Getting Poetical had a meeting yesterday where people went on stage to perform poetry. They raised money for Increase The Peace, which helps homeless and refugee charities in Dorset.
The Increase the Peace festival will be happening on the 8th of February and there is a wide amount of charities involved in the event.
Our reporter, Alex Bernat-Denny joined the meeting.
Dan Jones is a local poet, musician and stand-up comedian who uses his spare time to help organise and host poetical events.
He said: “It is my second year at Getting Poetical and found stand-up poetry and then they asked me to become a host and help with the events which was great.
“We have a couple of charity nights and guest speakers and poets; a vicar came along too.”
“It has been very rewarding, not just making friends but helping refugees in the local area.”
“Now we are now located in the cellar bar more regularly. We have a lot of repeat performers and new regulars.”
Dan has found it a joy to be able to listen to all of the poets who come along.
Rosanna Le Rossignol has been the organiser and creator of Getting Poetical for almost three years.
She said: “ I have been going to poetry nights since the age of 18, and loved the way they brought communities together.”
With Bournemouth nightlife on the decrease, it gave Rosanna an incentive to start Getting Poetic.
“The Bournemouth scene could have done with more poetry nights, so we started Getting Poetical.”
Rosanna has been involved in Increase The Peace events before and finds the atmosphere “amazing” as so many different people all join.
Claire Armstrong is the creator of Increase The Peace and offers any performer to read poetry at the festival.
She said: “I am the founder of it; I started it in 2016 to raise money for charities that raise awareness for people claiming asylum.
I used to do events to stop the war coalition, but people didn’t want to get political; someone suggested instead of stopping the war, if I increased peace, it would get a better following, and it did.”
Working with groups helps promote each other, and Claire has found working together has made it more powerful.
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