In the Spring of 2008 GWL ran a programme of events in partnership with the Workers Educational Association on the Bicentennial Anniversary of the Abolition of Transatlantic Slave Trade. I had been planning the programme when I came across an article written by Jackie Kay for the Guardian newspaper in March 2007, in which she mentions a recording of her play ‘The Lamplighter’ done for BBC Radio 3. This sparked an idea to have a listening event, and so the ball started rolling. I contacted Jackie to ask if she would be willing for us to use the recording of the play and the article she had written for this event. Jackie was more than willing and cleared it with the BBC, then sent us her own copy to use. When thanking her for all her support and assistance I suggested that when the play had its official release in September 2008, GWL would be happy to put on a launch night – the ball is picking up pace now! Jackie loved the idea, suggested getting her friend Suzanne Bonnar involved and we decided to run a night in September.
Fast forward six months and we are now on the morning of Thursday 25 September 2008. The planning for the event has been crazy, demand has been so great that we have had to change our usual chilled out attitude of come along and bring your friends, to a more strict ticketed style event, which is really hard for us as we like to be able to say yes to everyone but the Library can only hold so many – we drew the line at 80. The people arriving are from all different walks of life, some friends and family of Jackie and Suzanne and some faces familiar to the Library and others who are venturing across the GWL threshold for the first time.
The night starts with Adele introducing Jackie, then Jackie takes to the floor. ‘The Lamplighter’ is a play focussing on four women’s stories of slavery. Jackie chose a passage about a mother and daughter being separated to read out – it is a very moving piece and the audience sat in total silence as Jackie delivered this poignant extract from the play.
Then, in total contrast Jackie decided to lift the mood with some wonderful poetry from her collection ‘Darling’. Starting with a poem entitled ‘Maw Broon goes to Therapy’ which infused an element of fun and laughter in the audience again.
She then went on to read the title poem from the book ‘Darling’, a moving piece about losing a loved one, bringing tears to some eyes with a feeling of connection amongst the listeners and the words they were hearing. The final poem was called ‘Maw Broon Gets Colonic Irrigation’ which, as the title suggests, had the audience laughing again.
Jackie and Adele then introduced the fantastic Suzanne Bonnar, who, with her friend Alan on the guitar, filled the Library with music in the form of ‘Miss Celie’s Blues’ from the movie The Colour Purple. Again a hush fell over the audience as they were captivated by Suzanne’s voice and passion. She sang another couple of songs finishing with an on the spot improvised piece about Jackie and the Women’s Library. Again the audience applause said it all.
Closing remarks from Sue about the future of GWL and thanks to the women for such a breathtaking evening then on to book signing for Jackie and general mingling amongst the audience with wine aplenty and conversation flowing as people started to slowly leave.
With laughter reverberating throughout GWL, and the echo of Jackie’s dad’s parting words “Viva the Women’s Library!” still hanging in the air, the staff go about the clean up with lovely warm feelings inside (and that wasn’t just the wine).
Thank you Jackie and Suzanne for blessing us with your talent and support, and thank you to those who donated on the evening, making this event free for us to run and also raising some much-appreciated coffers for the Library.
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