Vernon Scannell 1922 - 2007: A Commemoration. Aylesbury, Bucks., Sat. 25 October 2008
September 22, 2008
Queens Park Arts Centre, Aylesbury, would like to invite you to commemorate the life and work of one of the finest poets of the Second World War, Vernon Scannell (1922-2007), who grew up in Aylesbury and attended Queens Park School, now Queens Park Arts Centre.
Aylesbury had no more eminent cultural figure in the post-war period than Scannell. Despite this, he was almost totally unknown there at the time of his death, except by elderly contemporaries who remembered him as a former professional boxer who had become a poet. He also wrote four volumes of autobiography, one of which, Drums of Morning, published by Jeremy Robson in 1992, contains the best-ever evocation of Aylesbury in the Thirties and a superb evocation of Queens Park School.
This is the first time that Queens Park Arts Centre has staged such an important civic and national-level event. It is to take place near the first anniversary of Scannell’s death.
Two events will take place on Saturday 25 October 2008 (please click here to view or download posters in PDF format for both events):
Celebrating Vernon Scannell in Poetry and Prose – 2pm – 4pm
Noted anthologist Anne Harvey, who organised the commemoration of Scannell’s life and work by nationally-known fellow poets at the National Portrait Gallery in London last May and was a personal friend and colleague of Scannell, who died last November 2007, will be speaking. Her talk will include readings from Drums of Morning. It will be the first time that parishioners of Aylesbury have been given a public reading of this, their own history.
The unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Scannell , who attended Queens Park School between 1932 and 1936, by the Mayor of Aylesbury, Councillor Penni Thorne, will follow the talk.
Admission £3 / Concessions £2
Poetry and Jazz Evening with the Michael Garrick Trio – 8pm
Nationally respected jazz musician and 2005 BBC Jazz Awards nominee, Michael Garrick, who performed with Scannell in Jazz and Poetry events across Britain in the 60s and 70s, and performed recently in very popular concerts in Wendover and Berkhamstead, will visit the Limelight. Performances by the the Michael Garrick Jazz Trio will be interspersed with readings of Scannell’s poems by poets including the nationally-known publisher, Jeremy Robson, who organised the Jazz and Poetry events and who was Vernon Scannell’s principal publisher.
Tickets: £10 / £8 Concessions
To book tickets or for more information:
Tel: 01296 431272 / 424332
To book tickets for the evening online, visit www.qpc.org