Gathering A Village Through Poetry: Our Online Summer School for Mums
Between March and September each year, our Togetherness Poetry Challenge invites anyone and everyone to write a poem under the theme of Togetherness. This year, we hosted a series of gentle and inclusive workshops across England, bringing together different communities to explore the Steps to Togetherness concept through the magical power of poetry.
The annual Poetry Challenge aims to create the opportunity for all sorts of people to unlock a new creative outlet for themselves, and a new way to connect with others. It welcomes people from ages and stages and walks of life, especially those at risk of isolation.
One type of person we wanted to give extra special attention to was mums and parents. The rise of individualism and the loss of community is having a profoundly negative effect on us all. But there is perhaps no stage of life where that lack of community hits you quite like it does when you become a parent. It takes a village to raise a child, but, more often than not, mothers and parents in today’s world are doing it all on their own. At the same time, parenting is a shared, profoundly human, experience, which means that becoming a parent creates a natural entry point for building connection. In the words of Gary, a participant of last year’s Poetry Challenge, motherhood is ‘What Unites Us All’. We wanted to find a way to bring the magical powers of poetry to parents as a way of building community through and for parents.
Over the Summer months, we worked with two mothers and poets to deliver The Poetry Summer School for Mums and birthing people - a place where mums could take a beat to breathe, connect, reflect on their experiences together, and nurture the poet within them.
The Poetry Summer School For Mums
The Poetry Summer School for Mums was an alive, welcoming and healing online space - away from the constant pull of caring responsibilities. It ran over four fortnightly online sessions throughout Summer 2025, led by Lucy Beckley (a poet, facilitator and mother) and Ovyuki (our treasured partner on the Togetherness Poetry Challenge).
The sessions guided participants through exercises designed to quiet the noise of daily life, provide structure, prompts and inspiration, and then shape their reflections and experiences into polished poems they could submit to the challenge.
Did it work?
For those that were experienced poets, this was a space to integrate their identities by writing on a new theme. For most, this was their first time writing a poem.
Through opening up and experimenting in a safe space, everyone’s confidence blossomed week on week. Conversations ranged from the everyday routines of parenting to sharing thoughts and feelings about the world today, acknowledging how global events affect us all personally.
“The Poetry School for Mums was a safe space where I could create and share poetry. At the time, I was struggling with coping on my own as my husband had to rush to India because of a family emergency. Solo parenting was challenging especially with my chronic health condition. However, writing kept me going and this group was central to the whole process. Thank you so much for what was a meaningful and impactful experience at a time when I was especially vulnerable.” Snehal
“To be given permission to take time to be gentle with yourself and explore your creativity in a non-judgemental space is such a special thing.” Aruna
Lucy described the therapeutic journey and transformation she witnessed:
"It was incredible to see the confidence of the group grow as they began to weave their words into poems and started to share them aloud.
Hearing the words of those who had never written a poem before was such a beautiful and inspiring moment for me, one that has made me more determined to open up access to poetry to all."
Why did it work so well?
Struck by how effortlessly this Summer School ‘fell off the bone’, we evaluated what the ingredients were that made it work so well. These were:
1. Parenting x Poetry: Parenting is a shared experience that many women are doing alone. Poetry builds connections and helps people find belonging. By bringing the two together we created something truly magical.
2. A gentle but structured format: We created a gentle, nurturing and supportive environment by:
Breaking the sessions down into 4 shorter, semi structured sessions
Held the sessions fortnightly for consistency but with no obligation to attend every single one
Scheduled the sessions during the summer holidays when our Mums were likely to most need the break from parenting
3. Led from the heart and by someone with lived experience: At the start, many women described feeling lonely and disempowered. But within the safe, supportive space Lucy cultivated, barriers quickly broke down giving way to openness and intimacy, renewed confidence and a sense of belonging through the shared experience of motherhood.
4. Being connected to something bigger: These workshops, and the Poetry Challenge are part of a wider movement - the 32 Steps to Togetherness - that isn’t exclusively focused on mums and parents. Everything that happened in the Summer School will live on as part of the Togetherness movement, which created a heightened sense of meaning and purpose.
What’s next?
What’s next for our mums? Well, we’re working hard to find ways to continue this simple-yet-effective initiative - it is evidently life-changing. We’re on the hunt for partners who can help us to scale these workshops.
We’re also here if you want to work with us to bring the power of poetry to other communities. The Summer School for Mums was part of a series of workshops and events designed to support people to write their first poem and submit it to the Poetry Challenge. We’ll be celebrating the 2025 Togetherness Poetry Challenge in March 2026. After that, we’ll be having a fallow year to focus on delivering lots of poetry workshops with different communities of people, in readiness to come back bigger and better than ever in 2027.
“During one session, I asked the question ‘What does poetry show you?’ I was moved to tears by the responses. Each answer was highly personal and yet so universal. That’s a typical reflection of what poetry can do: poetry can cross borders, it can trapeze generational and community divides... it calls us to bear witness to this wild ride called life.”
About Lucy
Lucy Beckley is a published writer, poet and creative writing facilitator based in Cornwall. She regularly runs workshops for adults, children and organisations and loves to help inspire others to find the joy and magic in writing.
About Ovyuki
Ovyuki is a published poet and creative writing facilitator, with a strong track record delivering workshops and open-mic in and around London. Ovyuki is leading on the Togetherness Poetry Challenge, half in her capacity as our Poetry lead and also in her capacity as Founder of Hidden Literature.
