The BHS AGM and Winter Gathering took place on Saturday the 26th November 2022 via Zoom.
Participants who wanted to perform at the event were asked to provide David Bingham with up to 3 haiku or 3 tanka or a short haibun (maximum length 60 words).

Although the live event was cancelled due to the unexpected train strike, the BHS Committee ensured that as much as possible of the planned event took place with the following programme:

• Haiku Surprise — performed by David Bingham;
• BHS AGM — 47 peoples attended; the combined Officer’s reports were distributed by e-mail to the BHS members beforehand and the results of the Elections for the BHS Committee 2022-2024 were officially announced;
• Break;
• Twisting Point: A PowerPoint presentation and workshop by Jasmin Kirkbride based on her research topic ‘Twisting Point’, which explored how haiku writing, over several decades, has been influenced by climate change;
• Break;
• Members performed their own haiku, tanka or haibun.

Here is a small selection of the poems shared at the meeting:

end of summer ellipsis
shaping the yew hedge
into clouds
      (Sue Richards)

the dinosaur room
my charge’s tiny hand
slips into mine
      (Phillip Murrell)

hospice waiting room—
the music takes me
where words cannot
      (Michael Dylan Welch)

riverbank picnic
a view of the mountain tops
sat among buttercups
      (Alan Peat)

Perfection

Just days old, the four babies lie crossways in a single cot. Four round faces; mouths gasping, their unfocused eyes swimming with wonder.
A blanket has been clipped above the cot to protect them from flying glass should the windows blow in.

Spring sunlight –
so perfectly formed
eight tiny hands
      (Sean O’Connor)

Jasmin Kirkbride essay “Twisting point: the evolution of haiku in the climate crisis” was published on the BHS website in January 2023.

Write-up by the BHS Committee