Episode 9: Dear Wellsbourne/Brighton Rocks by Merrie Joy Williams

“Dear Wellsbourne/ Brighton Rocks”, River Wellesbourne, Merrie Joy Williams Dear Wellsbourne is a series of seven sevenling poems addressed directly to the stream;  interspersed with a short story about local residents, called ‘Brighton Rocks. Mirroring the intermittent pattern of the stream itself, Brighton Rocks explores how two friends deal with the challenges they have faced in the past and how to live the lives they desire. Brighton Rocks explores how two friends deal with the challenges to live the lives they desire.  Inspired by the culverted Wellesbourne stream as a metaphor for their stories and the issues we force underground - but just like the stream, these things rise again, encouraging us to gradually voice and heal them. Credits Written by Merrie Joy Williams Read by Rosanna Lowe and Merrie Joy Williams Recorded by Oliver Cherer Edited by Elliot Lampitt If you have been affected by any of the issues reflected in this story, there is support and helpline information available from the following organisations: Stonewall at Stonewall.org.uk, or The Survivors Trust at thesurvivorstrust.org. With thanks to the following for local knowledge and contacts: Dan Robertson of Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove; James Burt; Dr Matt Pope; Dr Bramwell; Naomi Foyle of Waterloo Press; ONCA and Kin’d & kin’d; Sara Clifford; Rosanna Lowe as well as David Morley and Zoe Brigley-Thompson, whose workshop inspired the sevenling form. Not forgetting other residents of Brighton and Sussex, with a very special thank you to Paul Smith and ‘Becks’, for the privilege of sharing and adapting their stories in ‘Brighton Rocks’. Commissioned and produced by Applause in partnership with the South Downs National Park Authority. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode, there are nine more podcasts for you to enjoy so please subscribe to this series. Merrie Joy Williams Merrie Joy Williams is a poet, novelist and editor. She was shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Poetry Prize, longlisted for the 2020 National Poetry Competition, and is a winner of The Poetry Archive’s ‘Wordview 2020’ competition, permanently featured on their website. She is the recipient of a London Writers Award, and Arts Council England awards for poetry and fiction. Merrie is passionate about collaborations, as well as residencies and commissions, which help keep her writing practice fresh and evolving. She was a poet-in-residence with MMU Special Collections and Manchester Poetry Library, who are currently releasing an illustrated broadside of one of her poems.  Her most recent residency was with Historic England, in partnership with Spread the Word, commissioned to research and write one of their High Street Tales (Woolwich). Merrie has read or discussed her work in various places, including The Southbank Festival, The Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival, and BBC Radio. Poems been published in Poetry Wales, The Interpreter’s House, The Good Journal, and elsewhere. Her debut collection is Open Windows (Waterloo Press, 2019).