2021 Track Record Poetry

2021 Track Record Poetry

St. Pancras International is proud to continue with ‘Track Record’, a community project in Camden which aims to give students in local schools the chance to participate in a series of exciting poetry workshops, inspiring them to discover their own poetic talent's thus develop confidence and self belief through the process and also by having them published and displayed at our International station.

The past year has been an uncertain time for all, and school children have spent the majority of the year learning from home and not being able to engage in the social activities that they’re used to with their friends. As they now return back to the classroom, with restrictions still in place, we hope this programme offers an opportunity to help them reflect and capture on their feelings of the past year, using poetry. 

Supported by HS1 ltd (owners of St. Pancras International), Track Record 2021 celebrates the characters and concerns of young people living around the station in the Borough of Camden.

For the third year running, poet Paul Lyalls spent six months running immersive workshop groups with Year 5 pupils at Argyle and Torriano Primary Schools, helping inspire and guide them to write their own poems. After an uncertain year and time away from the classroom, we hoped that the programme would help them reflect, and capture their thoughts and feelings.

In result of the workshops, the collection of poems that were created are busting with personality, humour, and pathos and we’re delighted to share the full collection to view in the downloadable document at the bottom of this page. A huge congratulation to all the young poets!  

A few students were selected to read their poems in the station next to the famous Sir John Betjeman Statue for visitors, family, and friends in early July. We have created a short video to showcase some of these readings below. A selection of the poems will also be displayed around the station for you to read from late July.

We hope you enjoy them.

St. Pancras International’s link to poetry

English poet Sir John Betjeman ran a famous campaign in the 1960's to save St. Pancras from demolition. Since the station's renovation in 2007, St. Pancras International and HS1 (the station's owners) have continued to support the arts and poetry through a number of initiatives, you can find out more about the station's connection to arts and music here.