Writing About Tunbridge Wells
It’s interesting the amount of things that are going on in Tunbridge Wells that you may not be aware
of, and also how one thing can lead to another.
Since writing about author Sarah Grand (published in May Town Crier) I’ve heard from Alison
Sandford MacKenzie, who played Sarah Grand in the 2009 Camden Road play “The Vanishing
Elephant”. Alison says that regarding Sarah’s marriage, elope may not be the right word, as Sarah
married with her Mother’s consent (her Father having died when she was young). Despite reading
reports linking Sarah’s independence to a change in laws regarding divorce, it seems likely that
Sarah left her husband but never divorced. The change in her name from Frances McFall to
Madame Sarah Grand was to distance her writings about the ‘New Woman’ from her husband’s life
as an army surgeon.
I’ve carried on, with Alison’s help, to write about Sarah as part of a larger project with “Tunbridge
Wells Writers”. I first heard about this group, who meet fortnightly in the Black Pig, Grove Hill
Road, last summer. At that time they were starting a project as part of the ELF 2012 (Electric
Lantern Festival) with a group of short stories and poems set around Tunbridge Wells, that have
been recorded on location, and uploaded to YouTube. ELF 2013 is currently in preparation for this
September, where it will be based at Trinity Theatre, and includes part of the Fusion Festival. You
have until Saturday 27th July to enter a film under 7 minutes in length including the theme of
“fusion”, and the chance to win a prize of £1,000, see www.fusiontw.com for all competition
details.
The “Tunbridge Wells Writers” group was set up three years ago in 2010 by Christopher Hall. Chris
wanted to bring together other writers in the local area to share ideas, collate projects and talk about
literature in a social group. The group now has several projects set up this summer: writing about
Tunbridge Wells authors, a video poetry YouTube idea (Lipshtick), live reading evenings at
Javabean café, and joining in with Word Up! in the Forum.
Word Up! has been the brainwave of Daniel Culmer, who worked with Jason Dorman to set up the
evenings in The Forum, after Dan had attended similar events in Brighton. Bringing two established
slam poets from Brighton to Tunbridge Wells to entertain the crowd, there is also a competition for
locals – stand up and read and hope the audience vote for you. Find full details on the Forum
website, with a link to the Word Up! facebook page. The slam competition is open to anyone – so if
you are a songwriter, comedian or an MC, you are welcome to have a go – plus entry is half price
for slammers!
Returning to where we started, the community group who performed “The Vanishing Elephant”
four years ago, are now established as CREATE in Camden Road, and on Friday 26th July they will
be holding their summer concert in St Barnabas Church – an evening of readings and music, on the
theme of London. The choir meet every week, so if you want to join them for a bit of a sing, go
along on a Thursday at 7.15pm to the Church of Christ in Commercial Road.
There are lots of things going on around the town, so join in – whether its film, stories, rhyme or
singing, there’s something to do if you look for it!
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