8/14/2019 GIRTYWinter08-09

1/2

THE GIRTY GRAPEVINE

National Year of Reading A Celebration!

On 15th October, some ofthe members of WirralCommunity Shakespearetook part in this celebra-tion by performing The

Washer Woman scenefrom The Winters Tale at

Wallasey Town Hall.

In a packed pro-gramme, South Wirral HighSchool performed WilliamShakespeares All TheWorlds a Stage from AsYou Like It. Hilbre Schoolperformed a scene fromRomeo and Juliet. We allwatched the National Yearof Reading film which

encapsulated some of theexciting reading activitiesthat have been happeningacross the Wirral this year.The film featured some ofour own Get Into Reading

members.

Pupils from variousschools across the Wirralrecited poetry, the highlightof which was LinghamPrimary performing The

Dragon Who Ate OurSchool. The poet LeviTrafari entranced us withhis poems Plastic Fantas-tic and Reach for TheStars. We were be-witched by Lucinda Scottfrom West Kirby Gram-mar School who sangDefying Gravity from

Wicked.

The afternoon sawus take part in a dramaworkshop with theEveryman theatre wherewe acted out various

scenes from Frank CottrellBoyces latest stage play

Proper Clever.

In our secondworkshop we heard FrankCottrell Boyce read fromhis novel Cosmicwhich hadus all in stitches. He

followed with a Question& Answer session which

kept us all totally

enthralled discussing suchtopics as how he startedwriting and where he gets

his inspiration.

A truly wonderfulday and a good time was

had by all.

Every Thursday, GIR

members take a trip toAsylum Link in Liverpool to join in their reading group.We first went along to geta feel for the group andtheir needs. Now we assistthe facilitators in providingone to-one reading help to

improve their literacy skills.

We join in theirreading group and it is sothrilling to see how much

effort they put in to readingout loud and more to thepoint, how much joy they

get out of reading. It is

always extremely movingand often very humbling.Its hard to imagine suchenthusiasm for the English

language.

One of our GIRvolunteers has really got into the whole process. Sheloves every minute of it andshe now acts with confi-dence the like of which wehave never seen in her

before. It has been a realrevelation and again,another moving moment.

We always enjoy

the subject matter. It var-ies from childrens storiesto poetry. It is alwaysexciting and we wait ineager anticipation to see

what is coming next.

If you would liketo make any donations ofclothes, toys or toiletriesto Asylum Link bringthem to The LauriesCommunity Centre and

we can pass them on.They do an amazing job

with so little.

CALL FOR

NEW

MEMBERSTuesdays

The Book at Break-

fast, Leasowe

Library, 10.30 am

Noon

Feel Better with a

Book 2, Wallasey

Central Library,

2pm-3.30pm

Thursdays

The Book at

Breakfast, Rock

Ferry Library,

10am-11.30am

Asylum Link: One-to-One Reading Sessions

GetIntoReadin

gToday

Winter,2008/09

Volume1,Issue1

WelcomeThe Girty Grapevinehas been revamped,welcome to the firstissue in its new lease of

life.

This is the newsletterfor Get Into Reading

group members: wellbe letting you knowwhats going on in

other groups, as well asgiving you the chanceto tell us about your

own.

Whats your groupreading at the moment?Have you been on atrip together? Werealso looking for readingrecommendations, so ifyouve read a book

that youre bursting totell others about, drop

us a line.

8/14/2019 GIRTYWinter08-09

2/2

On 20th October, the BBC came to

visit us at The Lauries! The BBC are

currently making a documentary about

why reading matters, to be screened

early 09. Get Into Reading seemed to

be the ideal place for them to start. It

was a long and intense day but it was

certainly worth it.

The day began with a group

reading session, in which Kate

McDonnell introduced a thought

provoking passage from Wuthering

Heights (the one where Cathy passion-

ately exclaims I am Heathcliff!) We

overcame our initial nerves and

became involved in an enthusiastic

discussion about what it meant to love

another person.

In the afternoon, GIR group

members volunteered themselves for

one-to-one interviews, speaking about

their own personal experiences of GIR

and how the project had not only

helped to develop a love of literature,

but had also provided them with long

lasting friendships and a real sense of

community. Its fantastic, said one

GIR member Weve got

to know each other in

ways which would never

have been possible with

out the reading group.

Clare Williams

A few Saturdays ago, a total of fifty sixadult GIR members, plus young peo-ple from Sams Looked-After Chil-drens Project, visited the LiverpoolPlayhouse to see Frank CottrellBoyces first ever stage play Proper

Clever.

We all met in the upstairsbar and it was great to see the groupsall mixed up together, swapping GIR

experiences and getting to know eachother. For some, it was their first visitto the Playhouse and the play got athoughtful thumbs up from most peo-ple and also produced quite a few

laughs.

There was some surprisethat two of the schoolgirl characterssuddenly turned into Aphrodite andAthene just before the end(!), but

many found it thought-provoking anddefinitely a good way to spend Satur-

day afternoon. Kate McDonnell

St. James Library GIR Group iscurrently reading Being Dead by Jim

Crace.

Thirty years have passedsince Joseph and Celice metas zoology students on a fieldtrip to Baritone Bay. Joseph,keen to find the site in thedunes of their first lovemak-

ing, leads Celice on a nostal-gic return visit to the Bay, butthe couple are murdered by apassing thief. In the momentof death, Joseph lays his handlightly on Celices leg. Undis-covered for days, the bodies become

prey to sand-crabs, flies and gulls.

Being Dead is a quivering

an attempt to relive, through storiesand recollection, the lives of Joseph and Celice before con-signing them completely todeath. The novels structure isfourfold. One strand movesbackwards from the point of the

murder to describe the eventsthat immediately led up to it. Asecond strand recounts howthe beginnings of Joseph andCelices love for each other was

clouded by a fire that took the life of afellow-student. The third strand de-scribes in tiny detail the effect of theelements and the processes of decay on

their undiscovered bodies. The finalstrand follows the efforts of Josephand Celices daughter Syl to find hermissing parents. When they are finallydiscovered, Josephs hand resting gen-tly on Celices leg gives the otherwise

gruesome scene a tender aspect.

The prose is highly chargedand a joy to read and has provokedsome very lively discussions on lifeand death within the group, as well aswhat defines mortality and the soul.I strongly recommend it, but it does

have some tough subject matter.

Alison Walters

What are you reading?Being Deadby Jim Crace

BBC Four comes to film Get Into Reading

What ought to be grisly is strangely not. Reverent, if anythingRichard Eder, The New York Times

THE GIRTYGRAPEVINE

If there is anything you want to submit for the next newsletter please contact:

Kate McDonnell on tel: 07973 247707 or email: kate.mcdonnell@thereader.org.uk, orAlison Walters on tel: 0151 794 2830 or email: alisonwalters@thereader.org.uk.

GIR Trip to see Proper Cleverby Frank Cottrell Boyce