“Poor Polly’s dying struck him queer,
He was a darkened man thereafter,
Cowed silent, he would wince at laughter
And be so gentle it was strange
Even to see. Life loves to change.”
    Reynard the Fox – John Masefield

The Rural Media Company are creating a major new project with Ledbury Poetry Festival, supported by Arts Council England.

Taking inspiration from John Masefield’s Reynard the Fox Life Loves to Change will be a brand new poem and series of films and photographs that depict life in Ledbury and the changing culture and identity of the town, and the surrounding area, in the 21st century.

The project will not only create a new narrative poem about the town and its people but also digital films and photographs to visually interpret this new picture of Ledbury. The project will also be supported by its own website and offer creative opportunities for people of all ages to take part.

The project has its own dedicated website which can be found at www.lifelovestochange.org

January saw the completion of the Life Loves to Change poem. Beautifully crafted by Philip  Wells, the 32 verses capture the people and places that Philip encountered over the last 4 months whilst visiting Ledbury.

Chloe Garner, Director of Ledbury Poetry Festival, said, “I think it is a fabulous achievement. I have read it twice through and I think it is one to read again and again. It is full of richness, but at the same time down to earth and affectionate. I think it genuinely captures something about the town and holds a mirror up to different sides of the town, a sense of the place, alongside the different characters. I think it chimes with Masefield’s poem, but you can hear Philip’s voice and has a combination of some gritty detail, with something romantic and uplifting”

The final poem, films and photographs will be exhibited as part of the 2013 Ledbury Poetry Festvial.  In order to create the poem, films and photographs we need to find stories about Ledbury and its residents. We are interested in meeting groups and individuals from right across the town to give us their thoughts on Ledbury; its past, present and its future.  We will also be holding filmmaking and digital photography  

Similar Projects

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We’re keeping the poem under wraps for now, until the launch at the Poetry Festival in July. Over the next few weeks we are busying ourselves capturing the voices of the people mentioned in the poem and recording their readings and creating ideas for the films that will eventually accompany the verses.

Perhaps one of the biggest local announcements of the past few weeks is the re-staging of the 1953 Roast Ox in the High Street. We’re happy to have played a very small part in inspiring Norman Stanier and his team when we screened the original Roast Ox film at Burgage Hall back in November.  

The final poem, films and photographs will be exhibited as part of the 2013 Ledbury Poetry Festvial. 

For more information contact Adrian on adrianl@ruralmedia.co.uk