Welcome
Welcome to the website of the Norman Nicholson Society. The site aims to provide information about Nicholson and his work and encourage the study and enjoyment of this remarkable man's writings. Here you will also find information about the NN Society which holds regular events and publishes the newsletter Comet. The Society is based in Millom, on the banks of the River Duddon and in the shadow of Black Combe, and has a worldwide membership.
MembershipNew members of the Norman Nicholson Society are warmly welcomed. Membership fees are £15 per annum or £20 for a couple living at the same address, and £6 youth membership (up to age 25). Check out benefits of membership here, including how to access the Members' exclusive area of this website. Please contact us at nns.membership@gmail.com
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Norman Nicholson
Norman Nicholson was born in Millom, Cumbria, in 1914 and lived there until his death in 1987 with the exception of two years in his late teens when he was sent to a sanatorium in Hampshire to recover from tuberculosis - an event which shaped his subsequent life. His writing career lasted from 1930 until his death and embraced plays, poetry, novels, criticism and essays. He is best known for his poetry and was awarded the Queen's Medal for Poetry in 1977 and the OBE in 1981.
Read an appreciation of Norman Nicholson by Fran Baker, former archivist at the John Rylands University of Manchester Library, HERE. Most frequently-asked question: Where can I get hold of Nicholson's work? The Greetings shop, 26 Lapstone Road, Millom LA18 4BU, has a range of Nicholson books in stock. Or try Faber & Faber HERE or Amazon HERE, or click HERE for links to Nicholson's poems online. |
Social Media: We're on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Click on the icons below.
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LATEST NEWS
A look at our Heritage Week exhibition
posted 25/9/22
A face, a place, a root
Norman Nicholson's house in St George's Terrace, Millom, came to vibrant life yesterday as we threw the front door open to welcome visitors to our one-off exhibition to celebrate both Nicholson and National Heritage Week. It was wonderful to see people arriving from all over Cumbria and beyond. They included the Acting Mayor of Millom Simone Faulkner, Councillor Emma Ormesher, the Chair of Millom & Haverigg Civic Society Irene Rogan, and also Kate Parry and Tom Speight from Cumbria Heritage and Arts Network. A big thank you to everyone who came and supported the event, and also to those who kindly loaned items for display. Exhibits ranged from Josefina de Vasconcellos' bust of Nicholson to poems published in poster format by the Mid Northumberland Arts Group (MidNAG), to Norman's whisky flask, typewriter and even his favourite recipe! Thanks also to Jonathan Powell for leading a guided walk and our committee members who put it all together.
Bust of Norman Nicholson by Josefina de Vasconcellos, below a black and white photo from Norman's school days.
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There was plenty for visitors to see on the ground floor of the Nicholson family home.
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Exhibits included the deeds to No 14, with the signature of Joseph Nicholson, Norman's father.
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posted 18/9/22
ALS Newsletter
The Autumn 2022 Newsletter of the Alliance of Literary Societies has been released and is available to all members of the Norman Nicholson Society. It can be found on the Members' Page (login required). If you're a member of the Society and haven't yet registered for access to this exclusive area, the details are HERE.
posted 15/9/22
posted 15/9/22
Dot Richardson
We are very sad to report that our wonderful friend and former committee member Dot Richardson has passed away. Dot was a founding member of the Norman Nicholson Society and served as our treasurer from 2011 to 2017, continuing as a committee member until last year. A lifelong Millom resident she was the daughter of the Millom harbourmaster in the days when Millom had a busy port alongside the mines and the Ironworks. She witnessed all the changes that the town experienced over the decades and knew Norman Nicholson personally. Her cheerfulness and optimism made her a much-loved member of the Society as well as the wider community and she will be hugely missed.
posted 9/9/22
posted 9/9/22
Fund to assist Nicholson students
Millom Town Council has re-launched the Norman Nicholson Memorial Fund after an interruption caused by the Covid pandemic.
The Fund is now open to applications for grants to assist anyone from Copeland who is engaged in literary studies or a literary career; or anyone nationwide who is studying Nicholson's work.
The deadline is September 30th.
Contact the Town Council direct for further information.
posted 8/9/22
The Fund is now open to applications for grants to assist anyone from Copeland who is engaged in literary studies or a literary career; or anyone nationwide who is studying Nicholson's work.
The deadline is September 30th.
Contact the Town Council direct for further information.
posted 8/9/22
'A face, a place, a root' - celebrating 50 Years of Norman Nicholson's
A Local Habitation
Arrangements are coming along nicely for our exhibition at 14 St George's Terrace on Saturday September 17th. There'll be the chance to see some of Norman's personal possessions, posters illustrating his poems from the celebrated Mid Northumberland Arts Group (MidNAG), and a unique opportunity to view busts of the poet by both Josefina de Vasconcellos and Joan Palmer. And a lot more.
This year is the 50th anniversary of Nicholson's 1972 collection A Local Habitation, the volume which marked his emphatic return to frontline poetry. This is the collection that includes some of his most celebrated poems such as Bee Orchid at Hodbarrow, On the Closing of Millom Ironworks, The Cock's Nest, and The Seventeenth of the Name, this last supplying the title of our exhibition, A face, a place, a root. The collection also includes Windscale, written some 15 years earlier.
The exhibition will be open from 11am to 4pm and runs for one day only so don't miss it. And you can retrace Nicholson's steps by joining a guided walk at 1pm, following the route taken by Norman, his father and his uncle every Sunday. St George's Church will be open to enable visitors to view the late Christine Boyce's spectacular memorial window to Nicholson.
Admission is free and there's no need to book. Look forward to seeing you!
posted 2/9/22
This year is the 50th anniversary of Nicholson's 1972 collection A Local Habitation, the volume which marked his emphatic return to frontline poetry. This is the collection that includes some of his most celebrated poems such as Bee Orchid at Hodbarrow, On the Closing of Millom Ironworks, The Cock's Nest, and The Seventeenth of the Name, this last supplying the title of our exhibition, A face, a place, a root. The collection also includes Windscale, written some 15 years earlier.
The exhibition will be open from 11am to 4pm and runs for one day only so don't miss it. And you can retrace Nicholson's steps by joining a guided walk at 1pm, following the route taken by Norman, his father and his uncle every Sunday. St George's Church will be open to enable visitors to view the late Christine Boyce's spectacular memorial window to Nicholson.
Admission is free and there's no need to book. Look forward to seeing you!
posted 2/9/22
Nicholson exhibition in Millom
The Society is to stage a one-off Norman Nicholson exhibition in the poet's old home to coincide with National Heritage Week in September. It will take place for one day only, Saturday September 17th, from 11am to 4pm. It will give visitors the chance to see many of Nicholson's possessions which are not generally on view to the public, as well as setting foot inside his lifelong home and hearing audio recordings of Norman reading his own poems in the place where he wrote them. There's no admission charge and no need to book. The event will coincide with a guided walk retracing the route to Hodbarrow that Nicholson would take with his father on their regular Sunday walks. More details HERE.
posted 4/8/22
posted 4/8/22
Ironworks drama will live long after the final curtain
Ruth Sutton's new play, 'The Day The Ironworks Closed', based on the closure of Millom Ironworks in 1968, will have a further lease of life long after the final curtain at the Beggar's Theatre. Speaking to our members in a Zoom event last night, novelist and now dramatist Ruth said that a film version of the stage play will be produced to be shown around the county and beyond. This will be based on the stage play which will be performed at the Beggar's Theatre in Millom on November 4th and 5th 2022, but with some additional filming to take place after the show.
We are very grateful to Ruth for taking part in 'An Evening with Ruth Sutton' and giving our members so many insights into both the play and her two series of novels, also set in West Cumbria. The event was held online via Zoom and a full video recording is available on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/g5Uq1v0O-D8
posted 28/7/22
We are very grateful to Ruth for taking part in 'An Evening with Ruth Sutton' and giving our members so many insights into both the play and her two series of novels, also set in West Cumbria. The event was held online via Zoom and a full video recording is available on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/g5Uq1v0O-D8
posted 28/7/22
Very pleasing to see our Norman Nicholson Walking Trails app highlighted in the Guardian! The mention comes in an excellent travel feature written by Phoebe Taplin, describing a visit to the wonderful coastal scenery of West Cumbria and including reference to the app - and, gratefully noted, a link to this website. Read the article HERE. The app launched in March 2021 with funding from Millom Town Deal. Find out how to download the (free) app HERE and explore the locations that inspired Nicholson.
posted 28/7/22
posted 28/7/22
Nicholson documents deposited in Cambridge archive
A priceless collection of Nicholson documents has been deposited in the Archive Centre at King's College, Cambridge, by the man who wrote the first full-length study of Nicholson's work, Philip Gardner. The collection consists predominantly of letters written by Nicholson to Philip Gardner and typescript copies of 12 of Nicholson's poems, some of which are unpublished. The 12 poems by Nicholson, with annotations by Gardner, are: 'Diatoms' 'Birthday Card' 'Christmas Present' 'Scree' 'Christmas Carol for the First Man in the Moon' 'The Seventeenth of the Name' 'The Borehole' 'The Searcher' 'Tromso' 'A Local Preacher's Goodbye' and 'Hard of Hearing'.
There's more information and contact details for anyone wishing to make an appointment to examine these manuscripts via these links supplied by the Archive Centre:
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860971
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860981
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860983
Philip Gardner was born in Liverpool and was a school friend of Matt Simpson who himself went on to become a published poet and had a close friendship with Nicholson. Gardner studied at King's College, Cambridge, before gaining a PhD at Liverpool University. In 1964 he joined the English Department at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, where he was Associate Professor of English at the time his book on Nicholson was published in 1973. He retired in 2001.
posted 18/7/22
There's more information and contact details for anyone wishing to make an appointment to examine these manuscripts via these links supplied by the Archive Centre:
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860971
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860981
https://arcspace-pub.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/7/archival_objects/860983
Philip Gardner was born in Liverpool and was a school friend of Matt Simpson who himself went on to become a published poet and had a close friendship with Nicholson. Gardner studied at King's College, Cambridge, before gaining a PhD at Liverpool University. In 1964 he joined the English Department at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, where he was Associate Professor of English at the time his book on Nicholson was published in 1973. He retired in 2001.
posted 18/7/22
ALS Journal is available to all our members
The summer edition of ALSo, the journal of the Alliance of Literary Societies, is now available for our members to read. As a member of the Norman Nicholson Society you are entitled to free receipt of the journal which can be found in the Members' Area of this website. If you're not sure how to find it, the details are HERE.
posted 11/7/22
posted 11/7/22
'Sea to the West' featured
Nicholson's 1981 poem 'Sea to the West' is featured this week by the charity The Reader, which aims to promote the reading of great literature to people of all ages and backgrounds. The poem has been chosen because the Reader's theme this year is 'Light and Darkness'. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQmhUhOCbZQ
posted 15/6/22
posted 15/6/22
New in the Members' Area
New addition to the Members' Area of this website: a letter written by Norman to a Millom woman who had congratulated him on his appearance in the BBC documentary series Look Stranger in 1973. If you are a member of the Norman Nicholson Society and haven't yet registered for access to the members-only pages, please do so. Details can be found HERE.
posted 15/6/22
posted 15/6/22
Norman and the Queen
Congratulations to Her Majesty on her Jubilee! Which among many other uplifting spin-offs gives us the chance to remember the day in 1977 (another Royal Jubilee year) when Norman visited Buckingham Palace to receive the Queen's Medal for Poetry.
'The day was described by Peggy Troll, writing in Comet in 2016 and drawing on a letter sent by Norman's wife Yvonne to his cousin Doreen Cornthwaite. The Queen's 90th birthday that year had been marked by an event at St George's Church, when Peggy spoke about Norman's award. She wrote in Comet: 'I was able to quote some of Yvonne's description of the day. Sir John Betjeman, then Poet Laureate, escorted Norman and Yvonne with their two nieces, Liz and Sarah, to the Palace. The ceremony, which only Norman and Sir John attended, lasted about fifteen minutes. Yvonne writes, It went marvellously. He (Norman) was very good indeed, Sir John reported. He also told us that before Norman went in, the Queen had read aloud several lines from 'On the Closing of Millom Ironworks', saying she liked them. The Queen kept the copy of 'Stitch and Stone' "to read when I have some time. This has been such a busy year but I have found it encouraging." '
Norman and Yvonne at Buckingham Palace, 1977
posted 4/6/22
Meeting at Wordsworth Grasmere
The Society's three committee members who also sit on the board of Norman Nicholson House Community Interest Company had a very valuable and informative meeting last Friday with Jeff Cowton, principal curator at Wordsworth Grasmere. Charlie Lambert, Janice Brockbank and Sue Dawson had the chance to tap into Jeff's own experience of running a literary house, as well as enjoying a tour of Dove Cottage. We're really grateful to Jeff for giving us his time and passing on a lot of advice on a range of topics. The project to buy and renovate Nicholson's lifelong home continues to make steady progress.
Jeff Cowton (left) with Charlie Lambert, Janice Brockbank and Sue Dawson
posted 3/5/22
Architectural Heritage Fund doubles our money!
Our project to buy and renovate Norman Nicholson's home in Millom has chalked up a major success thanks to the Architectural Heritage Fund.
The AHF, which works to promote the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic buildings for the benefit of communities across the UK, has awarded the project Crowdfunder Challenge status. This means they will match pound-for-pound all money raised by Nicholson House’s online crowdfunding campaign.
Chair of Norman Nicholson House Charlie Lambert said: ‘This is wonderful news, especially because the AHF are backdating this award so that all the money we’ve raised so far has doubled overnight. Our GoFundMe campaign has just hit its initial target of £10,000 and we will now extend that target, knowing that every donation immediately becomes worth twice as much’.
It means that the project has now secured over £126,000 from a range of sources towards its aim to turn the house in St George’s Terrace into a place that will make a lively contribution to the community, as well as celebrating the life and work of the poet. Charlie said: ‘We are well on our way, but we are still talking to funding organisations because this is a sizeable and ambitious project.’
Donate through the Crowdfunder campaign – and your money will immediately be doubled by the Architectural Heritage Fund. Find out more about project to buy and renovate the house at www.normannicholsonhouse.co.uk
posted 19/1/22
The AHF, which works to promote the conservation and sustainable re-use of historic buildings for the benefit of communities across the UK, has awarded the project Crowdfunder Challenge status. This means they will match pound-for-pound all money raised by Nicholson House’s online crowdfunding campaign.
Chair of Norman Nicholson House Charlie Lambert said: ‘This is wonderful news, especially because the AHF are backdating this award so that all the money we’ve raised so far has doubled overnight. Our GoFundMe campaign has just hit its initial target of £10,000 and we will now extend that target, knowing that every donation immediately becomes worth twice as much’.
It means that the project has now secured over £126,000 from a range of sources towards its aim to turn the house in St George’s Terrace into a place that will make a lively contribution to the community, as well as celebrating the life and work of the poet. Charlie said: ‘We are well on our way, but we are still talking to funding organisations because this is a sizeable and ambitious project.’
Donate through the Crowdfunder campaign – and your money will immediately be doubled by the Architectural Heritage Fund. Find out more about project to buy and renovate the house at www.normannicholsonhouse.co.uk
posted 19/1/22
Recordings of Nicholson reading his poems
Audio recordings of the Cumbrian poet Norman Nicholson reading his own work are now available to anyone who downloads the walking trails app which was launched by Norman Nicholson House last year. This new addition to the app features two of Nicholson’s most loved poems, The Shadow of Black Combe and On the Dismantling of Millom Ironworks. The recordings were originally made in the 1980s by another Cumbria poet Mike Smith, who has generously given permission for their use.
Chair of Norman Nicholson House Charlie Lambert said: ‘Nicholson’s poetry strikes so many chords and to hear it being read by the man himself in his own environment is a wonderful experience. We are grateful to Mike for allowing us to use his recordings’.
The walking trails app features two routes around Nicholson’s home town of Millom, taking participants to significant landmarks and places of interest, accompanied by text, photographs and audio, all available on a smartphone. The app was launched in March 2021 thanks to funding from Millom Towns Fund. It is free to download and can be accessed through Google Play or the App Store. Search for ‘Norman Nicholson’s Millom’.
posted 10/2/22
Chair of Norman Nicholson House Charlie Lambert said: ‘Nicholson’s poetry strikes so many chords and to hear it being read by the man himself in his own environment is a wonderful experience. We are grateful to Mike for allowing us to use his recordings’.
The walking trails app features two routes around Nicholson’s home town of Millom, taking participants to significant landmarks and places of interest, accompanied by text, photographs and audio, all available on a smartphone. The app was launched in March 2021 thanks to funding from Millom Towns Fund. It is free to download and can be accessed through Google Play or the App Store. Search for ‘Norman Nicholson’s Millom’.
posted 10/2/22
Revised call for papers
Dr Stephen Ely has sent a revised Call for Papers for the Apocalypse Symposia which we have featured on our website ( see October 14th, in the News Blog). The main changes are that there are now details about the dates of submission of proposals.
Apocalypse I: please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20-minute papers, plus a short biographical note, to John Goodby (j.goodby@shu.ac.uk) by Friday 28th January, 2022.
Apocalypse II: please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20-minute papers, plus a short biographical note, to Steve Ely (s.ely@hud.ac.uk) by Friday 30th September, 2022.
The new Call for Papers can be viewed here (click on the 'fullscreen' icon, bottom right):
Apocalypse I: please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20-minute papers, plus a short biographical note, to John Goodby (j.goodby@shu.ac.uk) by Friday 28th January, 2022.
Apocalypse II: please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20-minute papers, plus a short biographical note, to Steve Ely (s.ely@hud.ac.uk) by Friday 30th September, 2022.
The new Call for Papers can be viewed here (click on the 'fullscreen' icon, bottom right):
posted 19/11/21, updated 5/12/21
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for previous News items please visit our News Blog
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