We had another wildly varied evening at Dolly’s on the 30th, and a sizeable group of listeners, despite the cold, wet, January weather. Jane Goldsworthy started off with a story about a young woman who runs into a lot of difficulty trying to get home, followed by Thor Gustafsson, with poems set here in Falmouth. Gail Owen read a story a young woman surprising herself with the joy and pain of her concern for an abandoned child. Carl Austin followed with thoughtful, observant poetic insights into familiar gestures. After the break, Ian Stevens read an excerpt from a longer story involving busking, a mysterious stranger, and legacy perceived to be threatening. Filling in for a reader who had a last-minute conflict, Nancy Roth then read a few light new poems. Henry Purbrick read from a series of poems he’s been writing based on his long experience as a Coast Guard at Pendennis, Falmouth, giving us an unusual look at the hard estimates and choices of those who try to recover people in danger at sea. Des Hannigan closed the programme with a memoir about having been hospitalised as a very young man for an illness the doctors couldn’t diagnose…and some thoughts about the importance of second thoughts.

Submissions are now open for the next Telltales event, on 27 March–this time at the Falmouth Art Gallery. The title of the portrait exhibition currently on view there, “Faces of Cornwall,” is also the theme for our event. The deadline for submissions is Sunday 18 March.