The Poetry of Friendship

The Farnham Poetry Competition is returning, run once more by the parish as part of the Farnham Literary Festival which runs this year between March 1 and 10.

This year, the theme is friendship and adults and children alike are invited to write a poem on friendship: what it means to us, who our friends are, why we like them, why friends are important, anything to do with friendship.

There is a children’s competition, open to under-16s, and an adult one and all poems should be sent by email to poetry@badshotleaandhale.org or by post to Farnham Poetry Competition, St Mark’s Church, Alma Lane, Farnham, GU9 0LT, to arrive by 5pm on Friday, February 23.

The children’s poetry competition is being judged by poet Coral Rumble and the adult one by poet Linda Daruvala.  The competition is free to enter and there will be prizes for the first prize-winners and runners-up in both categories. The winners will be announced at the poetry final evening on Saturday, March 9, at St Mark’s Church at 5pm, when there will also be an open mic for anyone to share their poetry, and the two judges will also perform their work.

Stella Wiseman, who is leading the organisation of the competition, said: “We are so pleased to be running the competition again. There is a huge amount of talent out there exhibited by people of all ages and backgrounds and I am really looking forward to this year’s entries and to see what people make of the theme of friendship. We chose it because friendship is vital to our wellbeing. Humans are social beings and we need each other. I think this is something that lockdown emphasised for us all and we are still living with the effects of those months. So let’s celebrate friendship this year!

“We are delighted to have our old friend Coral Rumble back again to judge the under-16s entries and to welcome Linda Daruvala to judge the adults. They will both be performing at the poetry awards evening on March 9 at St Mark’s and are well worth seeing live.”