Clive Sanders Poetry Workshops and Reading

Clive is a Military Poet who served most of his working life in the British Army. He has travelled the world extensively and visited places of conflict.

He has written poems based on his military experiences for more than 15 years and has a considerable following of readers.

Clive has to date run Poetry Workshops for many thousands of children in schools all over England and Wales and is very proud of the amazing poems written during these events.

In collaboration with UK-based charity Never Such Innocence (NSI) and the Mere Literary Festival Schools Outreach programme, Clive will carry out workshops in 3 local schools this week – focusing on Years 5-6.

Each workshop will be around 1.5 hours and following these workshops, we are delighted to provide the opportunity for Clive and his students to attend, perform and exhibit their poetry for us in The Grove Building, between 2 and 3.30pm. This is a free event, but please book a ticket to reserve your space.

This event has been kindly sponsored by Never Such Innocence (NSI) and SchoolReaders

About Never Such Innocence (NSI)

Never Such Innocence (NSI) is a UK-based charity giving children and young people a voice on conflict through the creative arts. Founded by Lady Lucy French OBE in 2014 to mark the centenary of the First World War, NSI recognised the need to help younger generations understand the realities of war and the pursuit of peace. Since 2019, its mission has expanded to include all conflicts, past and present.

Through poetry, art and song, NSI invites young people to express how conflict has shaped their lives and communities. Its work is channelled into two programmes:

Conversations on Conflict fosters international dialogue through workshops, showcase events, exhibitions, special projects and an international competition. To date this has reached participants (aged 9-18) from more than 135 countries. Submissions often reflect deeply personal encounters with war, whether through direct experience, intergenerational memory or indirect exposure. These creative works serve as both testimony and advocacy, revealing the emotional, social, and psychological dimensions of conflict from a child’s perspective.

About SchoolReaders

One in four primary school children in England fail to reach the expected standard of reading by the age of 11. This leaves them unable to access their secondary education fully, which will have life-long consequences. 

As the largest in-school literacy charity in the country, Schoolreaders exists to change this. Schoolreaders recruits, places and supports volunteers to go into local primary schools and provide free, weekly, one-to-one reading support for children, prioritising those who need this extra support the most.
 
One quarter of all primary schools are registered with with SchoolReaders, requesting volunteers, and trained volunteers currently support more than 40,000 children one-to-one every single week.