Far Welter'd News

Far Welter’d meet as a group four or five times a year. We also go out to local organisations to give presentations in dialect. We were also co-founder members of the National Dialect Festival, which takes place annually, and celebrates the rich diversity of dialects throughout England.

Dates for your diary 2024

Monday 11th March - 1230
Monday 7th July – 7.30pm
Monday 23rd Sept - 1230
Monday 2nd Dec -1230

Some other dialect societies.

Lakeland - Lakeland Dialect Society
Lancashire - Edwin Waugh Dialect Society
Northumbrian - Northumbrian Language Society
Yorkshire - Yorkshire Dialect Society
National - National Dialect Festival

Far Welter'd on the BBC

On 23 August at 4.30pm, a programme on BBC radio 4 - Tongue & Talk: the dialect poets - will feature Far Welter'd members reading dialect poetry, and generally talking about Lincolnshire dialect as it is spoken and written. A must-see for all those who cherish our dialect.

To see the BBC info on the programme, please click here. Far Welter'd on radio 4

Far Welter’d at the seaside

Andy Robinson

Billy Woldsworth

Peter Mackinder

Peter Mackinder

Far Welters Andy Robinson, Peter and Mary Mackinder, and Alan Mumby travelled to the Savoy hotel in Blackpool on 18 October to take part in the 11th National Dialect Festival.

Andy and Peter competed for the Bill o’ Bowes Trophy, for writing and performance of a piece in any dialect of English, as well as the Eddie Topping Trophy, for the performance of any English dialect piece.

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to win any silverware (we woz robbed!!), but Andy and Peter both gave sterling performances, and did us proud. We were, however, runners up in the evening competition for the Far Welter’d ‘Hentertayunment’ trophy.

So, no trophies, but it was a great weekend, very well attended, with 10 counties represented, and a jolly good time was had by all.

Somersby event

On Thursday 7 November, Far Welter’d will present an evening of dialect in Somersby House, Tennyson’s birthplace, in aid of the St Margaret’s church restoration fund. The event will start at 7.30pm.

Ticket are £8, to include a buffet supper. Bookings can be made by calling Pam on 01507 533318 or Debbie on 07484 148656. The postcode for Somersby House is PE23 4NR.

A foo mince pies and a trip to deepest, darkest Linkisheer

The last Far Welter’d meeting of 2017 was held on Monday 27 November at Great Carlton. That’s our unofficial HQ, so you could call it GCHQ!

There was a Christmas theme to several of the readings, and there was also a fair foo mince pies to get yetten during supper! Billy Wodswoth took a bag of them home, so I dare say he had no problems with traction on his tractor the next day!

The following Saturday George Danby, Alan Mumby and Peter Mackinder (pictured, just to show we really were there!) went long distance down to Boston, to do a presentation to the Boston Preservation Society. We were a bit worried about going there, seein’ as how they’re a rum lot down south, and they doän’t orlus get their wods right (rig welter’d, indeed!), but we had George with us for protection, and our passports, just in case.

On a serious note, our presentation was very warmly received and we sold 10 copies of ‘Inder-ends! We asked members of the audience to have a go at some dialect sentences, one of them being ‘Now doöern’t touch them tarts, the jam’s razzlin and yer’ll bonn yer lalloper.’ Perhaps it should have been ‘mince pies.’

A Merry Christmas to all our followers, horl ovver the world!

A busy time for our hentertayuners!

Far Welterd Trophy Winners 2017 October is a busy time of the year for our ‘hentertayuners’, as we like to call them. These are our members who broadcast the Far Welter’d message far and wide, giving informal presentations on Lincolnshire dialect to organisations county-wide, as well as in far-flung corners of the country.

When we say ‘presentations’, we’re not talking about ‘death by powerpoint’. We read out poems and tell stories that people find interesting and amusing. We play Call My Bluff using dialect words, just to get the audience involved. In short, we hentertayun!

The East Lindsey Wolds Words festival is held in October each year, and Far Welter’d have been taking part more or less since it started way back in the early 2000s. On 18 October, we played yet again to a capacity audience at the King’s Head in Louth. The feedback from the audience was really positive, both about the dialect stuff and the scrummy buffet!

Two days later, Andy Robinson, Peter and Mary Mackinder and Alan Mumby were in Penryn, Cornwall, taking part in the National Dialect Festival. Unlike last year, we didn’t win a trophy in any of the main categories, but we came away with the Far Welter’d trophy for the best County entertainment on the Saturday night informal bash. Well, we know a thing or three about hentertayuning!

National Dialect Festival 2016

National Dialect Festival 2016 Far Welter’d is a founder member of the National Dialect Festival, which was launched in 2009 in Fylde Lancashire. In 2011 we hosted the festival in Louth.

The aim of the festival is to promote and encourage an interest in local dialects around the country, and over the years it has been held in Lancashire, Cumbria, Lincolnshire, Devon, the Lake District, the Black Country, Yorkshire, and this year it will be in Cornwall.

The main event of the weekend is the dialect competition, with three categories: the “Bill o’ Bowes Trophy” for a performance in any dialect of English; the “Sam Laycock Trophy” for a performance in the dialect of the host region, and the “Eddie Topping Trophy” for a performance in any English dialect.

On the Saturday night there’s an evening of light entertainment, when the societies ‘compete’ for the Far Welter’d ‘hentertayunment’ trophy.

Last year Far Welter’d’s Andy Robinson won the Eddie Topping trophy, which he’ll be carrying with him on 20 October as we travel down to Falmouth for the 2017 festival.