In Memoriam
John Keate Coleridge
1925-2011
A Tribute
(Bronze Head of John Coleridge by Graham High;
photo by kind permission of the sculptor)
The luminous name of John Coleridge, founder of Poetry-next-the-Sea, was always animated and shaped by the literary flame implicit within it: he was the great-great-great-great nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Romantic genius who penned one of the supreme achievements in English literature, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and John kept that poetic legacy burning through his own life as student, poet, and teacher, dedicating much of his life and energy to feeding it.
John was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex in 1925, and in the early days of the Second World War successfully passed his examinations to join the Royal Navy at Dartmouth, but failed the medical (on account of having bad teeth). Instead he went up to King’s College, Cambridge, in 1943, and there joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, serving as an ordinary seaman in the RADAR branch. Following demobilisation, he returned to Cambridge in 1947 to read French and English. After graduating in 1951, he married his first wife Margaret, in Edinburgh in 1951. This marriage was to last for over twenty-five years.
He completed a teaching qualification, and took up a post at one of Norfolk’s top schools: Gresham’s in Holt (whilst living in nearby Letheringsett). In time he became one of the longest-serving teachers there, and his remarkable and unfailing enthusiasm for literature and drama was inspirational to generations of Greshamians. He was the first housemaster of Tallis, and rose to become head of English and later, Deputy Head. Always a keen sportsman, he coached hockey, cricket, rugby, athletics, and sailing. In addition he was chair of the school Archaeological Society, and president of the Debating Society, as well as editor of the school magazine. Beyond the bounds of Gresham’s, John joined Holt Rotary Club, played for the town’s cricket team, and became a town councillor. His career at Gresham’s lasted just short of a cricketing century – ninety-nine terms.
In 1959 he spent a year teaching in the USA, at Wooster College, Connecticut, returning to the States on a sabbatical in 1973 to research the life and work of his perennial favourite, Emily Dickinson.
Three years after Margaret’s death, John wed Myrna. Following his retirement they moved to Stiffkey, then Wells, and finally to Fakenham, contributing as much to each community as he had to his time at Gresham’s, particularly in golf and bowls, and especially through his passion for literature. A lifelong poet himself – his book Pro Tem was published five years ago – John became co-founder, with Kevin Crossley-Holland of Poetry-next-the-Sea in 1997.* Coaxing and nurturing the Wells festival through its formative years, John and Kevin – together with a committed band of volunteers and friends – soon found themselves presiding over a landmark event in the north Norfolk cultural calendar. Even after his withdrawal from active participation in the planning and running of PNTS, John retained a keen interest in the festival, and attended the event whenever he could, despite increasing frailty and ill-health. John graced our last event in May 2011, offering a characteristically witty and spirited contribution of his own to our Open Floor poets’ showcase, determined not to let the encumbrance of a wheelchair thwart him!
John’s death in December 2011, at the age of 85, and after a short illness, marks the end of Poetry-next-the-Sea’s opening phase. Long-time PNTS colleague and former Treasurer Graham Ashworth remarked to me at John’s memorial service that the festival had “lost its founding father”: all of us at Poetry-next-the-Sea are grateful and proud to be working towards the continued development, sustenance, and longevity of John’s extraordinary and enriching child, and hope to keep it worthy of his name.
David Radley
PNTS Festival Committee
The committee of PNTS offers its most sincere condolences to Myrna and family for their loss
Source: Biographical info from John Coleridge’s obituary, the Eastern Daily Press, Dec 23 2011
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* Interviewed by Alan Byford at the time of his eightieth birthday, John recalled the initial spark of inspiration that became PNTS:
“It was the moment when I reminded my wife Myrna that I was off to Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in a few days and she said, “Fair enough. But why do you have to trail off to Suffolk year after year? We here at Wells are a kind of base of a triangle for poetry reading – Norwich, Lynn and Aldeburgh. You have your own circle here; why not a festival here?” Why not indeed? I thought ... I had the perfect man to consult, namely Michael Laskey, founder of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, whom I’d taught at Gresham’s School ... I asked him if he thought North Norfolk could house such a festival. “Why not?” was his response. Thus encouraged, I came back to Wells and, with Myrna, let the idea evolve.”
John concluded by remarking that:
“The festival has lived up to my wildest earliest dreams. It is one of the achievements I shall most cheerfully take to the grave”.
With thanks to Alan Byford for permission to reprint this extract from Tideline, Vol 6 No 1, Spring 2006