Mark Dunn

This Thursday i’m giving at talk at Bourne Community College – to the senior english class – on Keats and the Eve of St Agnes poem.

Keats was a genius. In a very short life (he died of TB at the age of 25) he wrote poems which have changed the way civilised people think.

He wrote the St Agnes Eve poem when his was staying in Chichester, in January 1819.

He walked over to Stansted Park, and I think a visit to the Church there, was a big influence over the poem.

It must have been cold…

Ah Bitter Chill it was !
The owl for all his feathers was a-cold,
The hare limped trembling through the frozen grass….

Consie and I went to the launch of the PHG appeal. This is to build up a fund so that admission charges can be done away with. The Gallery is very good for Chichester’s economy, brings in lots of visitors, who eat and shop as well as visit.

When the gallery has open days – admissions free of charge – the visitor number bounce up into the 1000s a day plus, bracket. So its really is a worthwhile cause.

The children let of a lot of balloons – which I think were filled with gas ! I hope it was green gas !