Name: 'Modern Cockney' Poetry Grand Slam with Michael Rosen
Start: 2026-10-04T17:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-10-04T18:30:00+01:00
Location: St George-in-the-East Church

Michael Rosen

'Modern Cockney' Poetry Grand Slam with Michael Rosen

Civil Society Together is a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Southwark, Suffolk and Manchester, and has a wealth of experience working with faith, voluntary and community sector organisations. As a Community Interest Company we started our organisational life back in 2011 as Big Society Funding CIC, changing name in early 2020.The CIC is committed to supporting smaller 'grassroots' community-based organisations. We enable them to flourish and to tackle the problems that exist in the local communities they know and love. Recently, the team have worked extensively with faith and civil society organisations in: throughout London including Barking & Dagenham, Bromley, Southwark, Tower Hamlets & Waltham Forest; Blackpool, Coventry, Derby, Ipswich, Leicester, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, Middlesbrough, Peterborough, Redcar, Rochdale and across the West Midlands and East Anglia.

Civil Society Together CIC

Marking the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street through the magic of poetry

St George-in-the-East Church

Join our special guest, <a href="https://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/about/" title="https://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/about/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Michael Rosen</a> to celebrate the modern Cockney (bold, inclusive and generous non-posh Londoners) and the anti-fascist legacy of the Battle of Cable Street.This event marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, when the East End community stood together to defend their local Jewish neighbours and to stop Oswald Mosley's fascist Blackshirts in their tracks. We want to explore modern Cockney identities and the unity and comradeship among East End communities through the magic of poetry.Poetry sits at the heart of this celebration because poetry breaks boundaries, reclaims voices, and builds the kind of deep connections that hold communities together. In a city as complex and beautifully diverse as modern London, we believe those connections matter more than ever.Building on the recent successes of the Togetherness Poetry Challenge, we have launched the '<a href="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/the-new-cockney-poets/" title="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/the-new-cockney-poets/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">New Cockney Poets</a>', an invitation to anyone and everyone to submit a poem on two themes:<ul><li>Modern Cockney identities &amp; Cockney Diaspora</li><li>Unity &amp; Comradeship of East End Communities (in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street)</li></ul><a href="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/the-new-cockney-poets/" title="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/the-new-cockney-poets/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Find out more about the New Cockney Poets competition here</a>.We will share the best of the poems submitted at this event, through live spoken word, and an anthology which will be launched on the night.If you have a poem that you would like to read at the poetry slam then please email Mark Ereira-Guyer (mark@civilsocietyconsulting.co.uk)This is a free event although donations are welcome.This poetry project is made possible by <a href="https://www.civilsocietytogether.org/" title="https://www.civilsocietytogether.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Civil Society Together</a>, in partnership with Together on Cable Street, <a href="https://hiddenliterature.com/" title="https://hiddenliterature.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Hidden Literature</a>, <a href="https://www.stgeorgeintheeast.org/" title="https://www.stgeorgeintheeast.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">St George’s Church</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bengaliheritagesociety/?locale=en_GB" title="https://www.facebook.com/bengaliheritagesociety/?locale=en_GB" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bengali East End Heritage Society</a>, <a href="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/" title="https://moderncockneyfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Modern Cockney Festival</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/44542591184/" title="https://www.facebook.com/groups/44542591184/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">United East End and British Bilingual Poetry Collective</a>Why are Civil Society Together doing this? <a href="https://www.civilsocietytogether.org/newsblog/celebrating-modern-cockney-identity-through-poetry-and-heritage" title="https://www.civilsocietytogether.org/newsblog/celebrating-modern-cockney-identity-through-poetry-and-heritage" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Read our latest blog</a> to find out why this work is important to us.

'Modern Cockney' Poetry Grand Slam with Michael Rosen

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'Modern Cockney' Poetry Grand Slam with Michael Rosen

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