From approx. 21 words to exactly 50 words
Simon Lamb, BSc (Hons) 2013, describes how he segued from graduating with a degree in Mathematics at St Andrews to becoming the Scriever (writer-in-residence) at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire – and a published poet.
St Andrews: a degree in mathematics and so much more
As many an alumnus will no doubt tell you, in choosing to study at the University of St Andrews, you’re not just choosing a prestigious university in which to study – you’re choosing a place in which to grow. And St Andrews certainly gave me plenty of opportunities to do that – from hosting my own musical theatre-themed radio show each weekend on St Andrews Radio, to treading the boards with so-many-I’ve-now-forgotten-how-many Mermaids productions in venues across the town, to volunteering twice-weekly as a Cub leader with the local Scout group, to working front-of-house in the beautiful Byre Theatre, to experiencing life as a teacher by contributing to lessons, school shows and even a P7 residential at a local primary school . . . and this list could go on for a considerable while yet.
Basically, I did anything I could to get away from the maths!
Sadly, that previous line isn’t really meant as a joke. My advice to prospective students is this: being exceptional at a subject in secondary school does not necessarily mean that you have to go on to study it at university; rather, you might find that pursuing your passions can be a far more rewarding experience. I like to think I managed to get the last laugh, though, as I presented my final year maths talk as a one-man comedy stand-up theatre routine entitled “A Mathematical Fable in Approx. 21 Words” – a title only slightly cooler than that of my dissertation (“The World is Made of Doughnuts”) – both containing (I hasten to point out) high quality academic mathematical content. The show was a hit with my fellow students and with staff and was subsequently re-staged for a public performance – a nice way to close out my time in the maths department.
Because numbers were soon to give way . . . to words.
Schools and a supermarket: poetry takes root
As a direct result of my time in that aforementioned primary school in St Andrews, I decided to pursue a career in primary school teaching. Prior to undertaking a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (at the University of the West of Scotland), I gained further teaching experience by volunteering for a year in schools back home in Ayrshire, while earning cash by working in a local supermarket. Unexpectedly, this part-time job was to change the course of my life.
In January 2014, my boss at the store called me up to ask if he could pitch me a wild idea: knowing I loved performing and entertaining an audience, how would I like to stand at the front of the shop on the 25th and regale customers on the hour, every hour, with the poetry of Robert Burns? Despite a strained relationship with the Bard’s work due to childhood experiences, I said yes, on the condition that I could put my own spin on things. Thus, after cheekily and cunningly rewriting Burns’ epic narrative poem “Tam o’ Shanter” to take place inside a Sainsbury’s store, I performed it in front of unsuspecting shoppers as they’d never seen it before. Similar reworkings of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Humpty Dumpty” soon followed (for Valentine’s Day and Easter, respectively) and by the time I left my supermarket job that summer to take up my place on the PGDE course, I had well and truly been infected by the poetry bug.
Upon completion of my teaching degree in 2015, I relocated north – very north – to Wick, right at the top tip of Scotland, to take up my first teaching post in the wee village of Lybster. Golden years they were up there, with plenty of opportunities to continue writing and performing, both in and out of school. I’ll always be grateful for the Caithness chapter of my life. It’s true that I adored my short career as a teacher but it didn’t quite fulfil all of me, and so, after a brief stint teaching in another school back in St Andrews, I decided to take the brave leap and leave teaching to follow full-time my passions of writing and performing.
At the end of 2019, I organised a small one-man performance poetry tour around Scotland, with a launch night in – where else? – St Andrews. (Seriously, does anyone ever escape this town?!) I had a blast, and immediately organised a second tour, which was scheduled to start in spring 2020.
But then the world ended. And that was that. The end.
Shells: the birth of a book
Only, it wasn’t the end; just the start of something new.
Almost immediately, I was extremely proactive during the lockdowns, using the time to write and write and write, as well as finally revisiting a set of fifty poems – each written in exactly fifty words (hello, mathematician) – that I’d written in 2014–15 and that had enjoyed the darkness of a drawer ever since.
And then, in the summer of 2020, came the incredible email: a publisher based in London was reaching out to me, having had their eye caught by my writing. Did I have anything to show them?
Yes! It was time to shoot my shot! I sent them a manuscript for “The Fifties”, featuring a mix of poems from the original years alongside newer material. I crossed every finger and every toe. What would they say?
As it turns out, the universe smiled.
Almost three years later, on 23 February 2023, Scallywag Press published my debut poetry collection in a beautiful hardback gift edition, illustrated by – and I’ll never fully get over this – former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell! It is quite simply the book of my dreams. “A Passing On of Shells: 50 Fifty-Word Poems” is a book for readers of all ages, containing little nuggets of wisdom, warmth and wit. I have never been prouder of anything in my life.
Watch Simon reading two of the poems from his book.
It launched on publication day with an event in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire where I am the Scriever (or the writer-in-residence) – much to my younger self’s disbelief – and it had a second launch party to celebrate World Poetry Day on 21 March 2023.
And where was that event held?
Topping & Co.
St Andrews.
No – you never do leave this town.
View Simon’s website.