Hotchpotch Dundee

Past Hotchpotch huddles

Thank you so much to everybody who supported us last night, and for being so patient while I (Eilidh) learned the ropes of being on stage.

For anybody who wasn’t able to attend, we’d like to announce that Gavin is stepping down from host to become a member. The running of the event will be remaining the same, and Gavin will be helping with the transition in October.

If you have any upcoming events for the bulletin, please send them no later than Saturday night to [email protected]. We are not accepting any submissions via social media.

Grateful to everybody for the continuous support,

Eilidh Locherty

Folks, we're currently setting up for Hotchpotch at Blend on Dock Street.

Doors open at 6pm, and we'll take names for readers until 6:20pm, ahead of our start time of 6:30pm.

Good evening,

A reminder that our next event is on Wednesday 11 September at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given a five-minute timeslot on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience.

We also collect donations on the night to allow us to hire the venue. General admission is £2, or free of charge if you’re unwaged. Remember that buying cakes and coffee from Blend also helps us with the hire charge. Take a look at our donations page for more information: https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations.

Also, note that Eilidh and I will be experimentally swapping roles, with her on the stage and me taking names. Otherwise, everything remains the same, including that Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle or interrupt while readers are on stage. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

Finally, here are some other events brought to our attention by members:

• On Monday 9 September at 8:45pm, our own Eilidh is hosting a free online talk with Pro Writing Aid called Conflict that Hits Hard: Tension that Leaves a Mark. Find out more about this and other talks below:
◘ https://prowritingaid.com/sci-fi-week/hub

• The Dundee Fringe will be at the Keiller Centre from Friday 13 September to Sunday 22 September. A number of Hotchpotch members are taking part, so rather than listing them individually, have a look at the full programme:
◘ https://dundeefringe.com/

Gavin Cameron

Thank you so much to our wonderful audience for giving us so much poetry, narrative and comedy on Wednesday.

If you have any upcoming events for the bulletin, send them to us no later than Saturday night to [email protected].

Gavin Cameron

Hotchpotch will be starting at 6:30pm, so begin making your way down to Blend on Dock Street.

Good evening,

Our next event is on Wednesday 14 August at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given a timeslot on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience.

After a successful three-month trial, we will retain our five-minute slots – rather than the former seven minutes – which has helped us to keep to our 9pm curfew. If we can find a way to offer more time in the future, we’ll let you know.

We also collect donations on the night and these allow us to hire the venue. General admission is £2, or free of charge if you’re unwaged. Remember that buying cakes and coffee from Blend also helps us with the hire charge. Take a look at our donations page for more information: https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations.

As always, Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle or interrupt while readers are on stage. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

Finally, here are some other events brought to our attention by members:

• Gie’s Peace by Morna Burdon returns to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for five shows only between Saturday 3 August and Sunday 18 August:
◘ https://www.mornaburdon.com/gies-peace.html

• The Dundee Fringe will be at the Keiller Centre in September, and is accepting applications for performances until Friday 9 August:
◘ https://dundeefringe.com/about

• If you like to be informed about literary events closer to Edinburgh, consider subscribing to The Good Egg Project:
◘ https://thegoodeggproject.substack.com/p/chicken-scratchings-and-community

Gavin Cameron

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

A full bulletin will follow, but Hotchpotch happens again on Wednesday 14 August.

A big shout-out to Callum who is currently setting up the PA system at Blend on Dock Street. Start forming an orderly queue from 6pm, ahead of our 6:30pm start.

Good evening,

A reminder that we next meet on Wednesday 10 July at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given a timeslot on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience. We are entering the final month of trialling five-minute slots instead of seven, which has helped us to keep to our 9pm curfew.

We also collect donations on the night and these allow us to hire the venue. As part of the trial, general admission is reduced to £2, or free of charge if you’re unwaged. Take a look at our donations page for more information: https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations.

This event will be less than a week after the general election so there is some potential for political and current affairs material to be performed. A gentle reminder, however, that Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle or interrupt while readers are on stage. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

Finally, here are some other events brought to our attention by members:

• Our regular member Nic has a birthday exhibition at Blend on Dock Street on Friday 5 July. Keep an eye on the Instagram page for more:
◘ https://www.instagram.com/blend_dockstreet?igsh=MW12dDU5NGNiOXNiYg==

• The Dundee Fringe will be at the Keiller Centre in September, and is accepting applications for performances until Friday 9 August:
◘ https://dundeefringe.com/about

• One of our members, Rhiannon, has a story published in a new anthology called Nautical Nightmares, available on Amazon:
◘ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nautical-Nightmares-Sinister-Society-Anthologies-ebook/dp/B0D3KK4KBH/ref=sr_1_1

• Also some advance notice that your co-host Eilidh is planning to release a non-fiction book in October about how to self-edit a fiction novel:
◘ https://www.instagram.com/chapteredvinestudio/

Gavin Cameron

It's been brought to our attention that the council is seeking poetic contributions for its 10-year Culture Strategy, but the deadline is tight.

Submit between one and 20 lines of poetry on the theme ‘What’s the most Dundonian thing ever?’ by 5 July to [email protected]

Thank you all for coming along yesternight, in what was a show of extremes from poingiancy to naughtiness.

We do it all again on Wednesday 10 July at Blend on Dock Street.

The doors for tonight's Hotchpotch will be open from 6pm, then the action begins at 6:30pm.

Because of high demand, we're experimenting with shorter five-minute slots instead of our unique seven-minute ones. So if you want to read something, do come down sharp.

It's just been brought to our attention that the Sheila Templeton Bursary is offering two assisted places to perform at The Wee Gaitherin in Stonehaven from Thu 1 Aug to Sat 3 Aug.

Be quick, though, as the deadline for applications is 11pm on Wed 12 Jun.

The Sheila Templeton Bursary 2024 Sheila TempletonIn honour of our dear friend and acclaimed North-east poet the late Sheila Templeton, The Wee Gaitherin are offering two assisted places to perform at this year’s festival.Thanks to the community support through our Crowdfunder we plan to support two people to attend the festival w...

Good evening,

A reminder that the next Hotchpotch happens on Wednesday 12 June at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given a timeslot on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience. We are currently undertaking a trial of five-minute slots instead of seven, which helps us to keep to our 9pm curfew.

We also collect donations on the night, which allows us to hire the venue. As part of the trial, general admission is down to £2, or free of charge if you’re unwaged. Take a look at our donations page for more information: https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations.

Bear in mind that Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle or interrupt. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

And are some other events brought to our attention by members:

• On Wednesday 5 June, Karen is launching her book at Avant Garde in Glasgow:
◘ https://avantgardeglasgow.co.uk/events-listings/linda-jaxsons-poetry-music-11/

• Ahead of the parade on Saturday 15 June, Dundee Pride is looking for volunteers to help out:
◘ https://www.dundeepride.com/volunteer-pride-day

• Some advance notice that our regular member Nic has a birthday exhibition at Blend on Dock Street on Friday 5 July. Keep an eye on the Instagram page for more:
◘ https://www.instagram.com/blend_dockstreet?igsh=MW12dDU5NGNiOXNiYg==

Gavin Cameron

If you're near Edinburgh, I Am Loud fills the Scottish Storytelling Centre tonight – and there are still tickets left.

Thank you for joining us at Hotchpotch yesterday.

We're currently trialling five-minute slots instead of seven, and we managed to squeeze in 21 readers while still finishing on time.

A full bulletin will come out by Sunday. Meanwhile, here's the crowd.

The doors aren't quite open yet, but start filing into Blend on Dock Street from 6pm, and readings begin at 6:30pm.

A reminder that we're trialling five-minute slots instead of seven so we don't have to disappoint anyone before the 9pm curfew.

Good evening,

A reminder that our next event happens in one week: Wednesday 8 May at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given a timeslot on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience.

Bear in mind that Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle or interrupt. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

Before next week, we would like to summarise some trial tweaks we’ve made to the format. These were first announced in an unscheduled bulletin last month.

• We have an increasing number of readers, which is a fantastic problem to have, but it also means we’ve regularly breached our 9pm curfew. In response, we’re conducting a three-month experiment of reducing the seven-minute time limit to five minutes in the hope of running to time.

• As a thank-you for bearing with us through the trial, the general admission donation will be reduced from £3 to £2, and it remains free of charge if you’re unwaged. Take a look at https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations to see how to donate.

Additionally:

• In response to member feedback, we will update and reposition our signs to make it more obvious where to sign up as a reader. We’ll also display a mascot called Pumpkin Cat.

• We’ve added a section to the Standards of Behaviour covering the events we accept for the bulletin. This update emphasises that we only accept items from those who attend our events, so this won’t affect our current members: https://hotchdundee.org.uk/standards-of-behaviour

This is an unscheduled bulletin regarding the next few Hotchpotch meetings. For the avoidance of doubt, Hotchpotch will still go ahead on Wednesday 8 May as planned, but with small adjustments to the format on a trial basis.

Since our move to Blend on Dock Street six months ago, we’ve been delighted with the support we’ve received from regulars and new members.

With our 9pm curfew and the added interest, it has become increasingly difficult to keep the event running on time.

And for the first time at last week’s meeting, we reluctantly had to ask some of our readers to defer their readings to our May event, otherwise we would have significantly exceeded the curfew. We want to avoid this in future.

To address this, your hosts have opted to trial two format adjustments for the next three events: May, June and July.

• We’ll be reducing the time allocated for each reader from seven minutes to five minutes. This will allow more readers to read on stage.

• Since moving to Blend, you have all been brilliant in ordering at the tills and being understanding of our admission fee. The general admission donation will decrease to £2 in cash for this period. Ko-fi will still be available for donations of £3 or above.

After three months, we will review this trial. If we find this model solves our problem of timings, we plan to adopt these changes permanently, else we’ll consider alternatives.

There will also be some updates to the Standards of Behaviour. These will be ready to read prior to our next event.

Thank you so much for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 8 May.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our last event. A full bulletin will appear by Sunday, but we do it all again on Wednesday 8 May at Blend on Dock Street.

Meanwhile, here's the crowd who made it happen, including Callum in the middle who runs the sound desk.

A super-early post to remind you that Hotchpotch begins at 6:30pm.

The doors are open from 6pm. Put your name down if you want to read, or grab a coffee if you're just here to listen to others.

Good evening,

There’s just a week to go until Gavin and Eilidh host the next Hotchpotch on Wednesday 10 April at Blend on Dock Street. The doors open at 6:00pm, and the readings begin at 6:30pm.

So what can you expect at our event?

This takes an open-mic format where each reader is given seven minutes on a first-come basis to read poems and/or stories. There is no pressure to read; many people come along just to be part of the audience.

We also collect donations on the night, which allow us to hire the venue. General admission is set at £3, or free of charge if you’re unwaged. Take a look at https://hotchdundee.org.uk/donations for more information.

Bear in mind that Hotchpotch is not a place to heckle nor interrupt. Anyone being disruptive may be asked to leave.

Here are some other events brought to our attention by members.

◘ Elaine Newton is starting a new eight-part acting course for actors of all experience levels, including beginners, from Wednesday 10 April. Use the link below to secure your place:
• https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-actor-prepares-tickets-820033290647

◘ Morna Burdon presents Bonnie Fechters - Songs and Stories of Hope and Resistance. That’s on Friday 12 April at 7:30pm in Rait Village Hall. Email the following address for a ticket and bring £10 cash on the night.
• [email protected]

Good evening. Some advance notice that your hosts Gavin and Eilidh have been interviewed for Jam Radio.

Once all the libellous parts have been edited out, you can hear it at 2pm on Sunday 24 March at https://www.justaddjam.co.uk/

A big shout-out to Hannah Hamilton for asking the probing questions.

JAM Radio | Dundee Radio Jam Radio is an Independent University Radio station, based in Dundee. Looking to connect local Dundee artists and listeners to help create a buzz within the city.

Thank you everyone for coming to our event yesterday. Here's our huddle.

As we over-ran, there wasn't time to collect literary events for the bulletin. So either email [email protected] or reply here by the end of Saturday.

We next meet on Wednesday 10 April.