Civic Pride: True Voices – a unique perspective of the place that we call home

The anthology has been produced by students at University Centre Peterborough (UCP), with support from Peterborough City Council and it certainly ‘provides a unique perspective of the place we call home’. There was a goodly number of people in attendance, some who had contributed to the book and others who were connected to UCP. Others, like myself, had been invited to attend due to our interest in ‘all things Peterborough’.

The evening was introduced by Liz Knight, Academic Director at UCP, then Rob Lynch took over as compere. Rob is a graduate of the BA (Hons) English Literature and Creative Writing programme at UCP and co-edited the book. He’s now a lecturer in GCSE English at Peterborough College.

There followed readings from the book itself, some short some longer, but all focusing on Peterborough as a unique place. It seems only right that these good folk should be credited so here we go. We heard Will Adams, Clare Currie, Julie Watkins, Cardinal Cox, Pauline Kennelly, Tony Warner, Paul Benton, Jane Morgan, Helen Cross, Tina Parsons, Dave Horgan, Mike Alderson, Laura Collins, James Farson, Rachel Speed, Peter J Larke, Edyta Nightingale, Hilary Steele, Chiara Hamilton and Kat Beeton (reading on behalf of Charley Genever).

What struck me most was the variety of contributions. There were readings by older Peterborough residents, those new to the city, young, older, novice writers, experienced writers. But all had one thing in common – a personal perspective of want it’s like to live in and around Peterborough. To give you a flavour, we heard about Whittlesey Mere, Derek Dougan (Posh fans, remember him?), Peterborough food menus, Food Xpress on Eastfield Road, Ferry Meadows, people called Walton, Paston and Fletton, Benland in Bretton, Peterborough animals, baristas and a myriad of other people and places, real and fictitious. And of course there were references to Peterborough people calling each other “duck”! Finally, if you want a potted history of Peterborough look no further than Julie Watkins’ contribution entitled ‘Peterborough - Then and Now’.

The True Voices project is indeed a very welcome addition to the thriving Peterborough arts scene. It never ceases to amaze me how many local people are so thoughtful, creative and full of positivity and fun. It also proves that the creative writing degree course is bearing rich fruit! One of the exciting features of our city is that you never know what is just around the literary corner!

In the arts community in Peterborough there is much talk about Peterborough’s diversity and how we can encourage interesting and involvement in projects such as True Voices. There are people, such as myself, who have lived here all their lives (indeed I often joke that I once travelled south of the river, from Dogsthorpe to Stanground, a distance so great I got a nosebleed). There are others who are comparative newcomers and whose journeys have often been long, tortuous or even accidental. My suggestion for a future project might be on the topic of ‘Arrival’, in other words how we got to the city,

Contributors could share the one thing that people living here currently have in common – just how is it that we arrived in Peterborough? There must be so many fascinating stories to tell.

True Voices: a Peterborough anthology’ will be available from the Museum, Cathedral, Waterstones and Gatehouse Press via Story Machine from December 1st: https://storymachines.co.uk/

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On Monday, 9 December, the Civic Society’s monthly talk is ‘Stamford’s Courts and Yards’ the speaker being Philippa Massey, a historian of Stamford. We are at our usual venue of St Marks Church Hall, Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2SN.

Doors open at 7.15pm for 7.45 start. Non-members are welcome but we rely totally on subscriptions and donations, therefore we request that a donation of £5., unless they become members of the Society on the night. Membership forms will be available.

All welcome – see you there!