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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 1d

Any particular recommendations for next one - have also loved My Name is Leon a couple of years ago

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 1d

What would you recommend next - I’ve read My Name is Leon too so far

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 5d

Only just read this amazing book by @kitdewaal.com but savoured every page and didn’t want it to end. Now I want to devour all her writings #books #KitDeWaal #writers

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 6d

#BrianPatten
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Liverpool poet Brian Patten dies at 79

His poetry often explored love and relationships and he wrote books for children including Gargling With Jelly

www.theguardian.com

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 6d

Oh I missed that he’d died had died until I spotted this Jackie. Ditto for our family - Each Peach Pear Plum too - happy memories of all those books

Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 6d

Oh really try not to miss #Consumed on now at the #Crucible #Theatre #Sheffield @sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social. Absolutely loved it. Energised, sharply darkly funny, relevant and totally brilliant
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/consu...

Sheffield Theatres (@sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social)

Our four theatres belong to this brilliant city. If it’s a great night out you’re after, you’ve come to right place. sheffieldtheatres.co.uk

sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social

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Reposted by Gill Hughes

Forced Entertainment @forcedents.bsky.social · 28d

We're delighted to be entering a new relationship with @sheffieldtheatres.bsky.social as an Associate Company, alongside @rootsmbili, @sbc_theatre and @_thebareproject.

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 6d

Always been treasured - my #postcard from “Brian P” #BrianPatten #poet #NationalPoetryDay #poetry

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 7d

It can only be dear wonderful #BrianPatten today for #NationalPoetryDay, so I offer you “A blade of grass”. #poetry

childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/a-blade...

A blade of grass - The Children’s Poetry Archive

Listen and read along to 'A blade of grass'.

childrens.poetryarchive.org

Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 7d

Time to play this again #BrianPatten #VanishingTrick #LP #1976 #poetry

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

My favourite too

Rebecca @arbitrarygenius.bsky.social · 8d

RIP Brian Patten. He wrote one of my fave poems.

A Blade of Grass

You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not good enough.
You ask for a poem.

I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost,
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.

You say it is not a poem,
It is a blade of grass and grass
Is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.

You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.

You ask for a poem.
And so I write you a tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer,

And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

Oh mine too

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Reposted by Gill Hughes

Karl Knights @inadarkwood.bsky.social · 8d

Genuinely gutted to read that Brian Patten has died at 79. I adored his work, and his reading at Aldeburgh is still the best reading I've seen. He emailed me shortly afterwards, to wish me luck with my writing. Here's a favourite Patten poem, from Armada, without question his best collection.

Stepfather

I cannot pick him out the air,
he is not there,

nor out the soil,
the worm was not his style.

I cannot pick him out the fire,
there's not a cinder's worth left.

So why do I still feel bereft
when no love was lost?

Perhaps for what might have been
had he not been.

In the coffin he seems a replica,
a terrible dummy,

still wreaking havoc,
still beating up the living.

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Reposted by Gill Hughes

Tomás Murray @tomasjmurray.bsky.social · 8d

Goodbye to him.

From ‘Inessential Things’:

“Cats remember what is essential of days.
Letting all other memories go as of no worth
they sleep sounder than we,
whose hearts break remembering so many
inessential things.”

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Reposted by Gill Hughes

Stephen McGann @stephenmcgann.uk · 8d

Many claims are made for the power of poetry to change lives. All I can offer on the death of Brian Patten is a simple truth. This poem - sent to me by my not-then-wife - is the reason I am with her 40 years on.

RIP Brian. x

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

Me too

Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

@sunniunni.bsky.social

Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

Oh this is sad. #BrianPatten was my most favourite #poet all my life
#poetry #MerseyPoets #Liverpool @otsfestival.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Brian Patten obituary

One of the Liverpool poets, along with Roger McGough and Adrian Henri, who was a perceptive writer on love

www.theguardian.com

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 8d

Lovely sunny walk in #Greno #Woods today - fairytale #fungi on display #Grenoside #Sheffield #theoutdoorcity @ourfaveplaces.bsky.social @visitsheffield.bsky.social

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 10d

Absolutely loved the @sheffielduni.bsky.social #Architecture #exhibtion on at the moment in #WesternBank #Library about the work of #PeterBlundellJones and #Scharoun. Well worth visiting

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 11d

Thoroughly lovely day yesterday at #RHSBridgewater #Autumn #gardens #Salford

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Reposted by Gill Hughes

First Position Strings @1stposstrings.bsky.social · 20d

Two workshops for adult string players in October: Intro to Viola: Taster session (for curious violinists, any ability), and Intro to String Quartets: Workshop 2 (develop coordination skills and experience playing one-per-part, Grade 1-5). Interested? www.jennyjacksoncomposer.com/first-positi...

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 22d

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Nothing prepared me for the child poverty I see in Britain. November’s budget can and must halt its inexorable rise | Gordon Brown

Homes without heating, bedrooms without beds. If we are to offer any hope to the children of austerity, the next few weeks will be decisive, says former prime minister Gordon Brown

www.theguardian.com

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Gill Hughes @gillhughes.bsky.social · 29d

Great piece on #YnysMôn by @calmandfearless.bsky.social #seals
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Country diary: What exactly does a grey seal see? | Ed Douglas

Ynys Môn (Anglesey): Caught in a staring contest with these distinguished creatures, I consider how they cope in their monochrome world

www.theguardian.com

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