Whitley Bay poetry trail to launch at Fiesta with food, stalls and live music
There are more than 40 venues to spot on the trail throughout the town as well as a special poetry reading event at The Bound bookshop
by Catherine Addison-Swan · ChronicleLiveThe Whitley Bay Poetry Trail 2024 will launch this weekend as it makes its debut at the town's latest Fiesta event.
The Fiesta, which takes place in the grounds of St Paul's Church in the town centre, will as always, be home to food and craft stalls, live music, and free activities for all the family to enjoy when it returns on Sunday, October 6 from 11am until 3pm. This Fiesta is doubly special as it will mark the start of the town's third poetry trail, which is made up of almost 1,000 poems submitted from local schools and groups.
At the last Fiesta in July, people of all ages were invited to contribute to the community display on the theme of 'Salt and Spirit', with workshops held across the local area in a bid to encourage people to bring out their creative side. The resulting poems will be displayed in shop windows and other venues on a trail throughout the town from October 6 until October 13, running from St John's Methodist Church along Park View, past St Paul's Church to the Big Local in Whitley Road, Park Avenue and Station Road.
There will also be displays to be found at Monkseaton Library and For the Love of the North on Spanish City Plaza. As well as using the Poetry Trail map, visitors can follow the trail via 30 knitted mermaids provided by St John's Knit and Natter group situated at various points along the way.
Noreen Rees, one of the organisers of the Whitley Bay Poetry Trail, said: "We are hugely excited by the way the whole community has come together for this event. We began in a small way at the end of the pandemic, and are amazed at the way it has grown."
In addition, this year's event will also be accompanied by a special poetry reading event at The Bound Bookshop on Wednesday, October 9, featuring Northern poets Pauline Plummer, Penny Blackburn, Harry Gallagher and Richard O'Brien, with free tickets available to reserve via the Forum Books TicketSource page.
Here's the full list of venues to check off on this year's Whitley Bay Poetry Trail:
- For The Love Of the North
- St John's Methodist Church
- Escape
- Mitchells
- Skate club
- Hound Dog Music
- Pablo's Pawfectionary
- Jewellers Guild
- Wombat Wisdom
- Miss Persnickety
- Pure Knead
- Just To Say
- Keel Row Books
- Hamiedog
- Anne Thomas Workwear
- Kith And Kin
- Hotpotz
- Madi Bakes
- Just Canny
- Cornflower Blue
- Katie's Craft House
- The Bound
- St Paul's Church
- Rustic Cup
- Max Spielman
- Request A Guest
- Newcastle Building Society
- Mama Roux
- Whitley Bay Library
- Clusters
- No Fret
- Blue Bramble
- Singer Sewing Centre
- Steel And Varley
- Crepere Nathalie
- Baba Yaga's House
- The Ticket Office
- Lynian's Cafe
- The Hub, Whitley Bay Big Local
- Monkseaton Library
- Robinson's Opticians
Join our Things To Do WhatsApp community
Join our Things To Do community for all the latest news What's On news sent direct to your phone.
To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is click on the link and press 'join community'.
No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.
If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.