About the event

Youth Rangers, and young friends of The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs, and Northants aged 11-17 are warmly invited to join a free poetry workshop at Clay Farm Centre, Cambridge, 7-8:30pm on Wednesday 29 April.

• Are you passionate about rivers, streams and wildlife?
• Would you like to encourage other people to protect the 'living water' that surrounds us in Cambridge?
• Are you interested in creative writing?   

We'd love you to join us at The Clay Farm Centre for a 90 minute workshop with poet and Teaching Associate for Creative Writing at University of Cambridge, Dr Lucy Durneen. You are welcome at this workshop whether you are a practiced poet or are new to creative writing!

Lucy will help you and the whole group explore ideas, and together you will produce one poem that captures all your responses. This poem will be displayed in the Living Water exhibition at Cambridge University Library, and will also feature in a pop-up exhibition at public libraries in Cambridge.  

The workshop accompanies the exhibition Living Water at Cambridge University Library and Pembroke College, Cambridge (which runs until December 2026). Living Water explores the friendship and creative partnerships between the artist Barrie Cooke and poets Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, who all drew inspiration from the natural world, particularly from the waters they lived by and fished in. 

This workshop is designed for people aged 11-17 who are interested in conservation and the environment. It is organised by Cambridge University Library in partnership with Cambridgeshire Libraries and is free, thanks to the kind supported by WildFish, a charitable organisation working to protect wild fish and their waters. 

Please note:

• We try to be as inclusive as possible, but this session may not suit every young person, and we cannot provide 1:1 support
• Booking is essential; parents/guardians will be asked to fill out a consent form to include relevant issues to help us ensure participants get the most out of the session
• The workshop will mostly be based inside with access to toilets, but if the weather is favourable, we may take a short walk to a nearby nature reserve
• Please consider the environment before deciding to drive a long distance to get to this session.