Heather Wastie
@heatherwastie.bsky.social
Poet, singer songwriter, keyboard & accordion player, actor, Worcestershire Poet Laureate 2015/16 https://wastiesspace.co.uk/ https://linktr.ee/heatherwastie
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Heather Wastie
@heatherwastie.bsky.social
· Aug 20
YOU ARE HERE
On Sunday 6th April, former Worcestershire Poet Laureate Heather Wastie launched her ninth poetry collection. YOU ARE HERE is a diary of lockdown, a collection of poetry and photographs taken by He…
wastiesspace.co.uk
My ninth poetry collection was published in April 2025 wastiesspace.co.uk/you-are-here/
Reposted by Heather Wastie
It's #GivingTuesday, and CFTA's Big Festive Fundraiser has just begun ✨
This week, and this week only, your donation is doubled. Help us raise £25k and step it up for the arts in 2026.
👉 donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
This week, and this week only, your donation is doubled. Help us raise £25k and step it up for the arts in 2026.
👉 donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
December 2, 2025 at 12:22 PM
It's #GivingTuesday, and CFTA's Big Festive Fundraiser has just begun ✨
This week, and this week only, your donation is doubled. Help us raise £25k and step it up for the arts in 2026.
👉 donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
This week, and this week only, your donation is doubled. Help us raise £25k and step it up for the arts in 2026.
👉 donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
A perfect demonstration of how the arts are crucial to life. @campaignforthearts.org
December 2, 2025 at 11:14 AM
A perfect demonstration of how the arts are crucial to life. @campaignforthearts.org
Ian Marrey has put together an 'eclectic mix of words and music' with a wintry theme to raise funds for Acorns Children's Hospice. Please go to his page to donate. Then you can listen to all the tracks, including one of mine. www.justgiving.com/page/from-ac...
From Acorns Grow...
Help Ian Marrey raise money to support Acorns Children's Hospice Trust
www.justgiving.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Ian Marrey has put together an 'eclectic mix of words and music' with a wintry theme to raise funds for Acorns Children's Hospice. Please go to his page to donate. Then you can listen to all the tracks, including one of mine. www.justgiving.com/page/from-ac...
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Government’s last chance to keep control of digital
Digital sovereignty isn’t optional anymore. We sold our water to foreign billionaires. Now we’re handing them our health data
By Philip O'Brien
Digital sovereignty isn’t optional anymore. We sold our water to foreign billionaires. Now we’re handing them our health data
By Philip O'Brien
Government’s last chance to keep control of digital
Digital sovereignty isn’t optional anymore. We sold our water to foreign billionaires. Now we’re handing them our health data
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Government’s last chance to keep control of digital
Digital sovereignty isn’t optional anymore. We sold our water to foreign billionaires. Now we’re handing them our health data
By Philip O'Brien
Digital sovereignty isn’t optional anymore. We sold our water to foreign billionaires. Now we’re handing them our health data
By Philip O'Brien
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Only a few days left to enter the Cafe Writers poetry competition. Our sole judge is Jessica Mookherjee. First prize is £1000 and there are other prizes too. #poetry www.cafewriters.co.uk/home/poetry-...
Poetry Competition | Cafe Writers
www.cafewriters.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Only a few days left to enter the Cafe Writers poetry competition. Our sole judge is Jessica Mookherjee. First prize is £1000 and there are other prizes too. #poetry www.cafewriters.co.uk/home/poetry-...
Here's a video of the v well organised Black Country poetry gig I was part of on Monday. Nice one @emmapurshouse.bsky.social! I especially enjoyed reading one of Dave Reeves' poems. Wish he was still with us to read it himself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Ar... #BlackCountry #poetry #dialect #rhyme
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Ar... #BlackCountry #poetry #dialect #rhyme
Virtual Heritage Group November 17th 2025. An evening with Emma Purshouse and Friends
YouTube video by The Black Country Society
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Here's a video of the v well organised Black Country poetry gig I was part of on Monday. Nice one @emmapurshouse.bsky.social! I especially enjoyed reading one of Dave Reeves' poems. Wish he was still with us to read it himself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Ar... #BlackCountry #poetry #dialect #rhyme
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2Ar... #BlackCountry #poetry #dialect #rhyme
Reposted by Heather Wastie
we close at midnight tonight ( sunday ) please submit your best poems .... prizes include a slot at @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social on line - read more and enter
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
November 16, 2025 at 7:52 PM
we close at midnight tonight ( sunday ) please submit your best poems .... prizes include a slot at @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social on line - read more and enter
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Just one day left to send your poems to the @cheltenhampoetryfestival
Festival's International Poetry Competition!
We welcome poems from all over the world!
To enter and find out more info visit: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
Festival's International Poetry Competition!
We welcome poems from all over the world!
To enter and find out more info visit: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
November 14, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Just one day left to send your poems to the @cheltenhampoetryfestival
Festival's International Poetry Competition!
We welcome poems from all over the world!
To enter and find out more info visit: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
Festival's International Poetry Competition!
We welcome poems from all over the world!
To enter and find out more info visit: www.ticketsource.co.uk/cheltenhampo...
Reposted by Heather Wastie
I’m struggling a little bit mentally at the moment. I hope this poem brings you love and light, wherever you are. #poetrycommunity
November 13, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I’m struggling a little bit mentally at the moment. I hope this poem brings you love and light, wherever you are. #poetrycommunity
Shopping in #Worcester today? Do drop into @scripthavenltd.bsky.social and browse the #poetry shelves! My You Are Here is there.
November 15, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Shopping in #Worcester today? Do drop into @scripthavenltd.bsky.social and browse the #poetry shelves! My You Are Here is there.
Reposted by Heather Wastie
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump - brilliant stuff from @davidallengreen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump
A proposal for a reply to his $1bn claim
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:02 PM
The letter the BBC could send back to Trump - brilliant stuff from @davidallengreen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...
Reposted by Heather Wastie
And while we're here... a reminder that this year's #WolvesLitFest poetry competition is now open. Judges @helenivory.bsky.social and @martinfigura.bsky.social. £400 first prize. All the info you need is here: pandemonialists.co.uk/wolves-lit-f...
November 10, 2025 at 1:27 PM
And while we're here... a reminder that this year's #WolvesLitFest poetry competition is now open. Judges @helenivory.bsky.social and @martinfigura.bsky.social. £400 first prize. All the info you need is here: pandemonialists.co.uk/wolves-lit-f...
Reposted by Heather Wastie
If you're a poet looking for a top-quality competition, judged by the impeccably wonderful @helenivory.bsky.social and @martinfigura.bsky.social, then you're in luck! The #WolvesLitFest poetry competition is now open!! 😊 All the info's here: pandemonialists.co.uk/wolves-lit-f...
November 2, 2025 at 8:11 AM
If you're a poet looking for a top-quality competition, judged by the impeccably wonderful @helenivory.bsky.social and @martinfigura.bsky.social, then you're in luck! The #WolvesLitFest poetry competition is now open!! 😊 All the info's here: pandemonialists.co.uk/wolves-lit-f...
I wonder what this derelict, and rather creepy, canal lock is like today. Here's a poem I wrote after exploring it in 2017. wastiesspace.co.uk/2025/11/04/a... #FundBritainsWaterways
All that remains
You’d think a herculean hand had reached into the mortar, spread its fingers wide and doggedly insisted brick and sandstone should be parted. Ascend the tumbled steps as best you can and feel the m…
wastiesspace.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I wonder what this derelict, and rather creepy, canal lock is like today. Here's a poem I wrote after exploring it in 2017. wastiesspace.co.uk/2025/11/04/a... #FundBritainsWaterways
Reposted by Heather Wastie
The rainbow diffraction effect on a blue tit, taken yesterday with the fab new OM 50-200. Can’t wait for my OM interview at 5pm GMT Friday on YouTube @omsystem.bsky.social @shropshirewildlife.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @natgeophotos.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
The rainbow diffraction effect on a blue tit, taken yesterday with the fab new OM 50-200. Can’t wait for my OM interview at 5pm GMT Friday on YouTube @omsystem.bsky.social @shropshirewildlife.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @natgeophotos.bsky.social
‘Autumn dawn is the colour of old bruises with a moon
like a nail print in a neck.’
like a nail print in a neck.’
Delighted to have a poem in the new issue of The Interpreter's House alongside @calebparkinpoet.bsky.social and @moette.bsky.social!
My piece 'Fourpence', narrated by the women of Whitechapel during the time of Jack the Ripper, can be read here:
theinterpretershouse.org/hainsworth-84
My piece 'Fourpence', narrated by the women of Whitechapel during the time of Jack the Ripper, can be read here:
theinterpretershouse.org/hainsworth-84
Hainsworth 84 — The Interpreter's House
theinterpretershouse.org
November 3, 2025 at 7:13 AM
‘Autumn dawn is the colour of old bruises with a moon
like a nail print in a neck.’
like a nail print in a neck.’
Reposted by Heather Wastie
UK launches search for ‘town of culture’ among places ‘written out of national story’
UK launches search for ‘town of culture’ among places ‘written out of national story’
Lisa Nandy says government hopes to build on success of cities of culture programme, with £3.5m for winner
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:37 AM
UK launches search for ‘town of culture’ among places ‘written out of national story’
Occasionally my blog stats tell me that someone has viewed a post I had forgotten writing, like this one from Feb 2018. It shows how visiting a scary place enabled me find emotional connections for writing a poem. wastiesspace.co.uk/2018/02/21/f... #FundBritainsWaterways
Finding an emotional connection
My Dad, Alan T Smith MBE, was a waterways enthusiast and a dedicated, hard-working campaigner for the restoration of derelict canals. It all began when my brother and I were young and the doctor ad…
wastiesspace.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Occasionally my blog stats tell me that someone has viewed a post I had forgotten writing, like this one from Feb 2018. It shows how visiting a scary place enabled me find emotional connections for writing a poem. wastiesspace.co.uk/2018/02/21/f... #FundBritainsWaterways
Reposted by Heather Wastie
The president earlier in the week challenged her to take the test, which he incorrectly called an "aptitude" test.
Jasmine Crockett Trolls Trump On Kimmel, Takes Cognitive Test He Keeps Bragging About
The president earlier in the week challenged her to take the test, which he incorrectly called an "aptitude" test.
www.huffpost.com
October 30, 2025 at 8:30 AM
The president earlier in the week challenged her to take the test, which he incorrectly called an "aptitude" test.
Excited to be included in this collection from @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Out now: Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 — edited by @vespertine4.bsky.social & @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social. Free to download from The Broken Spine website.
thebrokenspine.co.uk/product/sele...
thebrokenspine.co.uk/product/sele...
Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 - Eds. David Hanlon & Katie Jenkins (Digital) - The Broken Spine
Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 (Digital Edition) Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 brings together bold, contemporary voices from across the globe. Edited by David Hanlon and Katie Jenkins, this downloadable...
thebrokenspine.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Excited to be included in this collection from @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Thank you for reading and sharing today's poem - And Eliza by @heatherwastie.bsky.social
October 28, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Thank you for reading and sharing today's poem - And Eliza by @heatherwastie.bsky.social
Reposted by Heather Wastie
Looking forward to this one already. K-Teas Cakes do fantastic cakes...yum!
October 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Looking forward to this one already. K-Teas Cakes do fantastic cakes...yum!
Thanks so much, Roger.
A marvelous poem Heather - all the reality laid out before us to feel 👏👏👏
October 28, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Thanks so much, Roger.
I’m so pleased that my poem ‘And Eliza’ is published by @atriumpoetry.bsky.social today. The #BlackCountry theme is close to my heart. #chainmakers #chainwomen
October 28, 2025 at 7:16 AM
I’m so pleased that my poem ‘And Eliza’ is published by @atriumpoetry.bsky.social today. The #BlackCountry theme is close to my heart. #chainmakers #chainwomen