In recent weeks, I have become increasingly obsessed about how I am managing …
Writing
Words for Mary
It has been just over a year since our family said goodbye to …
Sward {skin of the earth}
My new chapbook, Sward {skin of the earth}, published by Sampson Low Ltd, is available for purchase here Sward + post and packing UK £3.50 GBP EU £4.50 GBP Rest of the world £5.00 GBP Sward represents my walks up and down the central reservation of the A240, Kingston Road, from the Tolworth Roundabout to … Continue reading Sward {skin of the earth} →
Cambridge Road Estate Tree Poems
Below are two of the poems I wrote specially for and read on Alison Fure’s Walk with Jane Soundwalk with the Museum of Walking back in September. There is another soundwalk taking place on Saturday 19th October from 10.30am. It is FREE but please book via the Walk with Jane website. See Alison’s blog for … Continue reading Cambridge Road Estate Tree Poems →
Walk with Jane on the Cambridge Estate
Alison Fure is leading a Soundwalk as part of her Walks with Jane project, in conjunction with The Museum of Walking, through the Cambridge Estate in Kingston Upon Thames, this Saturday evening, 7th September, 2019. From the Museum of Walking website event page: This … Continue reading Walk with Jane on the Cambridge Estate →
Sward
Meaning “sod, turf” developed from the notion of the “skin” of the earth (compare Old Norse grassvörðr, Danish grønsvær “greensward”). Walking the central reservation of the A240 Kingston Road, from Tolworth Roundabout to the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames boundary with the Borough of Epsom and Ewell. The project is called ‘Sward’ after reading … Continue reading Sward →
Hogsmill Tiddlers
At the wooden bridge, beside the washing-willow, under frayed dare-devil rope-swing, we small-fry gather; splash-paddle in the sun-filled slipstream, our expectant jam jars perched ready on banks for contents of day-glo nets on bamboo poles, skim-dunked, dipped into laughing sparkle, we seek out elusive piscine lurkers, shoal-darters, minnow-school pretty-carpers, spike-backed silver-bellied sticklebacks, shimmer and shift … Continue reading Hogsmill Tiddlers →
Votes For Women! Annie Kenney and the 26 Armistice Project
Last year I was lucky enough to be part of a wonderful project by 26 and the Imperial War Museum: Armistice 100 Days. This ambitious project involved 100 writers each writing a centena – a specially created form of writing for the project – about someone who was alive during the First World War. Each … Continue reading Votes For Women! Annie Kenney and the 26 Armistice Project →
Made of Walking V, Prespes | Conference paper
Borderlands: Disruptions between remote map-making and local readings of place Dr Tracey Benson, …
Austerlitz & Beyond
John Payne in W.G Sebald’s Footsteps…. There is no doubt in my mind that Austerlitz Station in Paris is the key to this rather enigmatic novel which draws a personal and emotional and rather misleading map of Europe, said John, misleading in that the novel appears to be meandering nowhere and the story and […]
The Trouble with Maps…
‘A map can tell me how to find a place I have not seen, but have often imagined. When I get there, following the map faithfully, the place is not the place of my imagination. Maps, growing ever more real, are much less true.’ Jeanette Winterson, Sexing the Cherry A map constitutes relationships and connections, […]
The Moon Over Tolworth
In the mundane modern semi-detached suburbs slippers, gravel, teatime tables GCSE revision the Moon guides me home welcomes me to this season with its golden corona moonflower harvest sky The Moon ~O~ I speed down the A3 toward Tolworth Tower follow the curve of the road there it is again on the right … Continue reading The Moon Over Tolworth →
Ancient Droves and the Tolworth Area Plan
“The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge, about the new-mown mead; That is the Grasshopper’s.” On the Grasshopper and Cricket, John Keats In the midst of the summer heatwave and haze, we … Continue reading Ancient Droves and the Tolworth Area Plan →
Museum of the personal: object relationships, memory and desire
Dr Tracey M Benson, April 2018 *Edited from article commissioned by Institute of Art and Ideas (www.iai.tv) You are at the Eiffel Tower and want to get that perfect picture, a selfie with the tower in the background, just like the ones you see in the travel guides. But there is a problem. You find it […]
Walk the Ancient Droves of Tolworth Court Farm, Sunday 12th August
The latest in our series of Tolworth Treasure and the Hogsmill Hum walks is a walk across Tolworth Court Farm Fields, our local nature reserve. We will meet at the white bridge over the Hogsmill / Bonesgate Stream at 11am and take you on a journey through the ancient fields of Tolworth Court Farm, which … Continue reading Walk the Ancient Droves of Tolworth Court Farm, Sunday 12th August →
Made of Walking : walking in silence
Yesterday started with a silent walking workshop with Ienke Kastelein. Although the workshop started at 8am it was already very hot. Our small group ventured up the hill in silence, meeting under the shade of a tree so Ienke could guide us to the next part of the workshop. We were asked to see want […]
Walking in Richard Jefferies’ Footsteps, Monday May 7th 2018
Outside Richard Jefferies’ House, Ewell Road “Jefferies left school at fifteen and at first continued his habits of solitary wanderings about the local countryside. He dressed carelessly and allowed his hair to grow down to his collar. This, with his “bent form and long, rapid stride made him an object of wonder in the … Continue reading Walking in Richard Jefferies’ Footsteps, Monday May 7th 2018 →
Court Farm Writers
Court Farm Writers is a new writing group, and it starts tomorrow, Wednesday 16th May! Each week, you will be able to try different styles and forms of writing in a relaxed, friendly and supportive workshop. Meeting in the comfortable surroundings of Court Farm Garden Centre Cafe, we will talk about writing and look at … Continue reading Court Farm Writers →
In the footsteps of Richard Jefferies – Part One
Did you know that one of our most cherished and important nature writers lived in Tolworth? Richard Jefferies (1848-1887) was born in Coate in Wiltshire, but moved to live in Tolworth, at 296 Ewell Road, from 1877 – 1882. During this time he wrote what is acknowledged to be his finest writing, some of which … Continue reading In the footsteps of Richard Jefferies – Part One →
The Memory Tree and a Sunday Stroll to the Moated Manor
The Tolworth Memory Tree has taken root at the Court Farm Cafe – Alison Fure has created a tree, and it even has mistletoe! The tree is starting to bloom and sprout memories of Tolworth. We would like it to blossom with as many memories from as many people as possible. The tree will still … Continue reading The Memory Tree and a Sunday Stroll to the Moated Manor →