Joining friends for a joyful reminder that wine is bottled poetry

when children live at a distance, friends become the immediate support.

Maurice Spillane: Of Poetry Swindon

their topic.

The unwritten rule is no blind tasting, so nobody is set up to fail. In the last year we explored Gascony, The Sherry Triangle, New York State, Campania, visited Burgundy, and invited guest speakers.

We are friends who enjoy wine and indirectly look out for each other.

I often reflect that

As a group we have fun, tease and debate, and appreciate our diverse views.

Our monthly sub is a decent budget for wines we wouldn’t buy as individuals.

We finish the evening with everyone’s contribution to the food table.

It’s an inexpensive social evening.

Learning and curiosity are perfect bedfellows, and there’s the cross-over with poetry.

Poets as friends learning and sharing is no different to friends sampling wine with a keen interest in grape, producer and terroir. And as much fun.

I’m no expert but I’ve certainly improved my knowledge on both fronts. So raise a glass to a cross-over poem, Ben Jonson’s ‘Song to Celia’:

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I’ll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise www.mauricespillane.co.uk

Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove’s nectar sup, I would not change for thine.

If you’d like input on setting up a wine group, let me know.

Alfie Howlett: Swindon Town FC writer

From the outside looking in, the appointment of Jody Morris as Swindon manager is questionable. Surely entrusting a first-time manager, with under half the season remaining, is a roll of the dice to say the least. In this latest column I shall explore both the pros and cons of the 27th Swindon manager since the year 2000.

The CV of Jody Morris is impressive to say the least. Before coaching, Morris represented Chelsea 173 times, becoming their youngest Premier League player in the process.

After hanging up his boots Morris continued his allegiances with Chelsea as a youth coach. There, as Head