Page 17 - link magazine

This is Greendown • 3

Greendown has enjoyed a number of suc-
Performing poets cessful book, writing and poetry events over
the past two years. We were pleased to be
involved with the second Swindon Literature
Festival in May which 'gave' us the services
of a poet for the day - South Yorkshire
performance poet, Ian McMillan. Barnsley-
based Ian has appeared several times on
television and has a regular slot on BBC
Radio 4's 'The Afternoon Shift'. He has pub-
lished a number of collections of his poems.
• English teacher Ms Cristina Bennett se-
lected thirteen students to work with Ian
McMillan for a whole day, writing and pre-
paring poetry to perform at the Link Centre
as part of the festival. The students gave up
their Saturday morning to perform their work Above: Year 7 students with
to varying sizes of audiences, and they had a Swindon Literature Festival
great time! We hope to be be involved in next organiser Matt Holland at
year's Swindon Literature Festival, working their outdoor performance
with years 9 and 10, and our event will start
with a writing weekend. We would like to
thank Matt Holland and the festival organis- Far left: Media poet Ian
ers and look forward to more great times McMillan working with
ahead. year 7s performing poets
Greendown en Francais!

News of Greendown travels across the Channel: our postbox, not to be opened until 2045, has been the subject of a front page
story in "Mon Quotidien ", France's national daily newspaper for ten to fifteen year olds. The postbox,
which featured in an earlier newsletter, is a time capsule, to be
opened in fifty years. The Post Office, through
our Neighbourhood Engineers contacts, chose
us to help them celebrate fifty years of the
Design Council by sealing the designs by Green- au
down pupils in the postbox. The box, which has :Henr Top
'Leconte a
been seen across Britain on Sky Television's —
School of the Week Programme, has now caught
the attention of French children across their
country.
Greendown continues its highly successful mod-
ern language trips to France and Spain. Three
trips, to Clisson (in the Vendee), to Paris and to
Pamplona ran in 1995. Over a third of our students
have been on these working weeks and polished
their written and spoken foreign languages. Dr
Robert Graham, who organised the trips for the
past four years, has moved to become a Head of
Department in an Aylesbury school. We wish him
all the best. The trips will continue, and 1996 will see
further visits to France and Spain. vie en 2M
us VOietla
oMeflt comfl
Matthew Curtis fls We bolte
posing on last
year's trip to
Clisson

CREP