Philippa Lawrence grew up in Devon, Hereford, Dorset and Bristol and trained in Dress, Set and Costume Design and Stage Management, working in the Theatre and TV. She pioneered restoring historic textiles in stately homes, creating conservation centres at Knole, Sevenoaks (Vita Sackville-West’s birthplace), Hatfield House and Castle Howard (the TV and film Brideshead). She helped set up the original London University affiliated Textile Conservation Centre at Hampton Court. Philippa won a Churchill Fellowship and lectured with her unique slides in the USA. She still lectures here in the UK. Philippa always wrote poetry in traditional forms but losing her voice and reciting poetry as therapy inspired her to take Arvon Foundation and Southampton University courses. She has read in the South, West Country, and London, and has judged poetry competitions. Founder Chairman of Kick Start Poets, Salisbury, where she lives; Poetry Representative for The SWWJ  2002-04, and on The Betjeman Society‘s Council, Philippa selected the poems on behalf of Wiltshire for the 1999 and 2006 Autumn issues of South poetry magazine. She helped children compose Valentine verses to hang on red hearts from a tree in a courtyard at Stourhead. Philippa was awarded an Arts Council grant to give a paper about losing her voice, ‘Speak for Yourself you Dumb Blonde’, during the Lapidus 10th Anniversary Conference at the University of Kent in 2006. The following year, she inaugurated a poetry prize she will judge for her lifetime at her old school, a teacher from which made the trophy she donated. Philippa’s poetry has won prizes, and been widely published, translated into Romanian, read on Romanian radio and in London during the poetry pRO Romanian UK tour for poetry pf. poetry pf’s bilingual CD, ‘And the Story So Far…’ features Philippa who is helping translate Romanian poems into English. Her 48 page poetry pamphlet, From  Memory’s Wardrobe, was published by Buff Press in September 2009. A collection, Butter Side Down, is in preparation. LINKS Philippa at poetrypf Philippa at Second Light Live Philippa at Sherborne -  see Business Directory Buy Now from Amazon PHILIPPA LAWRENCE Buy Now from Amazon Buy Now from ppf Buy Now from ppf HOME HISTORY COUNCIL MEMBERS MEMBER PROFILES MEMBER NEWS SOCIETY NEWS NATIONAL EVENTS COMPETITIONS REGIONAL GROUPS REGIONAL EVENTS OVERSEAS SECTION MEMBERSHIP FEES JOINING CRITIQUES WELFARE LINKS Back to Member Index