This Sunday afternoon a BBC Radio4 programme about the Pompey dialect will be hosted by Isle of Wight resident, Maggie Sawkins.
A poet, who for many years ran the Portsmouth-based poetry and music club, Tongues & Grooves, Maggie is also a winner of the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry.
Discussing the Pompey dialect
For the R4 programme, Tongue and Talk, Maggie meets up with fellow poets to ask whether the Pompey dialect has been “relegated to the margins or is now moving into the modern mainstream”.
She also chats with the former Poet in Residence at Fratton Park (home of Portsmouth FC) and speaks with author Al Wright about his novel set in a futuristic Portsmouth, where people still use a version of the dialect.
There’ll be some ‘sailor speak’, street slang and lots more to enjoy from 4.30pm on Sunday 24th July. You might even recognise a few words if you’ve spent time across the water.
How it came about
News OnTheWight spoke with Maggie to find out how the gig with the BBC came about.
Originally from Portsmouth, Maggie moved to the Isle of Wight 18 months ago. About a year ago the producer for the Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets series got in touch with Maggie given her strong connection to Portsmouth.
Things developed from there and rather than Maggie just providing some leads for the producer, she ended up being asked if she would host the programme.
Sawkins: A very special experience
Maggie explained for the programme there were two full days of recording and eight hours of interviews needing to be edited down to 27 minutes.
“It was really great and a very special experience because I’d never done anything like that before.”
If you’re not able to tune in at 4.30pm on Sunday, you can listen again after the programme has been broadcasted.
Image: Maggie performing at Bar 74, Ryde
