Author: Seamus
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The Raven – creative writing workshop, and Poetry Café
Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Rochdale On the day before Halloween it feels appropriate to look at the Raven. We will look at the classic, dark, poem by Edgar Allen Poe and plenty of other historical and mythological references to the raven, the largest and cleverest of the corvids. There will be plenty of…
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The Red Dress
Thursday 23rd October, 2025, 10am to 12noon Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside This week Maggie Kelly will lead a workshop based on “The Red Dress” a 14 year creative project by British artist Kirstie Macleod. The red dress itself has been embroidered by 380 people in 51 countries and is a stunning, and record…
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Ghosties and ghoulies and things that write poems in the night
Thursday 16th October, 10am – 12noon Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside, Rochdale As we head towards Halloween at the end of this month the spiders webs, skeletons, ghosts, vampires, pumpkins and plastic gravestones are popping up in front gardens around the country. In keeping with that the Riverside Writers are being treated to a…
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Sammy Weaver Workshops
This is short notice but Sammy Weaver is delivering a poetry workshop on Monday afternoon, 13 October 2.00pm to 4.00pm at Hare Hill House, Littleborough and there are still some places left.. If you’d like to attend you will need to book, free of charge, by emailing Nick at Hare Hill House on admin@moorendtrust.org Sammy will…
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Poetry Café and Riverside Writers Workshop
Poetry Café, Coffee on the Corner, Littleborough Tuesday 7th October, 6pm to 8pm Come along and share your poetry, read a favourite piece or enjoy listening to those performing, in the cosy café with lovely homemade cakes, excellent hot drinks and available since last month a glass of wine. If you wish to read please…
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Play – Thursday 2nd October
This Thursday is National Poetry Day and the theme this year is “Play”. In a workshop from Seamus Kelly with Ray Stearn we will look into play – there are lots of possibilities (and we don’t have to stick to poems) – broad games, from snakes and ladders to family strife around Monopoly, card games…
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Lancashire Themed Workshop – 25th Sept 2025
10am – 12noon – Rochdale Central Library, Number One Riverside This week the Riverside Writers session will be looking at the county of Lancashire along with its people and traditions Seamus Kelly will be leading a workshop with lots of opportunities for discussion and writing. As always anyone aged 18+ is welcome to join the…
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Take a Break! – Creative Writing Workshop
Thursday 18th Sept – 10am to 12noon – Number One Riverside This week Ray Stearn will be delivering a writing workshop, titled “Take a Break!” in Rochdale Central Library. With Eileen Earnshaw currently incapacitated Ray will be taking the helm this week and you can expect a mix of humour, deadly puns and opportunities to…
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Introducing Poetic Form (and function) – Thurs 11th September
ROCHDALE CENTRAL LIBRARY – 10am-12noon At Riverside Writers this week Seamus Kelly will lead a workshop introducing some of the ways in which poets can structure their work. It might sometimes seem that Free Verse has no structure at all and other forms like Sonnets, Odes or Villanelles seem to be overloaded with “rules”. Of…
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When September Comes
Riverside Writers Schools reopen and following a great visit to Chetham’s Library yesterday the Riverside Writers return to our weekly creative writing session in Rochdale Central Library every Thursday morning from 10am to 12noon. On Thursday 4th September Seamus Kelly will be running a workshop entitled “Fantastical” where we will be taking inspiration from a…
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Chethams Library Visit
Next Thursday – 28th August 2025 Instead of meeting in the library the Riverside Writers are heading to Manchester for a tour of the famous Chethams Library. On the tour we can learn about the history of the library and explore some of the rooms and view the collections. This is absolutely stunning library based…
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Planning for September
Whilst Riverside Writers are having a little break from workshops during August we are still meeting on Thursday mornings to discuss, read, writer and share our creative writing. In September we will resume our weekly workshops and there are also new opportunities coming up: The Poetry Café events will resume at Coffee on the Corner…
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Poetry Karaoke
Rochdale Central Library – Thurs 31st July – 10am – 12noon This week the Riverside Writers will have our last session before a break from our regular workshops through August. We will recommence regular workshops from the first Thursday of September. However anyone who wishes to do so is welcome to meet up in the…
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Charity, Fortitude & Hope
Thursday 17th July, 10am to 12noon, Rochdale Central Library This week the Riverside Writers session will include a workshop titled “Charity, Fortitude & Hope” from Ray Stearn. Although Ray is not divulging too much ahead of the session we do know that the words are the motto of the RNLI, and that Ray is a…