. They will come up to me in The Maypole or that pub near the bus station whose name I can never remember and say “You once chinned me”

And I just say, “Forget about it, that was then.” I use the computer at the library to look for jobs. You’re supposed to do five hours a day on it, as well as going up and down the industrial estates. It’s been eight years now since I had a job and it gets me down.

We learned Psalms and could recite poetry. I particularly remember “Cargoes” by John Masefield.“Quinquireme of Nineveh…….” I always wondered and still do what quinquireme was. “Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smokestack, butting through the Channel in the mad March Days, with a cargo of Tyne coal, road-rails, pig-lead, firewood, ironware and cheap tin trays……………….” Ah, happy days.

I was absolutely amazed yet very pleased when I was given a part in a school production. I was Tiger Lily in Peter Pan. I begged my mum to let me wear a yellow silk kimono with beautiful embroidery, which my Dad had brought back from overseas during the Second World War. Not typical Tiger Lily outfit I know, but she let me have it and I really did feel like a princess wearing it. We learned all the songs, word perfect, and I can still sing “The Second Star on the Right” and “Never Smile at a Crocodile”.

Fortunately, only the boys were given the cane on occasions, by Mr Woolegan and later by Mr Heslop. Girls could expect a stinging slap on the hand with a ruler, but rarely ever did. Never me! I was too afraid of my dad finding out when I got home – that would have been far worse than the ruler.

I used to go home for dinner, and today I can’t work out how we managed it within the school timetable. We walked down Dewsbury Road under the railway bridge and as far as Dale Street then up the hill to the town centre and down Station Road and right onto Prospect Road.

If we didn’t choose to get the school bus at the end of the day, we would walk home “the fields” way. We crossed the main road, along the lane passing the side of old Chapel, and turned right on to the field path through a field, turning sharp left and going downhill, parallel to the train line. We turned right and walked under the three arch railway bridge and then left up Tumbling Close passing the miners cottages, which always looked dark and uninviting. At the top we walked along Littlefield Road, Tattersfield Street and Greatfield Road past the farm at Town End and on to Prospect Road.

I remember one particular winter’s day when we walked home this way when no school bus was running because of heavy snow (no telephones at home then to let our Mums know – only rich folk had phones). Knowing full well that walking over the fields with heavy drifts of snow wasn’t a clever thing to do, but that it would be so exciting, we set off, my cousins and I. Just trying to put one step in front of the other when the snow came over the tops of our wellies, was a real effort and time consuming. But we giggled and helped one another. Arriving home, we knew we would be in bother as it was quite dark when we arrived. After a scolding, bath, pyjamas and a cup of home-made onion soup with cubes of cheese in, I think my lovely Mum had forgiven me.

Such happy days, with wonderful memories of dedicated teachers who encouraged me to always try to be the best I could be. I would like to think that this is still true in 2014. Flushdyke School continues to serve the children of Ossett, as it has done since 1912.

Pauline Robinson (Nee Atkinson)

BOOKIN A DAYaa

WORKSHOP

with Ian Clayton

from the

We had a coronation, the year I went there. Feeling safe, accompanied by my cousin Carolyn, three years older and living next door to me.

Looking back, the weather always seemed endlessly sunny, albeit with a few clouds as I struggled at first to fit in. Colour me turquoise, sometimes veering towards the green hues, occasionally towards the blues.

I craved learning new things, just soaked new facts up, yet always self-conscious about my size when it came to doing P.E. and any type of sports. I didn’t sleep the night before the annual sports day, where taking part was compulsory. Always came last at everything.

My identity was found in being as clever as the cleverest boys, I realise now.

Friday mornings we had the weekly Arithmetic and English tests. I can still recall the smell of the pencils and paper being handed out. Those achieving top marks would sit at back of the class during the following week whilst the “thick” ones (we were so cruel) had to sit at the front row. One boy never made it off the front row. The brainy boys said it was because his Mam had never been married and his dad was a GI who hopped it back to America when the war was over.

Me, I was always on the back row, top girl, but always fourth in the tests. Never mind, it meant sitting next to David, Peter, Colin or John. Perhaps boys would notice me now. Not a chance. The nearest I got was getting a love heart and a kiss from someone walking home from school over the fields one day. He never made it beyond the second row in the tests, so I wasn’t impressed!

We had art, P.E. and music in the hall. I remember the lovely smell of the polish from the parquet tiles, and the not so lovely smell of boiled potatoes, still lingering from lunchtime. I loved singing. We sang rousing ditties such as “A good sword and a trusty hand”; and miserable dirges like “David the Bard on his bed of death lies”. “Glad that I live am I” always cheered me up. At the end of the afternoon, before we went home from Mrs Brewin’s class, we always sang “Now the Day is over”.

Flushdyke School1953-1957

from the book in a day workshop with Ian Clayton

Gawthorpe & MeGawthorpe, a tough little place….Clinging to the edge of Wakefield like a limpetIt’s not Ossett, unless you are selling your houseYou don’t go…. unless you are going But I love where I live….

A community formed by its rituals, more than a tradition, the very life-blood of a community 140 years, a kaleidoscope of colour processing the streets Marching Brass and booming drum, majorettes and spinning clownsQueen of the May leads the way, with crown upon her garland head Shiny hoof-oiled horses, pony, trap and drayBright coloured floats, fancy dress and good weather, we pray

Maypole Green mound, plays its merry sound A place of triumph, tragedy and ritual…Children dance until their face turns redBarber’s Pole, Gypsies Tent and Spider’s WebRed, White and Blue, with Cockerel pointing to weather, atop the mighty poleUnion Flag flies proudly to honour the dead….

Robinson’s Feast, an annual treat, bow and arrows, peashooters, goldfish and anything off the bottom shelf…Candy Floss, Toffee Apples, Brandy Snap, Burgers, Hot Dogs and onions…A heady mix of sweet aromas…and diesel machines captivate with mesmerising droneA familiar voice calls, “see, its gerrin dark, get thee sen home, thi mother’s lookin for thi”

Zion Chapel of 1853, the canaries singing their Hymns long goneA time portal to a different era, preserving its sights and sounds and smells Derby and Joan now sing a different song, of David’s Den, number 10 and 11 legs100 old folk partake as a Maypole Treat; sharing in “the common good”Milky tea in giant metal teapots with plated teas, cakes, buns…and a dozen eggs for home

Now hear the Coalman’s challenge….“Gerr-a-bag o’coil on thi back, an ah’ll race thi t’top o t’wood” Line up with all the rest, donning the hallowed Coil Humper’s vestSo I did…50 years on…. a hundred weight of black hewn goldCrushing the backs of hardy men, and women, the first and last and in-between, cheered home the sameBut drop the sack and ride the wagon to hear its call of shameThe Pigeon Clock marks time, again and again, and again…

A school of learning on Benny Harrop Hill, Academy now, but school still….Craigan, Stansfield, Martin and Halstead…an echo of a time gone by, where are they now, not here…I can still hear their voices, but only in my heart, and headFanny Halstead, 50 marks for Coxley Valley was her treat, or corporal punishment to mete!“There is, there are, there was, there were, is always T-H-E-R-E” was her reverbing chantBoys toilets, terracotta glazed tiles against Welburn’s Farm wall“How high can we pee lads, over the top? – Not high enough this time, not a drop!

Gawthorpe Village has changed a lot; the mills and mines have all been stopped,John Arthur Wilson shut up shop, the Co-op store and Goff’s Fish ShopPost Office, Nettleton’s and Beehive Inn; to lose some more would be a sinThe wind blows and its place knows it no more…a time for every-thing

Water Tower still stands proud; the Gerry bombs couldn’t take it outDoggy Woods, Three-Cornered Dam, Gambler’s Den and Fairy Hill‘Boo-it’ and Shoe; t’Shoulder o’ Mutton and ‘Connie Club’ still serving aleCoal and Maypole drive us on, if we lose these traditions, our identities gone…

Gawthorpe, a tough little place…. But I love where I live….

Duncan Smith

from the book in a day workshop with Ian Clayton

To Ossett MarketCome rain or shine, Tuesdays and Fridays sees us making our pilgrimage along Kingsway, Church Street, Station Road and The Green to Ossett market. We come with our owners who love to browse amongst the stalls and shops. We are soon collecting bargains - a punnet of mouth watering strawberries, a new woolly jumper, some bird seed or a loaf of bread.

Our owners enjoy a chat with friends and market stallholders, especially when the day is sunny and warm. The weather always makes a good topic of conversation in Ossett – from “It’s nippy today, I’ll be glad to be back home in front of the fire” to “What a wonderful warm day to stand and natter.” There is also a chance for us to rest our weary wheels as our owners enjoy a coffee in a café, at the market or in the Town Hall.

Our owners may be thought to be older citizens of Ossett but in fact they are of a wide age range. As for us, some of us vary in size from handy “fit in the car” types to being larger and able to protect our owners from all weathers. The rest of us come in a variety of colours from sedate navy and tartan to fluorescent pink or jazzy florals.

Later we begin our journey back home – a collection of mobility scooters, shopping trolleys and their owners.

Sandra Bligh

My Memory BoxMy box would hold my family tree complete with images of all members of the family going back as far as the beginning.

It would also have the memory of my walk from Ossett Centre to Flushdyke school. Over the fields with friends, chattering and being absolutely care free. No worries that there may not be anyone at home or food on the table when I got home. No worries that I may not have clean clothes to wear. No worries that anyone I love would become ill. No worries about the outside world, wars, famine, disease. Absolutely care free.

There would be a pack of playing cards in my box - a reminder of nights spent at my aunty and uncle’s house, myself and my siblings playing with my cousins while parents played bridge and the walk home through Ossett, often in the early, hours listening to said parents discussing how the game went.

The box would have to have music with the grand organ from Ossett Town Hall, Gawthorpe Brass Band and children from Ossett schools singing in a choir.

And finally my box would have my loveliest family, friends and neighbours who would have gathered together for a natter, with a large brown pot of tea and a plate of rich tea biscuits, and the wisdom and power to put the world to rights once and for all.

My box would be crocheted from all the odd bits of yarn left over from bunting and snowflakes made for events in Ossett and personal items I have made over the years.

When my box is complete it will be put away in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow where I’m sure nobody will ever find it and it will be hidden for all eternity.

Carolyn Wicks

Yes! Curated by pigeons! How else could we decide in which order our childrens’ voices should be heard but to hold a Pigeon Race.

We asked Ossett’s Infant and Junior schools to each write a verse on the theme of ‘Our Ossett’. On the morning of Saturday 20th September 9 birds each with a verse tied to their legs were released from Wakefield Cathedral and flew back to their loft in Chickenley with the poems attached. The order in which the birds returned to their loft was the order in which the poem was created.

Just short of 300 children and 9 pigeons contributed to this project. With huge thanks to the children and schools of Ossett and Mr Aaron Dewhurst of Chickenley for the loan of his birds.

The order of return of our Poetic Pigeons.1. Flushdyke Junior and Infants School2. South Ossett Infants’ Academy3. Southdale CE (VC) Junior School4. South Parade Primary School5. Gawthorpe Community Academy6. Dimple Well Infant School7. St Ignatius Catholic Primary School8. Towngate Primary School9. Holy Trinity CE (VA) Primary School

WORDON THE WING

Written by the children of Ossett | Curated by Pigeons on September 20th 2014

Ossett of the past wasGreener- with space to play, more trees and cleaner air to breathe in.Quieter- fewer people, hardly any traffic on the roads. The sound of singing birds to hear. Industrious- hard workers, grafting down the mines and in the mills, day and night. Caring community- families and friends, helping and supporting each other . Proud to be part of Ossett.

What we want for Ossett isFor it to be the bestBetter than the restWe want it to be coolJust like our schoolWe want it to be cleanWe don’t want people to be meanSo let’s get snappy and make Ossett very happy

If Ossett was music it would beA flute playing gently as time unravelsThe soft sound of harmonies and elegant symphoniesRhythm and Blues flowing through the air, tapping into the hearts of the local peopleA calm river of voicesA brilliant brass band marching through the streets in a fascinating paradeClassical with a strong melodyViolin strings dancing elegantly, like the laughter through the colourful market place

When It Rains In OssettWindows weep and shops steamSheltering and Shopping under Allsorts roofStill statue standing proud, raindrops falling from his hat onto beautiful poppiesCoins clattering, scattering, bouncing in WellgateFussy people hustling and bustlingWet, wasing wellies jumping in puddlesMoaning groaning Ossett folkMarket days are desertedWhen it rains in Ossett

The future of Ossett will be full of friendship and funMemories that will last for hundreds of years and go on and onA town full of happiness and plenty to doLots of activities for me and youPlaygrounds, swimming baths and libraries too!Choirs, sport teams, dancing and that’s just a few

When the sun shines in Ossett, everyone comes out to playBeing together it’s such a great day!We like to have a water fight then barbecue til late at nightSplashing in the paddling pool, Anything to keep us cool!Here comes a van, the ice cream man, Run to get one as quick as you can.

aaOur Ossett

The People of Ossett are friendly like a pet dog,Loyal companions, they stick together like cake and jam,Fun to play with (but not to eat!)Visit Ossett it would be quite a treat!They look after one another like a flock of sheep,If you visit Ossett, great memories you will keep, The people of Ossett are … unique!

If Ossett were a colour it would be an artists paint palette filled with drops of bright colours that shimmer in thesunshine.Yellow is a drop of joy and happiness that makes Ossett come to lifeBlue is a drop of relaxation that would fill Ossett with a good night’s sleepPink is a drop of love that would fill Ossett with beautyAnd those are the colours of the Ossett rainbow.

My Ossett Is a market town, filled with people who are busy bees, and a park with lovely trees , come on down to the skatepark, but don’t go in the dark , there’s a school near the church, where birds tend to perch, a lot of businesses in the town, and a few different clowns, Ossett is really fun so let’s end this with a pun, come to Ossett, it’s cool ( especially when it’s raining)

aEstablished in 1864, the Ossett Observer was for 122 years the town’s newspaper. It was the single source of news and views for the people of Ossett. The final edition was printed on October 31st 1986 and to this day the people of Ossett and its environs still miss their weekly read of hatches, matches and despatches. Inspired by the original newspaper we created a one-day Pop Up Museum so that the people of Ossett could share their stories and reminisce about their local newspaper.

Amongst the many visitors to our Pop Up Museum were former journalist, Jodie Hawkins, and Ossett Observer print workers Alan Waterbuck and Phil Hammond. The husband of Jenni Craig came to visit us with a folder of all the weekly columns she had written in the 1980s. There were several copies of the old broadsheet newspaper available for people to look at and copies of the Observer Almanacs dating back to 1865.

We gathered many stories and photographs throughout the day and the changes in content from what the Ossett Observer considered news and what today’s local newspaper the Wakefield Express considered news were quite dramatic.

Photographs of the final of the 100-yard dash, flower arranging, hobby exhibitions, countless images of cycling proficiency tests and church parties were all considered worthy news stories for the people of Ossett in the 20th Century.

But, the most engaging story was that of Irene Archer aged 87 who had come to Festival In A Day specifically to see the Ossett Observer museum. Irene had worked at the Ossett Observer during the Second World War, she worked in the downstairs office, selling photos and classified ad space, she started working there when she was 16. It was whilst at the Ossett Observer that she met her husband Laurie, a journalist on the paper. Laurie went on to work at The Huddersfield Examiner, then they ran their own PR company for many years until retirement. Irene told us that very late in his life Laurie had one wish and that was to make another Ossett Observer. He had looked upon it as a fine newspaper, and amongst the finest in local journalism.

Irene spent a while looking through the old papers and the Ossett Almanacs and we were delighted that she had taken time to come visit us.

POP UPPEOPLE’S HISTORY museum

Harking back to the days of hand-printing methods, we invited Nick Loaring of The Print Project to come share with us the craft of making prints by hand. At one time all newspapers were handset, compared to today’s technology it seems like a Herculean task to hand set all pages of a broadsheet newspaper and we wanted to give people the opportunity to try their hand at printing how it would have been done in 1864.

We asked participants to create their own slogans, something they wanted to say in as few words as possible and then make a print.

THIS IS WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY:

PIGEONW I S H E Saa

OSSETTfor

We asked visitors to festival in a day to leave us a wish for Ossett on one of our pigeons and place it on our tree. We can’t possibly show them all here as there were over 600 pigeon wishes donated to our tree, but there were a lot of recurring themes.

~ Ossett needs a railway station~ Ossett needs a swimming pool~ Ossett needs more shows and plays at the Town Hall~ Ossett needs a bouncy castle~ I wish Ossett had a sweet shop where everything was free~ I wish Ossett had less litter~ I wish Ossett had a Go Kart Centre~ I wish Ossett had more things to learn~ I wish Ossett had a hospital~ I wish that Ossett was more creative~ I wish Ossett had more play areas~ I wish there were more things to do like more parks and play areas~ I want an Ossett Town World Cup

We particularly like ~ I wish Ossett had a football stadium that could hold 48,000 people

~ I’d like Ossett to be a Fairtrade Town and link with others across Yorkshire

~ I wish there was a brilliant Zoo

~ I wish Ossett had a Museum

~ My wish for Ossett is that it is raining iPad tablets

~ We wish for Ossett to be instrumental in World Peace

Ossett Observer Presents is a voluntary arts organisation for the town of Ossett. Established in 2011, Ossett Observer makes participatory projects and beautiful things inspired by Ossett’s heritage. Curated by Jacqui Wicks all their projects tell stories about the town’s history and involve participants of all ages from the communities of Ossett and Gawthorpe. Winners of the 2013 Towns Alive, Trailblazers in the Arts Award.

www.ossettobserver.co.uk @OssettObserver

Wakefield Lit Fest is an annual festival, established in 2012, celebrating reading and writing. The festival was initiated and is programmed by arts charity Beam and

takes place annually in late September. The festival has a strong sense of ‘places and spaces’ and the relationship between the written and performed word and the places we live in, walk through and imagine and also has a keen interest in literature’s relationship with other artforms.

‘Festival In A Day’ was an event as part of Wakefield Lit Fest 2014 delivered in partnership with Ossett Observer and Trinity Church Ossett and supported by Wakefield Council’s ‘Creative Partners’ scheme. ‘Festival In a Day’ saw a wide variety of word inspired activities take place throughout the day in and around Trinity Church Ossett, culminating in a performance by super-star poet Roger McGough in the evening

www.wakefieldlitfest.org.uk @wake_lit_fest

This project was made possible with the support of

Wakefield Lit FestTrinity ChurchOssett ObserverWakefield Council ‘Creative Partners’ SchemeArts Council EnglandWakefield Libraries

Book In A Day Artists

Ian ClaytonNick Loaring of The Print Project

Special thanks to

Cath Longley, Sharon Shephard, Nicki Embleton, Caitlin Robinson, Cassandra Kilbride, Duncan Smith, Jacqui Wicks, Hannah Shephard, Leda Prest, Alison Dunne, Amy Cooper

Design by Tony Shephard of Shephard CreativePhotographs by Jess Rowbottom, Alice Smith, Sharon Shephard