EVENT  ⁄  ARTS & CULTURE

Spork! Christmas special

Spork! presents poetry, comedy and live music from Joelle Taylor, Luke Wright, BopaRhys and friends, with carols from the Exeter Railway Band.

Exeter phoenix 

Spork! presents a Christmas special at Exeter Phoenix on 14 December featuring poetry, comedy and live music from Joelle Taylor, Luke Wright, BopaRhys and friends, with carols from the Exeter Railway Band.

Joelle Taylor Joelle Taylor

Joelle Taylor is an award winning poet, playwright and author.

A former UK slam champion, she founded the national youth slam championships SLAMbassadors in 2001 for the Poetry Society and was its Artistic Director and National Coach until 2018.

She is the author of four collections of poetry and is currently completing her debut collection of inter-connecting short stories The Night Alphabet.

She won the 2021 T.S.Eliot Prize for her poetry collection C+NTO & Othered Poems, published by Westbourne Press.

Luke Wright Luke Wright

Luke Wright is a founder member of poetry collective Aisle16.

He has written four poetry collections and several verse plays. His latest pamphlet won the Saboteur Award in 2019.

He has been a regular support act for John Cooper Clarke and in 2007 hosted a two day poetry event at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Exeter Railway Band Exeter Railway Band

There will also be Christmas carols led by the Exeter Railway Band, a traditional brass band originally founded in 1944, and drag artist BopaRhys will be joined by singer Mrs Clause and comedienne Valley Gal for festive songs, jokes and stories.

Spork! Christmas special is at 7.30pm on Wednesday 14 December at Exeter Phoenix.

Tickets cost £8, or £5 for students or under-25s, and are available from the Exeter Phoenix website.

 is membership co-ordinator and community & culture editor of Exeter Observer and a director of its publisher Exeter Observer Limited.

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Detailed plans for the Honiton Road MOOR EXCHANGE RETAIL PARK have been submitted for approval. Outline planning permission for the development was granted two years ago.

The police inspectorate says DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE must make urgent improvements after it was found to be inadequate in three of nine areas including responding to emergency and non-emergency calls and managing registered sexual and violent offenders.
Its assessment found two other areas required improvement while two more were graded “good”. A new chief constable was appointed in December after the force was placed under enhanced inspectorate monitoring last year.

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UNIVERSITY OF EXETER staff have resumed strike action over pay, pensions and working conditions alongside Exeter school teaching staff with dozens more strike days planned during February and March.

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DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is not making sufficient progress with its children’s services since they were judged inadequate in January 2020 according to the latest Ofsted monitoring report which found that key areas still require significant change and serious issues remain.

The UNIVERSITY OF EXETER has submitted detailed plans for its 1,700 bed West Park redevelopment of 50,000m2 of student accommodation.

Royal College of Nursing staff at the ROYAL DEVON NHS TRUST have resumed strike action alongside South Western Ambulance Service workers as healthcare professionals across the country stage the biggest strike in NHS history.

Detailed plans for the Honiton Road MOOR EXCHANGE RETAIL PARK have been submitted for approval. Outline planning permission for the development was granted two years ago.

The police inspectorate says DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE must make urgent improvements after it was found to be inadequate in three of nine areas including responding to emergency and non-emergency calls and managing registered sexual and violent offenders.
Its assessment found two other areas required improvement while two more were graded “good”. A new chief constable was appointed in December after the force was placed under enhanced inspectorate monitoring last year.

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is consulting on its draft Exeter Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, which is already nearly six years late, until the end of March.

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER staff have resumed strike action over pay, pensions and working conditions alongside Exeter school teaching staff with dozens more strike days planned during February and March.

EXETER CITY FUTURES published the agenda for its last board meeting on 30 January, two months after the meeting was held. It says it is “committed to being completely transparent and open about the things that are discussed at board meetings”. No minutes were included.

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL is not making sufficient progress with its children’s services since they were judged inadequate in January 2020 according to the latest Ofsted monitoring report which found that key areas still require significant change and serious issues remain.

The UNIVERSITY OF EXETER has submitted detailed plans for its 1,700 bed West Park redevelopment of 50,000m2 of student accommodation.

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