Slambush (From Stroud News and Journal)

Slambush

THIS year's Fringe Festival featured a Poetry Slam knockout competition between Archway School and Winchcombe School run by ex-Archway student Helen Gregory, who is part of Ambush Artists.

"I am something of a perpetual student, never having been out of formal education for more than a year or so during my life," said Helen, "but returning to my old secondary school to run a poetry workshop took my education fixation one step further.

"It was a very strange experience returning to Archway after an 11 year gap.

"I was slightly disturbed to find the receptionist had been replaced with a vase of flowers, until I discovered that the front desk was now housed in a brand new Lottery funded building at the front of the playing fields.

"Myself and fellow Ambush Artist Ebele Ajogbe were given charge of 13 Year 8 students for the morning. Our aim was to prepare them for the poetry slam, which was held on the following day as part of Stroud Fringe Festival.

"Because performance is key to a slam, our workshop covered not only how to write well, but also how to read a poem to get the most out of it.

"The students were fantastic. They came up with some great poems full of rich imagery, metaphor, emotion and some fascinating revelations about the secret lives of their teachers. I don't know whether teachers really are all aliens bent on taking over the world, but it just about sums up how I felt about them at the age of twelve too."

The slam, which took place on the Stroud Subscription Rooms' forecourt last Saturday was won by Archway student Isabelle Gunn.