More than quarter of a million children gather for record breaking poetry reading! - 19 March 2004
More than a quarter of a million school children will today (March 19) attempt to set a record for the world’s largest poetry reading when they simultaneously recite Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ poem.Entitled Words Worth Reading, this UK event is organised by The Wordsworth Trust and Marie Curie Cancer Care, supported by Yellow Pages. It is the highlight of Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Daffodil Campaign and celebrates the bicentenary of Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ poem.
At precisely 9.15am Poet Laureate Andrew Motion will lead the reading of "I wandered lonely as a cloud" from Hampstead Hill School in North London. Other readings will be taking place at more than 1,100 schools across the UK and at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home in the Lake District now cared for by The Wordsworth Trust, where he wrote the poem in 1804.
All funds raised by the event will go to Marie Curie Cancer Care to provide high-quality nursing, totally free, to give terminally ill people the choice of dying at home supported by their families.
Yellow Pages, sponsor of Words Worth Reading and Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Daffodil Campaign, is giving £5,000 worth of prizes for the top fundraising schools. The company has also produced a celebrity video which has been sent to the first 1000 schools taking part. The video features 12 celebrities, including Graham Norton, James Nesbitt, Jerry Hall, Terri Dwyer and Amanda Holden, reading alternate lines from the poem, following presentation tips from Pop Idol judge Nicki Chapman.
The Wordsworth Trust Chairman, the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, said: "This poem is one of the UK’s favourites and we wanted to do something special to mark the bicentenary this year. I am proud that we have been able to create this partnership with Marie Curie Cancer Care and Yellow Pages to stage an event which will be so much fun for so many children while giving them a chance to study Wordsworth's best known poem.
"They will have great fun reading, will raise money for an important cause and will be more involved with poetry, Wordsworth and our wonderful heritage of English literature – very much in the spirit of our education programme at The Wordsworth Trust."
Notes to Editors
For more press information on Words Worth Reading please contact:
Ali Moorby or Julia Sibun at the Marie Curie Cancer Care press office on 020 7599 7701 or Erica Bolton on behalf of The Wordsworth Trust on 020 7221 5000.
For further information on The Wordsworth Trust please contact Allan King, Press and PR Officer, The Wordsworth Trust, 015394 63524 or 35544 a.king@wordsworth.org.uk
For more info on the Daffodil Campaign visit the website: www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil
1. Words Worth Reading: On March 19, 2004, more than 250,000 pupils from across the UK are aiming to smash the record for the World's largest poetry reading organised by The Wordsworth Trust, Marie Curie Cancer Care and sponsored by Yellow Pages. The event - Words Worth Reading - raises funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care's March-long Daffodil Campaign while celebrating the Bicentenary of Wordsworth's poem Daffodils, written at Dove Cottage in Grasmere. Yellow Pages' support means that funds raised will go directly to Marie Curie Cancer Care, which provides high quality nursing, totally free, to give terminally ill people the choice of dying at home supported by their families.
2. The current world record for the world’s biggest poetry reading was set at 9.10 am on 5 October 2000 as part of National Poetry Day activities. 3,701 children from 15 schools were led by poet Patience Agbabi in a reading of her poem, "Word". The event was organised by the East Side Educational Trust
3. Marie Curie Cancer Care: Memory will be the theme of the Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Campaign 2004, supported by Yellow Pages. The charity will urge everyone to wear a daffodil and fundraise during March to help create treasured moments for cancer patients and their loved ones.
- Research shows that 75% of cancer patients would like to be cared for at home, but only 25% currently achieve their wish. Half of all cancer patients who die at home are cared for by Marie Curie Nurses.
- Marie Curie Nurses care for around 17,000 patients a year.
- Marie Curie Cancer Care’s work is important to us all because around 40% of people will develop cancer at some time in their life. Every year cancer claims the lives of 150,000 people in the UK.
4. The Wordsworth Trust was founded in 1890 to purchase and care for Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Cumbria where Wordsworth lived between 1799 and 1808 when he wrote his most acclaimed poetry.
- Dove Cottage and The Wordsworth Museum displays a designated collection of internationally important manuscripts, art and books. They are open daily from 9.30am to 5.30 pm (last admission 5 pm)
- The Trust encourages reading and writing of poetry through its award winning education programme and the work of its poets in residence.
- Poetry Readings are held every Tuesday during the summer at The Wordsworth Trust, linking the creativity of the present with the past.
5. Yellow Pages directories are published by Yell, a leading international directories business operating in the classified advertising market through printed, online and telephone-based media. Yell's brands in the UK are Yellow Pages and Business Pages, Yell.com, Yellow Pages 118 24 7 and in the US are Yellow Book and Yellowbook.com, all of which are trademarks.
6. The text of the final version of the poem is:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils -
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company;
I gazed and gazed, but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
