Poetry Writing Workshop – Exploring Croydon Stories of ‘My Local’

No writing or pub experience required.

Write poems in response to the idea of ‘my local’. Often referring to a pub, we will explore there and beyond, looking at the places we claim as our own, and what makes them ours. These poems/stories may be recorded and included in ‘(Pub)lic House’, a verbatim-poetry film.

ABOUT ‘(Pub)lic House’:

A verbatim-poetry film looking at the past, present and future of empty pubs in Croydon.

Pubs across Croydon have been boarded up, abandoned and left to be empty. Phoebe remember’s growing up in them. Roger (her Dad) remembers playing music in them since the early 90s. Together they go on a pub crawl across Croydon asking 3 questions: “What happened in these pubs, what are they now and what could they become?” Compiled through interviews and workshops, see their exploration of the music, stories and sounds that populate(d) these pubs.

This film will premiere at a screening and manifesto workshop on the 25th Nov 2023 (time TBC). With beer and chats after, we’ll create a manifesto zine to establish our hopes for our local to hold the council accountable. This will be sent to council members, landlords and key influencers in the legacy of these buildings, with hopes to make them (pub)lic houses again.

ABOUT PHOEBE AND ROGER WAGNER:

Father & Daughter. Musician & Poet. Art & Pubs.

Roger Wagner is Phoebe’s Dad: now retired, living in Croydon, but originally from Yorkshire and settled in South London in 1971. He practised as a Secondary/College teacher of History, Economics, Business and Music (1975-2019). He hosts jam sessions in local pubs around Croydon. Since 2017 he has been secretary of the ‘SaveTheGlam’ Croydon campaign to protect public house ‘The Glamorgan’ from an opportunist developer.

Phoebe Wagner is Roger’s Daughter: a poet and community artist who grew up in Thornton Heath, Croydon. Nominated for the Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship, her work often happens chatting with people. A Barbican Young Poet and Visual Artist, her work includes an audio installation ‘Cleaning in Progress’, archiving audio and text made with local cleaners (‘Repair Redux’ by Repair Collective at Hypha Studios Stratford, March – June 2023). She also runs Crep Project an arts collective that explores creps (aka trainers/shoes) with working class people, which worked with Art Press, The BRIT School and Croydon College in 2021.