Review: Words and Music

Falkirk Writers Circle

Words and Music

Falkirk Town Hall Studio

13^th of May 2014

One of the best things about poetry and prose in Falkirk is that it's mostly self motivated, events pop up in the area because groups of writers are in love with; jotting down stories and poems, creating a literary scene and the diverse talent in the District that they decide to put it out there.

For 25 years Falkirk Writers Circle have been providing spoken word events throughout Falkirk to great acclaim, this year with the help of the Glasgow based bluegrass quartet The Daddy Naggins they took over Falkirk Town Hall Studio to celebrate Words and Music.

Opening the event with their own brand of Scottish and Irish folk songs Daddy Naggins warmed the audience into a good mood with their foot tapping bluegrass renditions of well known and original folk songs. The Writers Circle were more than a match for the jangly banjo rifts as they presented an evening of well written and perfectly dictated poems and short stories, magically weaved together by the welcoming hosting skills of the groups' chairman Colin McNeil. On show was a broad range of poetry styles and subjects ranging from growing up in Stenhousemuir to Memento Mori. As well as hearing the work of the group's more established and acclaimed writers the event provided a platform for the circle's new talent to take centre stage, a highlight was the emotional poems of Ian Todd, as he eloquently described his unforgettable experience of serving in the armed forces.

The set up was simple, the group stick to the same routine each year and why not as it is effective, inviting and proven to work every time in delivering a professional and well presented spoken word event. Words and Music acts more of a yearly celebration of the group than a gig as the audience is mostly made of the group's members, this is evident by the lack of hand out material providing links to websites, social media or even an email address, as a result there is no way to follow up on the work of the group for first time visitors. As the group boasts a large membership it can afford to fill the Town Hall Studio and provide enough speakers that each act only has three minutes, ensuring Words and Music was fresh and engaging from start to finish.

As a whole the works of poetry and fiction presented by the Falkirk Writers Circle were extremely entertaining, well read, rich in detail and in places sensitive and surprising imagery was created. Resulting in a friendly, wide ranging and high quality spoken word event held in the centre of Falkirk, created for the love of it.  

Review by

Craig Allan for [Untitled]