On a cool day in late autumn our focus was on history and poetry. Our speaker was Ed Creely, who works with the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and who is interested in lifelong learning. As those present will recall, ‘Ed is a devoted poet.’ We know he writes poetry every day and that it is possible to join his writing group online.

For the Rye Historical Society, Ed spoke, mainly, about the links between poetry and history, starting with his own very personal poetry about his father’s experiences in World War II, and then looking at the work of other Australian poets, and the way their words reflect different aspects and perspectives on Australia’s past.

Question time was lively, and revealed that many people in the audience (of about twenty members) believed that poetry had to rhyme and were quite excited to hear that this was not necessarily true. It was an interesting and enjoyable afternoon.

Michelle Cheers, our Vice President, welcomed our guest speaker (In the absence of President Lynne Woollard, who was in Japan).

Prue Found offered Rye: A Book of Memories as a token of thanks to Ed for a very interesting and engaging talk.