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TUMMY JONES - ODEBRY MON
Billy Spakemon

Billy Spakemon is the stage and pen name of Brian Dakin.    Dedicated to the promotion of the Black Country dialect as the core of our identity, Billy Spakemon’s output of poems, stories and songs  in his ‘mutha tung’ is truly prodigious, reminiscent of the output of Bob Dylan in his youth.

Billy has been performing his work across the region for years and is it’s finest performance poet.  This, his third collection, of consists of poems, stories and songs, many of which have been performed live across the region.  Again the sweep of subject matter is immense, from love to loss, tragedy in the tunnel to fun in the fode...

So, sit back get yer yed in his book, tune into his spake, and enjoy the bard of the Black Country.

 Billy’s fust tew books, Chant of the Mutha Tung and Cor Yow Shurrup a Minit Billy are also available from The Kates Hill Press 

A5 booklet, 48 pages, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 978 1 904552 21 5

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THE FORTS OF KIMMY SUE ANNE
Louise Mary Stokes

Kimmy Sue Anne, from the rough, tough streets of Dudley’s Kates Hill, overlooked as it is by the town’s ancient castle, waxes lyrical about her love of ancient military edifices, inspired no doubt by…

 Yo! Guy! It is not those kind of forts, it is the forts that I is finkin innit.  Those are the forts in this book, what I have writ…

 The Forts of Kimmy Sue Anne… Words of wisdom from Kates Hill’s finest chav poet though innit.

 Yo! Guy!  I is da only chav wot is writin me pwoems…

 The Forts of Kimmy Sue Anne, award winning poet…

 Yo! Guy!  Wot award is it I is winnin…

 Kates Hill Press Chav Poet of the Year 2007…

 Yo!  Guy! Seein as you is awardin me you can keep your forts…

 Kimmy Sue Anne:-

Just one of the characters of Louise Mary Stokes.  There’s a whole family of them to look forward to...

A5 booklet, 40 pages, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 978 1 904552 22 2

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CONVERSATIONS WITH THE FAMILY OF THE GROTEQUE
Louise Mary Stokes

Kimmy Sue Anne  the Chav Poet:-

Is just one of the characters of Louise Mary Stokes.  If you thought she was bad enough, there’s a whole family of them…

Nan  -  Roz Coalstead, a sweet little old lady (coughs)

Great Uncle Dirk O’T’Dea  -  Stand oop comedian from oop North.

Nicola Goff  -  The goth, Kimmy Sue Anne’s cousin, formerly Nicola Heathland Smith but changed her initials from NHS… her world is bleak bleak bleak.

Pamela Mary Crabfish  -  Dirk’s ex missus, from Glastonbury, wears tartan, drinks baby ham and black.

Arthur Stringer Turner  -  Pamela’s nephew, Kimmy Sue Anne’s second cousin twice removed  -  or something  -  angry young man wannabe.

Celestine  -  Kimmy Sue Anne’s eccentric aunt from somewhere exceedingly posh… Solihull

Jean-Stefan de le Broadbean d’ Urse au Mange Tout  -  French artist, the intended of Nan Roz Coalstead.

Meet them all in this book…

A5 booklet, 36 pages, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 978 1 904552 27 7

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MAROONED
(A JOURNEY THROUGH BULLYING USING POETRY AS THE GUIDE)
Louise Mary Stokes

"The way she looked, the way she spoke to me.
Those things she said, the threats, the put-downs, the vicious, snide
tone of her voice, grinding me down, day after day, after day, until I
became a shadow, a hollwed out shell, unable to think or function..."
From In The Cold Light Of Day 

MAROONED is as author LOUISE MARY STOKES describes it, “a journey through bullying using poetry as the guide.” Just one look at Louise’s CV tells a story of a formidable woman, who has achieved intellectually and professionally, and more recently as a writer and performer. How can a woman like that be bullied? Well, bullies are everywhere and the bullies described in Marooned operated in the NHS, beloved by the British public. The NHS came into being in the context that health care being the sole preserve of the wealthy could not continue. But the NHS is changing. There was a sketch in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life in 1983 in which the patient was an afterthought. It was satire, and not meant to be the blueprint for future health care. In these days of targets one begins to wonder. To this we can add the welter of paper protocols in the name of Quality Assurance that in fact assure that quality doesn’t enter into it as the context of service to patients is stripped from the equation. It takes a certain type of person to manage this. Today’s NHS is constipated with functionaries, the frankly not very good who can’t or don’t do context, only paper protocol. In this environment another type of person flourishes alongside the functionary, a type of person whose skills are valued when hitting targets is the prime aim… the psychopath. Not the knife wielding maniacs depicted by Hitchcock and Hopkins but the bog standard person without a conscience who operates by distorting reality, draining their victims of their humanity like vampires. Another of their skills is superficial charm, wolves in sheep’s clothing who take people in and avoid detection. That is how even formidable people can be bullied.
MAROONED charts a course through that process. It isn’t about the bullies as such. While it is important that the existence of bullies in our public services is broadcast, MAROONED is above all the compelling story of one woman’s survival.
American psychologist Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door has written, “living well is the best form of revenge.” Bullies do not like people who are truly alive and beyond their power. In writing MAROONED, Louise Stokes has shown them that she is now living well.

A5 booklet, 52 pages, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 978 1 904552 19 2

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HAPPINESS IS...
Carol Ward

"The Baftas and Oscars
oh what a bore,
superlatives abound
and luvvies galore..."
From The Baftas the Oscars

HAPPINESS IS…A collection of Wolverhampton poet Carol Ward’s work reflecting the quirky nature of human beings and relationships.
Carol’s writing is influenced by alternative and zany comedians such as Eddie Izzard and Spike Milligan and writes who are bold and adventurous in their work.
She has been described as the ‘Pam Ayres of the Black Country,’ by Express and Star columnist Peter Rhodes these poems are lively and humorous.
Happiness Is,,, includes her ‘Animals’ collection.

A5 booklet, 48 pages, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 978 1 904552 16 1

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COR YOW SHURRUP A MINIT BILLY!
Billy Spakemon

Billy Spakemon is the stage and pen name of Brian Dakin. As a child, as the title suggests, Brian could ’gie aspro the yed airche’ as he just wouldn’t stop rattling. As an adult, thankfully, he is no different. Dedicated to the promotion of the Black Country dialect as the core of our identity, Billy Spakemon’s output of poems, stories and songs in his ‘mutha tung’ is truly prodigious, reminiscent of the output of Bob Dylan in his youth.

Billy has been performing his work across the region for years and is it’s finest performance poet. This collection of consists of poems, stories and songs, many of which have been performed live at the Lamp Tavern in Dudley where he is resident, and elsewhere. The Graiyte Eskairpe is also available on CD.

So, sit back get yer yed in his book, tune into his spake, and enjoy the bard of the Black Country.

Foreword by Professor Carl Chinn MBE

A5 booklet; 52 pages; £3.00 (plus 50p p&p)
ISBN 1 904552 11 0
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EDNA AND ARTHUR
Carol Midwood

CD version of Carol's booklet of poems about the composite Black Country characters.

CD, 37 min 43 sec, £3.00 (plus 50p p&p in u.k.) RRP £5.00
RKS 02
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EDNA AND ARTHUR
Carol Midwood

"Our Arthur," said Edna, "Oy'm off ter see Mom
"Er cor abide yo' so yo'd better not come."

From DIY At Edna and Arthur's

A booklet of poems about the composite characters Edna and Arthur.  Carol and her husband John once kept the Old Mill, a Holden's house in Upper Gornal.  Edna and Arthur are based on the many parts of their regulars.  Join Arthur doing DIY and the housework, accompany them on trips to Ikea, Spain and the Stourbridge Beer Festival.  Meet their pets, the cats and Gnasher the dog.  Whatever they do, a trip to the pub is never far away for Arthur, and Edna isn't averse to a tipple herself. The booklet is complimented with illustrations by Karen Brockhouse.

A5 booklet; 32 pages; £2.50 (plus 40p p&p)
ISBN 1 904552 08 0

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CHANT OF THE MUTHA TUNG
Billy Spakemon

        

"In Tippun things am pucked up they lyke stoowed tay.
 Now the tacky bonks bay no  moowa in Braidly"

 From That's the Wey we Spake

Dialect Poetry from Brian Dakin who writes and performs under the name Billy Spake Mon. This is a passionate volume that shows that the Black Country Dialect is here to stay.
Includes; "Naiyla Wimmin", "That's the Wey we Spake", "Mutha Tung", "In the Fode" and "Town on Foowa Moowerns."
Read em out loud, get the rhythm, be proud….

A5 booklet; 40 pages; £2.40 (plus 40p p&p)
ISBN  1 904552 00 5
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REFLECTIONS
Clarice Hackett

    

"Clouds break with a crack
Torrential rain falls
Peppering windows
 Splashing walls"

From Ra
iny Moods

Reflections is a collection of 49 of Clarice Hackett's poems, some of which have been published before in various magazines including Woman's Own.
Includes; "Sam", "Aria of Autumn", "Rainy Moods"; "The Call of the Sea", "Sport of a Sort" and many more.

A5 Booklet; 40 pages; £2.20 (plus 40p p&p)
ISBN 0 9520317 7 9
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MORE REFLECTIONS
Clarice Hackett

      

"Tall white candles in the spring
 Promise Sport to be
When prickly outer cases burst
 Beneath the chestnut tree"

 From Chestnuts

A further 32 poems form this second volume of poems by Clarice Hackett. Again the subjects are wide-ranging, love, social issues, nature.
Includes; "The Lace Maker", "Up the Cut", ""Nearly a Century of Progress", "A Ride on the Santa Special", "The Snow wind", and many more.

A5 booklet; 36 pages; £2.30 (plus 40p p&p)
ISBN 0 9520317 9 5
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MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS
Tossie Patrick

             

"There comes a thrush around each day
 To sing to us his merry lay"

 From Th
e Thrush

Several of her poems have been published previously in The Black Country Bugle but here, for the first time in one collection, are all the poems of TOSSIE PATRICK which cover such diverse subjects as the seasons, nature, and writing as well as describing her family and the Black Country.
Includes; "An Ode to Shenstone Woods", "Flowers in Season", "Mill House", "Black Country Nostalga", "When Pat Collins Fun Fair Came To Blackheath."

A5 booklet; 36 pages; £2.00 (plus 40p p&p)
ISBN 0 952317 6 0
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The Kates Hill Press
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Kates Hill
DUDLEY
West Midlands
DY2 7LG

Phone: 01384 255973
Fax: 01384 255973
Email: kateshillpress@blueyonder.co.uk

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