Guest blogger for TWAM
Tyne & Wear Archives invited me to be a guest blogger on their website to write and present the Spence Watson Archive Project. You can read the article here.
Hannah Festival: Somehow it Began to Change When we Talked about Mrs Spence Watson
Somehow it Began to Change When we Talked about Mrs Spence includes recordings of poetry created by participants of Stevie Ronnie’s workshop, Voices of Bensham Grove that took place on the 7 April 2014. To celebrate the launch of the Hannah Festival (3-8 June 2014) The Spence Watson Archive Project will preview some of the […]
Hannah Festival: Echoes of Bensham Grove
On the 17th April, Echoes of Bensham Grove took place. Pete Ross, the Scribblers group and some of Progressive Players of the Little Theatre performed and read poetry, plays and spoken word inspired by Bensham Grove as well as a visit to Tyne & Wear Archives to research the Spence Watson collection. Sound artist Nick […]
Women of Bensham Grove
For the workshop Women of Bensham Grove, artist Jane Dudman worked with participants at Bensham Grove took place over two afternoons, 21 and 28th May. Jane concentrated on Elizabeth Spence Watson and the archival material found in a number of archives in the region as well as online. Participants were given audio recorders and camera’s […]
List of Vistors to Bensham Grove
Here is a (incomplete) list of visitors to Bensham Grove at the time of Robert and Elizabeth living in the house. Most of these would be staying at the house when theye were speaking at either the Lit & Phil, the University or for the Liberal Party. Some would have just been invited by Robert […]
Walkabout
Working with artist Ben Jeans Houghton over three days (23-25 April), ten pupils at Kelvin Grove Primary School worked together to help Ben create footage and a soundtrack for a short film. The children painted a jungle scene as a back drop to them being filmed, created masks, walked around Bensham and visited Bensham Grove […]
The Voices of Bensham Grove
Stevie Ronnie’s creative writing workshop working with local people at Bensham Grove on the 7th April. Stevie used archival material about the visitors to the house during the Spence Watson’s time there, a number of letters found in Tyne & Wear Archives and the Robinson Library Special Collection. He also researched the quotes from Elizabeth […]
Two FREE Workshops in Bensham
As part of the Spence Watson project I am organising two free workshops and performances at Bensham Grove Community Centre run by artists Stevie Ronnie and Jane Dudman. These workshops are part of the Arts Council funded digital arts and heritage project, ‘The Spence-Watson Archive’, I am currently undertaking with Tyne & Wear Archive and […]
Lit & Phil
The Lit & Phil has quite a good collection of material related to Robert Spence Watson including books of poetry written by him, tracts of speeches that he presented at the Lit & Phil on a variety of subjects as well as a dissertation about Elizabeth Spence Watson which is very helpful for there is […]
Bensham Grove
A few images of Bensham Grove inside and out. The internal photographs show the house after the restoration, which was achieved through a Heritage Lottery grant to try and bring the house back to its Arts & Crafts history as well as keep and maintain it as a working community centre. Also included are a […]
