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Workshops

Brenda is a highly experienced workshop facilitator who can tailor sessions to suit any group.  She is able to run sessions and events in an online format.

 

Brenda has worked with people aged 1 to 101 (literally!): with prisoners and young offenders; cancer patients and carers; art students and GPs; experienced writers and adult literacy students; children of every key stage, in schools and in writing groups; Gifted and Talented children and underachievers; people referred by medical practitioners because they are living with anxiety, depression, chronic pain and isolation; people with English as their second language; older people in care homes; Black elders; nursery school staff and librarians; teachers and poets and… well, anyone who can hold a pencil, and many who can’t.

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She has run workshops on poetry, short-story writing, rap; philosophy and writing; life writing; writing reviews; songwriting; playwriting; reminiscence; performance. Whatever the group, Brenda sets objectives for each workshop. These vary, of course, but they always include two: that participants will be proud of
what they have achieved, and that participants will have fun.

 

Brenda has enjoyed working on many cross-artform projects, in partnership with musicians, singers, visual artists and designers, storytellers, scientists, an outdoor specialist, a gardener, a drama practitioner, a dance animateur, photographers.

 

She has also spent time mentoring younger and emerging poets.

She has public liability insurance and an enhanced DBS check certificate. If you’d like to book Brenda to run a workshop, with any group of people, here’s the place to Contact.

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Residencies

Often, workshops are not just one-offs, and Brenda has taken up a number of residencies. These include:

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  • Resident poet with a Bristol nursery school as part of the Bristol Education Action Zone project (autumn 2001).

  • Resident poet working in local hospitals, Cheltenham Literature Festival outreach programme, 2002.

  • Writer / animateur for schools’ songs project with the Brodsky String Quartet, autumn 2002 - spring 2003.

  • Creative writing tutor for seniors, Chipping Norton Theatre, 2002-2004.

  • Resident poet in local schools as part of Stroud Diversity Festival, May-June 2003.

  • Creative writing tutor with Smoking Cessation Group, Cirencester, October-November 2003.

  • Writer for NESA JustArt combined arts project, working with young offenders and victims, February - June 2004.

  • Writer with NEMLAC project - creative writing with adults with literacy difficulties, January - September 2004.

  • Writer in Residence, Age Concern Gloucestershire, February - October 2004, working with older people, and culminating in readings at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

  • Poet with Cheltenham Flats project, spring 2005; cross-disciplinary project with a visual artist and a new media artist.

  • Poet in hospitals, Gloucestershire, October 2005 - working with stroke victims, and performing on wards with a saxophonist.

  • Writer in Residence for Age Concern intergenerational project, May - October 2005, working with three age groups, and culminating in a performance at Cheltenham Literature Festival.

  • Writer in Residence for Dorset, October 2005 - June 2006. This included co-ordinating tutors, venues and publicity for six 10-week creative writing courses (one of which I ran myself) and six masterclasses for adults; running 6 full days of creative writing workshops for children; devising and creating a creative writing training pack for teachers.

  • Writer in Residence for older people in association with Ledbury Poetry Festival, 2006-10.

  • Writer in Residence with Oncology Outpatients, Cheltenham Hospital, as part of the Gloucestershire Artlift arts-in-health project, 2007.

  • Writer in Residence with BBC / Booktrust Everybody Writes project; this involved running a writing club for year 6 pupils, and writing notes for a BBC website on running creative writing clubs for children and young people.

  • Writer in Residence with Oncology Inpatients, Cheltenham Hospital, spring 2008.

  • Writer for An Extraordinary Day project, working with eight groups of gifted and talented pupils in Solihull, in association with the Birmingham Book festival; March 2008.

  • Writer for POPPs project, working with older people in a Gloucestershire care home, April-June 2008.

  • Poet in Residence for Wychwood Festival, 2008.

  • Writer in Residence for Apollo project, Cheltenham Hospital Oncology Unit, 2008-present.

  • Writer in Residence, Shrewsbury prison, 2008-2013.

  • Writer in Residence at Watledge GP surgery, Tewkesbury, as part of the Gloucestershire Artlift arts-in-health project, 2009-12 and 2013-14; and Jesmond House surgery, 2012.

  • Writer in Residence at the Churn, Cirencester, as part of the Gloucestershire Artlift arts-in-health project, 2017.

  • Writer in Residence at Cheltenham locations, as part of the Gloucestershire Artlift arts-in-health project, 2017-2019.

  • Writer in Residence at Alton Street GP surgery, Ross-on-Wye, as part of the Ledbury Poetry Festival community programme, 2010-11; spring 2013.

  • Writer in Residence with Age UK, Ross-on-Wye, as part of the Ledbury Poetry Festival community programme, autumn 2010.

  • Poet / practitioner for Hereford Courtyard Making of me project: 8 residencies in care homes, 2014-2107.

  • Writer with chronic pain group, Hereford, for Ledbury Poetry Festval, 2015-present.

  • Writer for Arts and Cancer project, The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, 2016.

  • Writer for Young Carers project, for Ledbury Poetry Festival, 2018.

  • Poet in Residence for John Masefield School, Ledbury, 2016-2018.

  • Online creative writing sessions for Artlift, May 2020 – present.

  • Online creative writing sessions for Creative Shift, 2024.

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