UK Hopkins Society Weekend at Belmont Abbey 7 - 9 June 2019: "New Worlds" (from the opening line of Thomas Traherne's poem "On leaping over the moon" …. "I saw new worlds beneath the water lie" Hopkins visited the Abbey in June 1866 with William Addis. It was possibly the first time he had met a Catholic priest, Dom Paul Raynal, who ‘was very kind and showed me over everything.’ Hopkins returned to spend Holy Week there in 1867. And so it was an important place in Hopkins’ spiritual growth.
The weekend commenced on the evening of Friday the 9th with "The cost of conversion", a presentation by Jill Robson, Lance Pierson amongst others to explore this critical time when Hopkins converted to Catholicism. His visit to Belmont Abbey was an important part of that process.
Saturday the 10th June commenced with the AGM: membership numbers have fallen with the recent rise in annual membership fees and some society members getting older and felling less able to attend events. Members of the Steering Committee were at pains to point out that membership doesn't just include the opportunity to attend events to celebrate Hopkins life and poetry, but includes the annual Hopkins Society Journal and the opportunity to feel part of a movement of people with a like minded appreciation of Hopkins. Some discussion took place about the need to widen membership and hence ensure greater viability of the Society. The Steering Group has already commenced efforts to widen membership.
The next event for 2019 is the joint meeting with the Betjeman Society at Highgate School, London Sat 31st August - the school attended by both poets; Betjeman attending the junior school and Hopkins the senior. Further events are planned for 2020 and 2021. Of particular note is the Association of Literary Societies AGM 2021 - on a Saturday: 15 May or 22 May or 5 June. The Hopkins Society and the Betjeman Society are joint hosts.
The AGM was followed by a most illuminating lecture by Jude Nixon who is co-editor of Volume 5 of the OUP's Collected Works. Jude's lecture was titled "Hopkins in the North: Priestly and Parish Activities in Leigh and Liverpool". Jude provide the social and economic context to Hopkins position as priest. The congregation at Leigh, although friendly was experienced by Hopkins as largely drunken and dissolute with large families struggling with working long hours on low wages, and coping with ill health, particularly typhoid which has since been associated with unhealthy drinking water. The drinking water then was often replaced with copious amounts of beer. Few poems were written while Hopkins served in both parishes. Jude pointed out that this was probably as a result of the sheer amount of work involved amidst the misery of town life amongst the poor: he listed the number of weddings, baptisms and other parish duties that Hopkins undertook. This all took a toll on his health.
During Saturday afternoon, following a brief presentation of material relating to Hopkins and Belmont Abbey: the Benedictine’s place in the development of Hopkins religious vocation, the group had a tour of the abbey and a talk about it's history in the Benedictine order. The founder was Francis Wegg-Prosser of nearby Belmont House, who had converted to Catholicism and decided to build a church on his Hereford estate in 1854. He later invited the Benedictines to found a priory there. The Abbey Church is a grade II listed building, designed by Edward Pugin, son of Augustus Pugin. Its construction began in 1857 and it was consecrated on 4 September 1860. Built in the early English style, it demonstrated the resurgent optimism of the restored Catholic Hierarchy and the growth in numbers of Roman Catholics in England in the second half of the 19th Century. .
During late Saturday afternoon, Richard Willmott, Chair of the Traherne Society was welcomed to provide a talk entitled "Seeing the world aright - charged with the grandeur of God". Thomas Traherne, (1637 - 1674) was born in Hereford, spending most of his life in the vicinity. Like Hopkins he was on fire with the love of God, believing that God had created the world as a gift to humankind and that like Hopkins was a priest poet on fire with the love of God, especially as seen and experienced in the world created by God as a gift to each member of the human race. Richard opened up to his audience the poetry and the range of the writings of Thomas Traherne plus a little of his very positive theology. Throughout, his talk drew parallels with the work of Hopkins. The evening was completed with readings of Hopkins and Traherne on the subject of "God in creation" - showing that despite living some 200 years apart and in different religious worlds they held many of their theories and ideas in common. Hopkins would have been unaware of Traherne’s works’s; the latter’s works remained hidden in unread manuscripts until the 20th century.
During the entirety of our visit, members were given the opportunity to join in abbey services. As the Sunday was Whit Sunday, the church was beautifully decorated for the services, which frequently incuded Pentecostal elements. The Abbey church incidentally has always operated as the local parish church.
Sunday morning allowed participants either to attend mass or to take part in one of two walks, which Hopkins recorded his delight in. He is known to have walked to Belmont from Hereford along the river and also around the Cathedral Close. Members too enjoyed walking over the same ground, besides the River Wye, and the splendid views of Hereford Cathedral and its medieval architecture.
The weekend commenced on the evening of Friday the 9th with "The cost of conversion", a presentation by Jill Robson, Lance Pierson amongst others to explore this critical time when Hopkins converted to Catholicism. His visit to Belmont Abbey was an important part of that process.
Saturday the 10th June commenced with the AGM: membership numbers have fallen with the recent rise in annual membership fees and some society members getting older and felling less able to attend events. Members of the Steering Committee were at pains to point out that membership doesn't just include the opportunity to attend events to celebrate Hopkins life and poetry, but includes the annual Hopkins Society Journal and the opportunity to feel part of a movement of people with a like minded appreciation of Hopkins. Some discussion took place about the need to widen membership and hence ensure greater viability of the Society. The Steering Group has already commenced efforts to widen membership.
The next event for 2019 is the joint meeting with the Betjeman Society at Highgate School, London Sat 31st August - the school attended by both poets; Betjeman attending the junior school and Hopkins the senior. Further events are planned for 2020 and 2021. Of particular note is the Association of Literary Societies AGM 2021 - on a Saturday: 15 May or 22 May or 5 June. The Hopkins Society and the Betjeman Society are joint hosts.
The AGM was followed by a most illuminating lecture by Jude Nixon who is co-editor of Volume 5 of the OUP's Collected Works. Jude's lecture was titled "Hopkins in the North: Priestly and Parish Activities in Leigh and Liverpool". Jude provide the social and economic context to Hopkins position as priest. The congregation at Leigh, although friendly was experienced by Hopkins as largely drunken and dissolute with large families struggling with working long hours on low wages, and coping with ill health, particularly typhoid which has since been associated with unhealthy drinking water. The drinking water then was often replaced with copious amounts of beer. Few poems were written while Hopkins served in both parishes. Jude pointed out that this was probably as a result of the sheer amount of work involved amidst the misery of town life amongst the poor: he listed the number of weddings, baptisms and other parish duties that Hopkins undertook. This all took a toll on his health.
During Saturday afternoon, following a brief presentation of material relating to Hopkins and Belmont Abbey: the Benedictine’s place in the development of Hopkins religious vocation, the group had a tour of the abbey and a talk about it's history in the Benedictine order. The founder was Francis Wegg-Prosser of nearby Belmont House, who had converted to Catholicism and decided to build a church on his Hereford estate in 1854. He later invited the Benedictines to found a priory there. The Abbey Church is a grade II listed building, designed by Edward Pugin, son of Augustus Pugin. Its construction began in 1857 and it was consecrated on 4 September 1860. Built in the early English style, it demonstrated the resurgent optimism of the restored Catholic Hierarchy and the growth in numbers of Roman Catholics in England in the second half of the 19th Century. .
During late Saturday afternoon, Richard Willmott, Chair of the Traherne Society was welcomed to provide a talk entitled "Seeing the world aright - charged with the grandeur of God". Thomas Traherne, (1637 - 1674) was born in Hereford, spending most of his life in the vicinity. Like Hopkins he was on fire with the love of God, believing that God had created the world as a gift to humankind and that like Hopkins was a priest poet on fire with the love of God, especially as seen and experienced in the world created by God as a gift to each member of the human race. Richard opened up to his audience the poetry and the range of the writings of Thomas Traherne plus a little of his very positive theology. Throughout, his talk drew parallels with the work of Hopkins. The evening was completed with readings of Hopkins and Traherne on the subject of "God in creation" - showing that despite living some 200 years apart and in different religious worlds they held many of their theories and ideas in common. Hopkins would have been unaware of Traherne’s works’s; the latter’s works remained hidden in unread manuscripts until the 20th century.
During the entirety of our visit, members were given the opportunity to join in abbey services. As the Sunday was Whit Sunday, the church was beautifully decorated for the services, which frequently incuded Pentecostal elements. The Abbey church incidentally has always operated as the local parish church.
Sunday morning allowed participants either to attend mass or to take part in one of two walks, which Hopkins recorded his delight in. He is known to have walked to Belmont from Hereford along the river and also around the Cathedral Close. Members too enjoyed walking over the same ground, besides the River Wye, and the splendid views of Hereford Cathedral and its medieval architecture.
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Saturday October 27th, 2018
The Hopkins Society Autumn Meeting at Mount St Mary's College, Spinkhill, nr Sheffield
Hopkins was sent to the college as a sub-minister (his first appointment after his ordination), and assistant teacher from October 1877 - April 1878. He lived and worked there for six months. After assembling and imbibing coffee, the UK Hopkins Society members held the AGM - steering group members were re-elected, accounts were presented, the President gave a report on the Society in 2017/18 and events planned for 2019/20 and 2021 were announced. The 2019 June meeting and AGM will be held at Belmont Abbey, Hereford Fri 7 - Sun 9 June.; there will be a joint meeting with the Betjeman Society at Highgate school in London, Aug 31st and in late May, early June of 2021 both societies will jointly host the AGM of the Alliance of Literary Societies, in all probability at the Scientific and Literary Institute in Highgate.
The 2018 Hopkins Lecture was a most illuminating and thought provoking lecture on the similarities and differences between the works of Milton and Hopkins. The essence of the lecture being that Hopkins followed Milton's style in writing sonnets using the Miltonian or Petrarchan form as against the Shakespearian or English form. But that towards the end of his life Hopkins altered even the Miltonian form to his own purposes, thereby inventing a new sonnet form using sprung rhythm …. Lunch was followed by a tour of the college, visiting the nearby Spinkhill Catholic Parish Church with its beautiful millennial modern stained glass windows and also the sodality chapel (the oldest part of the building dating from the time the Roman Catholic Pole family built a chapel as part of the house following the reformation, in order that mass could still be celebrated in secret in the area. For further details of the school and its history see Wikipedia file below. The last session of the day featured a presentation by Jill Robson describing Hopkins time at the school, and extracts from letters home (ably read by Lore Chumbley), and the then industrial geography of the surrounding area, including Sheffield resulting in only one poem being written by Hopkins while at Spinkhill: "The Loss of the Eurydice". Lance Pierson read this poem in the final session, along with a poem written after Spinkhill but inspired by two pupils there: "Brothers", the latter reading being aided by society members in its reading.
Spinkhill Parish Church (Photos left and left below) The Soladity Chapel (photos below central and right)
The Hopkins Society Autumn Meeting at Mount St Mary's College, Spinkhill, nr Sheffield
Hopkins was sent to the college as a sub-minister (his first appointment after his ordination), and assistant teacher from October 1877 - April 1878. He lived and worked there for six months. After assembling and imbibing coffee, the UK Hopkins Society members held the AGM - steering group members were re-elected, accounts were presented, the President gave a report on the Society in 2017/18 and events planned for 2019/20 and 2021 were announced. The 2019 June meeting and AGM will be held at Belmont Abbey, Hereford Fri 7 - Sun 9 June.; there will be a joint meeting with the Betjeman Society at Highgate school in London, Aug 31st and in late May, early June of 2021 both societies will jointly host the AGM of the Alliance of Literary Societies, in all probability at the Scientific and Literary Institute in Highgate.
The 2018 Hopkins Lecture was a most illuminating and thought provoking lecture on the similarities and differences between the works of Milton and Hopkins. The essence of the lecture being that Hopkins followed Milton's style in writing sonnets using the Miltonian or Petrarchan form as against the Shakespearian or English form. But that towards the end of his life Hopkins altered even the Miltonian form to his own purposes, thereby inventing a new sonnet form using sprung rhythm …. Lunch was followed by a tour of the college, visiting the nearby Spinkhill Catholic Parish Church with its beautiful millennial modern stained glass windows and also the sodality chapel (the oldest part of the building dating from the time the Roman Catholic Pole family built a chapel as part of the house following the reformation, in order that mass could still be celebrated in secret in the area. For further details of the school and its history see Wikipedia file below. The last session of the day featured a presentation by Jill Robson describing Hopkins time at the school, and extracts from letters home (ably read by Lore Chumbley), and the then industrial geography of the surrounding area, including Sheffield resulting in only one poem being written by Hopkins while at Spinkhill: "The Loss of the Eurydice". Lance Pierson read this poem in the final session, along with a poem written after Spinkhill but inspired by two pupils there: "Brothers", the latter reading being aided by society members in its reading.
Spinkhill Parish Church (Photos left and left below) The Soladity Chapel (photos below central and right)
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June 21st - 23rd, 2018
University of Roehampton, Conference to celebrate the Centenary of the First Edition of Hopkins' poems
An early email from Lesley Higgins to the secretary read that 'The Hopkins Society presentation at the conference was excellent - informative, entertaining, and very spirited. The dramatization of the letters was fascinating …..'
One further snippet from Lance Pierson received Sept 19: "The conference to celebrate the centenary of Hopkins’ poems first being published was held appropriately at the college in Roehampton where he trained for the priesthood. Although this is in England, the conference was planned and administered from Regis University in Colorado. Sensing an opportunity, with the world on our doorstep, we asked for a table and display space to publicise ourselves and our wares as the UK Hopkins Society. A month before the conference I had an email from the Chairman, threatening to take away our space, as only 2 of our members had by then booked to attend. I pleaded with him and corrected his maths, and he relented; in the end 9 of our members made it. We managed to sell £70 of our merchandise: particularly popular was the colourful poster of the poem ‘Peace’, produced for the earlier centenary of GMH’s death. But I had to find cardboard packing tubes for people wanting to stow it in their luggage back to the States.
Our pitch was well placed at the foot of the stairs up to the main meeting room. I stuck a large card announcing UK Hopkins Society on the side of the staircase, and promptly got into more trouble. The college archivist / historian gave us a guided tour of the historic building. When we came to the stairs she shrieked, ‘WHO has polluted the beautiful iron railing with blutak?!’ Only on promise of washing all traces of it off did I calm her down!"
A further review was received from Pat Pinsent, Senior Research Fellow in English, Roehampton University:
"This conference, held in a location where Hopkins spent some of his formative period as a Jesuit, brought together academics and enthusiasts for his poetry from both sides of the Atlantic. After the official welcome, the first session was about the website recently set up by the International Hopkins Association (based in Chicago in the USA), which revealed that Hopkins now has 1000 followers on their Facebook link – what would he have thought about that? This was followed by a presentation from the editors of several volumes of the scholarly edition (OUP) of his Collected Works which will be completed by 2020. This will include the journals, commonplace books, notes for lectures, sketches, musical ideas, plus information about his many uncompleted projects, such as a book on Homer.
Plenary sessions included the centenary lecture by Joseph Feeney SJ, transmitted from the States, and an illustrated account from Professor Kirstie Blair about how Hopkins’ fascination with poetic structure was accompanied with an appreciation of the bold engineering projects which characterised the period. Seminar papers covered a wide range of topics, including theology, philosophy, literature, numerology, philology, architecture, and medieval music. A conference highlight was a dramatised presentation by members of the UK Hopkins Society of letters discovered in the archives of Highgate School, focusing on the period of his conversion to Catholicism and the sadness this event occasioned to his devotedly Anglican parents. Altogether this was a most rewarding three days, enhanced by the knowledge that Hopkins himself had trodden these corridors and seen the lovely views over Richmond Park."
University of Roehampton, Conference to celebrate the Centenary of the First Edition of Hopkins' poems
An early email from Lesley Higgins to the secretary read that 'The Hopkins Society presentation at the conference was excellent - informative, entertaining, and very spirited. The dramatization of the letters was fascinating …..'
One further snippet from Lance Pierson received Sept 19: "The conference to celebrate the centenary of Hopkins’ poems first being published was held appropriately at the college in Roehampton where he trained for the priesthood. Although this is in England, the conference was planned and administered from Regis University in Colorado. Sensing an opportunity, with the world on our doorstep, we asked for a table and display space to publicise ourselves and our wares as the UK Hopkins Society. A month before the conference I had an email from the Chairman, threatening to take away our space, as only 2 of our members had by then booked to attend. I pleaded with him and corrected his maths, and he relented; in the end 9 of our members made it. We managed to sell £70 of our merchandise: particularly popular was the colourful poster of the poem ‘Peace’, produced for the earlier centenary of GMH’s death. But I had to find cardboard packing tubes for people wanting to stow it in their luggage back to the States.
Our pitch was well placed at the foot of the stairs up to the main meeting room. I stuck a large card announcing UK Hopkins Society on the side of the staircase, and promptly got into more trouble. The college archivist / historian gave us a guided tour of the historic building. When we came to the stairs she shrieked, ‘WHO has polluted the beautiful iron railing with blutak?!’ Only on promise of washing all traces of it off did I calm her down!"
A further review was received from Pat Pinsent, Senior Research Fellow in English, Roehampton University:
"This conference, held in a location where Hopkins spent some of his formative period as a Jesuit, brought together academics and enthusiasts for his poetry from both sides of the Atlantic. After the official welcome, the first session was about the website recently set up by the International Hopkins Association (based in Chicago in the USA), which revealed that Hopkins now has 1000 followers on their Facebook link – what would he have thought about that? This was followed by a presentation from the editors of several volumes of the scholarly edition (OUP) of his Collected Works which will be completed by 2020. This will include the journals, commonplace books, notes for lectures, sketches, musical ideas, plus information about his many uncompleted projects, such as a book on Homer.
Plenary sessions included the centenary lecture by Joseph Feeney SJ, transmitted from the States, and an illustrated account from Professor Kirstie Blair about how Hopkins’ fascination with poetic structure was accompanied with an appreciation of the bold engineering projects which characterised the period. Seminar papers covered a wide range of topics, including theology, philosophy, literature, numerology, philology, architecture, and medieval music. A conference highlight was a dramatised presentation by members of the UK Hopkins Society of letters discovered in the archives of Highgate School, focusing on the period of his conversion to Catholicism and the sadness this event occasioned to his devotedly Anglican parents. Altogether this was a most rewarding three days, enhanced by the knowledge that Hopkins himself had trodden these corridors and seen the lovely views over Richmond Park."
SPRING 2018
"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring" ........On Saturday April 7, some 16 members
of the society visited St Bueno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre. Hopkins lived here from 1874 to 1877, studying theology in preparation for the priesthood. These were some of his happiest years and he wrote some very inspirational poetry here with God and the welsh language and scenery as the background. Indeed it was here that the rector at the time inspired Hopkins to start writing poetry again, after a self imposed ban to better concentrate on his vocation, when the rector commented that someone ought to write a poem based on the wreck of the Deutchland ship in 1975.
The first session on "Preparing to read the poems aloud" was led first by Wyn Hobson and we looked at "Thou are indeed just, Lord", a poem in iambic pentameter form with five stressed syllables in each line. Unlike later poems, this poem is not written in sprung rhythm, a form invented by Hopkins. Wyn helped us to work our way through unstressed and stressed syllables, even finding some that are only half stressed. Lance Pierson took up the mantle and the group analysed the poems of "Spring" and "Hurrahing in Harvest", remembering that Hopkins in his letters to Robert Bridges stressed that his poems worked best when read aloud, and he often included stress marks on his poems. Lance finished by reading "Spelt From Sybil's Leaves, a poem that even many Hopkins enthusiasts find difficult to read and understand but which became all the clearer with the notes that Lance provided and his reading of it, in the way Lance interpreted that Hopkins intended .....
The group experienced an excellent contemplative silent lunch amongst the current retreatants, but due to the misty, drizzly weather and the very muddy state of the local footpaths, the planned guided walk around Moel Maenefa and the welsh countryside that Hopkins so loved was postponed and the group had a walk in the grounds of St Bueno's instead. (photograph below) ...In summary the members left inspired to better read Hopkins poetry aloud in future ….
"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring" ........On Saturday April 7, some 16 members
of the society visited St Bueno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre. Hopkins lived here from 1874 to 1877, studying theology in preparation for the priesthood. These were some of his happiest years and he wrote some very inspirational poetry here with God and the welsh language and scenery as the background. Indeed it was here that the rector at the time inspired Hopkins to start writing poetry again, after a self imposed ban to better concentrate on his vocation, when the rector commented that someone ought to write a poem based on the wreck of the Deutchland ship in 1975.
The first session on "Preparing to read the poems aloud" was led first by Wyn Hobson and we looked at "Thou are indeed just, Lord", a poem in iambic pentameter form with five stressed syllables in each line. Unlike later poems, this poem is not written in sprung rhythm, a form invented by Hopkins. Wyn helped us to work our way through unstressed and stressed syllables, even finding some that are only half stressed. Lance Pierson took up the mantle and the group analysed the poems of "Spring" and "Hurrahing in Harvest", remembering that Hopkins in his letters to Robert Bridges stressed that his poems worked best when read aloud, and he often included stress marks on his poems. Lance finished by reading "Spelt From Sybil's Leaves, a poem that even many Hopkins enthusiasts find difficult to read and understand but which became all the clearer with the notes that Lance provided and his reading of it, in the way Lance interpreted that Hopkins intended .....
The group experienced an excellent contemplative silent lunch amongst the current retreatants, but due to the misty, drizzly weather and the very muddy state of the local footpaths, the planned guided walk around Moel Maenefa and the welsh countryside that Hopkins so loved was postponed and the group had a walk in the grounds of St Bueno's instead. (photograph below) ...In summary the members left inspired to better read Hopkins poetry aloud in future ….
Hopkins Society members enjoying the gardens at St Buenos on the study day April 7 2018
AUTUMN 2017
Hopkins Society Day exploring the origins of Gerard Manley Hopkins and of his most famous poem 'The Wreck of the Deutschland.' Hopkins was born in Stratford (Essex, not upon Avon!) in 1844. In addition to the Society's AGM, we visited the sites of his childhood home and church, and heard about the members of his family. By a strange coincidence the nuns drowned in the German ship ‘Deutschland’, about whom he wrote in his most famous poem, were brought to rest in Stratford and are buried in neighbouring Leytonstone; we visited their graves.
SUMMER 2017
Gladstone's Library, Hawarden, Clwyd, North Wales.
June 17-18 Gladstone's Library is a research and conference centre within reach of St Beuno's and Holywell, where Hopkins trained in the 1870s, and which we visited. Our speakers were a panel of top Hopkins scholars, including Kelsey Thornton, Lesley Higgins and Noel Barber.
AUTUMN 2016
We met at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, the Jesuit boarding school where Hopkins taught in 1878 and 1882-3. We held our AGM; had an excellent lecture from Fr Joe Sweeney, Parish Priest of Rochdale, on Hopkins and Duns Scotus, the medieval philosopher whose influential writings he discovered at Stonyhurst; had a tour of the school; and heard the five poems that Hopkins wrote at Stonyhurst.
SPRING 2016
In the 19th century Roehampton was a village in Surrey where the Jesuits had a seminary at Manresa House. Gerard Manley Hopkins studied there twice, for his novitiate and his tertianship (stages of preparation for priesthood). He also taught rhetoric there for a year. We try to hold Hopkins Days at places associated with him, and this was our first visit to Roehampton for many years. Today the house is the home of Whitelands College, part of the University of Roehampton in the suburbs of South-West London. This event was organised jointly by the Hopkins Society and Whitelands College and spread over two days. On the Thursday evening David Harsent, the University’s Professor of Creative Writing, gave their annual ‘Hopkins Lecture’ on ‘The Raw Truth of Poetry’. This was followed by a Hopkins Society dinner at which our President, Michael Burgess, told amusing stories of eccentric clerics. On the Friday Gilly King, the University’s archivist, gave us a historical tour of the building; Fr Noel Barber SJ, editor of the forthcoming OUP volume of Hopkins’ sermons and devotional writings, told us the history of Hopkins’ times at Manresa; and Lance Pierson of the Society’s Steering Group gave us a virtual tour of the other places in London where Hopkins lived at different periods of his life.
AUTUMN 2015
The Society's 25th annual meeting was at Balliol College, Oxford where as an undergraduate Hopkins read classics and was acclaimed as 'The star of Balliol.' We met for a tour of College, a reading of his undergraduate poems and a viewing of the manuscript of Binsey Poplars. After dinner in College, annual Hopkins lecture was given by Prof Lesley J Higgins of York University, co-editor of the current Oxford University Press publication of Hopkins's Complete Works; her subject ‘Please not to read’ – Gerard Manley Hopkins's Private Texts.
We finished with a visit to St Aloysius' Church where Hopkins ministered, and heard more of his Oxford poems read.
WORKSHOP SPRING 2015
Julia Wilson Dickson the celebrated voice coach was unfortunately unable to be with us because of other commitments. So we coached each other in reading favourite Hopkins poems. Then we went on a short walk celebrating the countryside Hopkins knew and loved and heard the poems he wrote about the landscape. We then walked to Ffynnon Fair (St Mary’s Well) near St Beuno’s, and heard GMH’s Journal entry about his first visit there in 1876.
HARVEST WALK 2014
The Hopkins Society on Saturday 30 August 2014 was a success We met near the Salusbury Arms to enjoy a walk Hopkins will have know (although with less tarmac!) Wyn Hobson recited Hopkins' Hurrahing in Harvest' as we looked over the harvest landscape Gerard Manley Hopkins knew. If you would like to come on future walks as a walker or as a driver, please contact Chris Proudfoot: chris.proudfoot045@btinternet.com
ANNUAL LECTURE IN LIVERPOOL
Professor Nicholas Sagovsky gave the 2014 annual Hopkins Lecture on Saturday 18 October 2014 at the Creative Campus, Liverpool Hope University. Professor Sagovsky is a former Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey and Professor at both Liverpool Hope and Roehampton Universities . He spoke on Hopkins as theologian and poet. Afterwards Society members visited the adjacent St Francis Xavier's Church where Hopkins spent time as a curate.
Gladwys Mary Coles delighted us with some history of the Church including Hopkins' experiences and her own memories of worshipping in the Church as a child. Lance Pierson and Wyn Hobson read poems and sermon extracts.
PUBLISHED LECTURE
The 2005 Annual Lecture 'The Self in Hopkins' Poetry' delivered by Dr Rowan Williams is now published by the Hopkins Society Press and available at £2.50 plus postage. Copies are available from: lore.chumbley@talktalk.net
Gladstone's Library, Hawarden, Clwyd, North Wales.
June 17-18 Gladstone's Library is a research and conference centre within reach of St Beuno's and Holywell, where Hopkins trained in the 1870s, and which we visited. Our speakers were a panel of top Hopkins scholars, including Kelsey Thornton, Lesley Higgins and Noel Barber.
AUTUMN 2016
We met at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, the Jesuit boarding school where Hopkins taught in 1878 and 1882-3. We held our AGM; had an excellent lecture from Fr Joe Sweeney, Parish Priest of Rochdale, on Hopkins and Duns Scotus, the medieval philosopher whose influential writings he discovered at Stonyhurst; had a tour of the school; and heard the five poems that Hopkins wrote at Stonyhurst.
SPRING 2016
In the 19th century Roehampton was a village in Surrey where the Jesuits had a seminary at Manresa House. Gerard Manley Hopkins studied there twice, for his novitiate and his tertianship (stages of preparation for priesthood). He also taught rhetoric there for a year. We try to hold Hopkins Days at places associated with him, and this was our first visit to Roehampton for many years. Today the house is the home of Whitelands College, part of the University of Roehampton in the suburbs of South-West London. This event was organised jointly by the Hopkins Society and Whitelands College and spread over two days. On the Thursday evening David Harsent, the University’s Professor of Creative Writing, gave their annual ‘Hopkins Lecture’ on ‘The Raw Truth of Poetry’. This was followed by a Hopkins Society dinner at which our President, Michael Burgess, told amusing stories of eccentric clerics. On the Friday Gilly King, the University’s archivist, gave us a historical tour of the building; Fr Noel Barber SJ, editor of the forthcoming OUP volume of Hopkins’ sermons and devotional writings, told us the history of Hopkins’ times at Manresa; and Lance Pierson of the Society’s Steering Group gave us a virtual tour of the other places in London where Hopkins lived at different periods of his life.
AUTUMN 2015
The Society's 25th annual meeting was at Balliol College, Oxford where as an undergraduate Hopkins read classics and was acclaimed as 'The star of Balliol.' We met for a tour of College, a reading of his undergraduate poems and a viewing of the manuscript of Binsey Poplars. After dinner in College, annual Hopkins lecture was given by Prof Lesley J Higgins of York University, co-editor of the current Oxford University Press publication of Hopkins's Complete Works; her subject ‘Please not to read’ – Gerard Manley Hopkins's Private Texts.
We finished with a visit to St Aloysius' Church where Hopkins ministered, and heard more of his Oxford poems read.
WORKSHOP SPRING 2015
Julia Wilson Dickson the celebrated voice coach was unfortunately unable to be with us because of other commitments. So we coached each other in reading favourite Hopkins poems. Then we went on a short walk celebrating the countryside Hopkins knew and loved and heard the poems he wrote about the landscape. We then walked to Ffynnon Fair (St Mary’s Well) near St Beuno’s, and heard GMH’s Journal entry about his first visit there in 1876.
HARVEST WALK 2014
The Hopkins Society on Saturday 30 August 2014 was a success We met near the Salusbury Arms to enjoy a walk Hopkins will have know (although with less tarmac!) Wyn Hobson recited Hopkins' Hurrahing in Harvest' as we looked over the harvest landscape Gerard Manley Hopkins knew. If you would like to come on future walks as a walker or as a driver, please contact Chris Proudfoot: chris.proudfoot045@btinternet.com
ANNUAL LECTURE IN LIVERPOOL
Professor Nicholas Sagovsky gave the 2014 annual Hopkins Lecture on Saturday 18 October 2014 at the Creative Campus, Liverpool Hope University. Professor Sagovsky is a former Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey and Professor at both Liverpool Hope and Roehampton Universities . He spoke on Hopkins as theologian and poet. Afterwards Society members visited the adjacent St Francis Xavier's Church where Hopkins spent time as a curate.
Gladwys Mary Coles delighted us with some history of the Church including Hopkins' experiences and her own memories of worshipping in the Church as a child. Lance Pierson and Wyn Hobson read poems and sermon extracts.
PUBLISHED LECTURE
The 2005 Annual Lecture 'The Self in Hopkins' Poetry' delivered by Dr Rowan Williams is now published by the Hopkins Society Press and available at £2.50 plus postage. Copies are available from: lore.chumbley@talktalk.net
Images from the Society's 'Hopkins in Liverpool' day October 2014 held at Liverpool Hope University -which has a 'Hopkins Garden' and in St Francis Xavier's Church. Images show:
- The pulpit in St Francis Xavier Church from which Gerard Manley Hopkins preached
- An inscribed stone from the Hopkins Garden in Liverpool Hope University
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Images from 'Hurrahing in Harvest' - our August 2014 Hopkins walk in the countryside around Tremeirchion.
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