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News & Notes Spring Edition
The Spring Edition of Poems in the Waiting Room was mailed to some 790 NHS units throughout Britain. The circulation totalled some 18,000 poetry cards. The edition included Fleur Adcock's splendid poem Things, which was suggested by a reader in Devon. The print run included special editions for The Friends of Kingston Hospital and the Cambridge based charity Art and Minds, reflecting a developing aspect of PitWR to produce sponsored promotions for local charities.The edition announced the launch of Friends of Poems in the Waiting Room. The trustees of PitWR feel that independent funding is essential for the well-being and the development of the arts in health charity. PitWR will use new funds to restore the mailing list. PitWR serves some 780 NHS waiting rooms, but has a waiting list of about the same number, which were once supplied but cut back due to funding problems. PitWR also plan to increase the number of editions each year from four to six to give poets contributing an uniquely extensive show case and NHS patients a boost while waiting to see their doctor. Each of PitWR Friends will be mailed copy of each poetry card when it is published so that patients need not feel ill in order to keep up with our popular series. Friends will also be invited to sponsor a particular NHS unit. There shall also be a quarterly Friends Newsletter and plan a range of further benefits. Friends will also send an elegant pen endorsed with Poems in the Waiting Room - Arts in Health. There is no fixed subscription for Friends of Poems in the Waiting Room, but only a suggested range. PitWR is popular across the whole range of social diversity, and welcomed in the concrete jungle as much as in the leafy suburbs. It is hoped that the Friends will reflect this social mix. Some poems are long and some are short, but all are important. It is the same with donations: the suggested range is Epic (One hundred pounds or more): Ode (Seventy-five pounds): Ballad (Fifty pounds); Sestina (Twenty-five pounds): Sonnet (Fifteen pounds)! The Collected Edition 1998 - 2006 published in early November 2006, has proved popular with NHS staff and patients. Sales have been strong. The volume covers the poems published from autumn 1998 to winter 2006; over 250 poems in a suitable format. It can be obtained by direct mail (Poems in the Waiting Room PO Box 488 Richmond TW9 4SW Price 12.50pounds inc. p&p). Proceeds will help support the charity.PitWR Executive Committee Meeting The PitWR Executive Committee met on Friday 25 April 2008 in the St James's Room of the Royal Automobile Club London SW1, starting at 18.00 The trustees noted that the Trust's formal Report and Accounts 2007 have been submitted to the Charity Commission and to Companies House. Friends of Poems in the Waiting Room Cynthia Roberts reported on the launch of the Friends of Poems in the Waiting Room. The scheme, promoted in the spring edition, has been widely welcome and has established a valuable series of contacts. After the first month or so, donations to the Friends have added a sum equal to about one sixth to the Trust's level of income for last year. Generally, it was envisaged that recruitment will build up steadily with the scheme promoted with each edition over the next year or so. The Friends Newsletter too was well received and plans discussed for items in future issues. Grant by The Tanner Trust The receipt of a grant from a new sponsor, The Tanner Trust was reported as well as a further grant form the Emerton Christie Charitable Trust for 2008. These grants supplemented by the core support from The Beatrice Trust, plus increased in donations through the Friends scheme has placed PitWR in a strong financial position for the year. In keeping with the Trust's strategic aim of restoring the 1500 mailing list, once served in 2005, it was agreed to raise the distribution for the summer edition to some one thousand NHS waiting rooms, with a print run of some 22,500 poetry cards. Thereafter, further increase in distribution and circulation are proposed for subsequent editions. It may well be possible to restore full service to the original mailing list by the end of the year. House of Lords Debate - Arts and Health The Executive Committee greeted with approval the debate in the House of Lords on 6 March 2008 , when Lord Howarth of Newport (Minister for the Arts 1998 - 2001) asked Her Majesty's Government how they intend to develop their policies to link the arts with healthcare. Introducing the debate, he said: 'There is much to celebrate in the contribution of the arts to healthcare across the country. Bibliotherapy groups on Merseyside are enabling literature to alleviate pain and mental distress for people with Alzheimer's, motor neurone disease and mental health problems. Poems in the Waiting Room is the most widely read poetry publication in the United Kingdom...' Concluding, he added 'We also need to know whether the DCMS and Arts Council England are still committed to the strategy set out last year in The Arts, Health and Well-being, which was billed as the first formal national strategy for arts and health. ACE declared two overarching aims: ''to integrate the arts into mainstream health strategy'', and,''to increase ... resources for arts and health initiatives'' ''Has ACE allocated funds for that? Can we look forward to a renewal of that commitment by Andy Burnham in his new incarnation as Secretary of State for Culture?'' The Executive Committee confirmed their support for his initiative. The full debate can be read on the Manchester Metropolitan University Arts for Health web site Contacts and Liaison Contacts about PitWR were noted, including a talk to the Rotary Club of Kew Gardens. The launch of the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition was noted, which ''allows anyone who enters the opportunity to discover their own potential. Whether you are an established poet or someone new to writing, winning often provides the essential spur to take your writing further. It is also an exciting opportunity to have your poems read by three of today's leading poets, booster the coffers with £5000 prize money, appear at the Ledbury Poetry Festival 2009, add your name to long prestigious list of past winners, free annual membership of the Poetry Society and - if all that wasn't enough - an annual subsription for Aesthetica Magazine, the new media partner for the competition. The National Poetry Competition'' The Executive Committee noted progress with its joint visual arts and poetry schemes. The National Needlework Archive had received strong support for the second tranche of its Poetry in Stitches project. Some eighty art textile pieces inspired by PitWR have been entered for judgement in June. The new exhibits of the art textile pieces will be subject to a formal exhibition, and then added to the current exhibits available to NHS hospitals throughout Britain. Selections from the first tranche of the project are currently on show at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, in Kingston Hospital, and in Colchester General Hospital. The joint project with the Royal Academy of Arts Schools Alumni has attracted some thirty art works. An exhibition is planned for late autumn. Thereafter, the exhibition too is to be offered for show in hospitals and similar institutions. PitWR is preparing a Note on Poetry and Health. Any information on poetry as arts in health in the NHS would be welcome. Prize Draw As a token of appreciation to poets making submissions, each quarter a draw is held with the prize of a copy of PitWR Collected Edition The winner of the autumn 2007 draw was the Poet Jackie Hinden of Brighton Next Meeting The next Executive Committee meeting of PitWR is scheduled for Friday 18 July 2008 to be held in the St James's Room RAC Pall Mall London SW1, starting at 18.00. House of Commons Health Committee - NICE Submission by the Editor to the House of Commons Health Select Committee on the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), which mentions PitWR, has been published as a Committee paper and on line as part of the Committee's written evidenceDonations An appeal has been introduced for donations to support PitWR. Any measure of support is welcome. Postal donations as gift aid may be mailed to Poems in the Waiting Room POBox 488 RICHMOND TW9 4SW. On line donations, also as gift aid, may be made by clicking Charity Choice Type Poems in the Waiting Room in the Charity Name box: then click Search. On the Poems in the Waiting Room page, click DONATE NOW and follow on-screen instructions. Wendy Webb Books Wendy Webb Books, a small but prolific poetry press has dedicated One Pound of the proceeds from sales of their recent publication One Flew Over the Hospital Bed - The Naked Poet of East Anglia (Wendy Webb Books 9 Walnut Close NORWICH NR8 6YN Price £2.00) to the support of Poems in the Waiting Room. For more information about Wendy Webb books contact ww@webbw.freeserve.co.uk Poetry in Stitches Poetry in Stitches the joint venture, launched in 2004 with the National Needlework Archive (NNA), has proved exceptionally successful. Over one hundred textile art pieces were submitted mostly illustrating poems in PitWR. The main public exhibition was held in January 2006 at Menier Gallery Southwark Street London, through courtesy of Paintings in Hospitals. Well over six hundred attended the show. The works were exhibited at specialist textile shows: in the last months of 2006. The exhibition is now under offer to various NHS Hospitals. Currently, a selection of the textile art pieces and their poems, framed to suit a hospital environment are on show in The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, in the Day Surgery waiting room at Kingston Hospital, and in Colchester Genral Hospital. A full colour illustrated catalogue is available £14.99 plus £2.00 p&p - from NNA 5 Boldrewood Road SOUTHAMPTON S016 7BW The National Needlework Archive has repeated the project during 2007/08 in light of a high demand from NNA supporters, and has received great support for the second tranche of its Poetry in Stitches project. Some eighty art textile pieces inspired by PitWR have been entered for judgement in June. The new exhibits of the art textile pieces will be subject to a formal exhibition, and then added to the current exhibits available to NHS hospitals throughout Britain. Portrait of a Poem PitWR is extending its activity in poetry and the visual arts following on the successful Poetry in Stitches scheme and exhibition last year with the National Needlework Archive. PitWR has recently set up a joint project with The Royal Academy of Arts Schools Alumni (The Reynolds Club): their members are invited to prepare an art work which illustrates a poem published in Poems in the Waiting Room. Provisionally, the timetable envisages completion and an exhibition in late 2008. Thereafter, the art pieces and the poems will be offered for show in hospitals completing the cycle of arts in health.
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| pitwr@blueyonder.co.uk | 10-05-2008 |