An Ashton-on-Ribble poet has released a new collection featuring working-class northern lives, genealogy and forgotten stories.

Dr. Natalie Sorrell Charlesworth’s debut pamphlet, Fleet Salvage, was released by award-winning publisher Broken Sleeps Books at the end of July.

31-year-old Natalie has won the Poetic Republic Portfolio Prize 2014, was specially commended in Elbow Room 2016, commended in Hive 2022, shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize 2020 and longlisted for Mslexia 2021. Her work appears in Poetic Republic, Elbow Room, Beautiful Dragons and Hidden Disabilities. 

She is Digital Marketing and Social Media Executive for Solaris Books, an active board member for Lancaster Litfest, an artist and genealogist. She has previously worked for Lancaster University and Lancashire County Libraries.

To coincide with National Poetry Day on Thursday 5 October, we chatted to Natalie to find out more about her work and inspiration.

How did you start writing poetry?

I went to St Bernard’s Catholic Primary School in Lea and Our Lady’s Catholic High School in Fulwood. My high school English teacher George Culbacki was very influential. He brought in a competition, which I entered and won. It was the first time I thought ‘I can do this’.

Nowadays getting poetry into schools is something I’m passionate about – bringing it out of the text books, and encouraging pupils to write poems, not just read them.

How did you become interested in genealogy?

While I was at high school the TV show Who Do You Think You Are came on, and my teacher did a project on family trees. I hadn’t known, but before I was born my mum had created our family tree on a roll of wallpaper that was stashed behind the settee. She’d talked to older relatives who had since passed on, and researched through archives and graveyards. I was fascinated and 11-year-old me took that and ran with it ever since.

Tell us more about Fleet Salvage.

Fleet Salvage draws on my own family history. My working class roots are important – both sides of my family come from a northern background of workhouses, mills and nettle soup.

I also used archival research – I love going back into history and bringing it forward – and some surprising source material. One example is a Billy Connolly interview where he described his mum following in his sister’s footsteps and not being able to speak to her. Billy described it as being like “a ghost while you’re still alive.” This inspired the first poem in Fleet Salvage, Ghost Walking, which is set in Dunoon, the same location as Billy’s story.

Where does the pamphlet name Fleet Salvage come from?

The title originates from my Grandad’s time in the Navy, when he worked in fleet salvage.

We only learnt more about this period of his life after he died. My Grandma had put her usual memorial in the paper, but one day late, and a man called Hughie Bell who had served with Grandad saw it by chance. He came round and told us stories. They were both from Preston but met and trained in Portsmouth. Hughie told us that my Grandad’s stories about his father had unknown to him instigated a Navy phrase – ‘Coulthard’s dad could’ve done it’ – which had travelled around the world.

Do you have any particularly interesting stories in your family’s history?

Ann Pedder was an ancestor on my mum’s side who I could find very little about. She was born before censuses, and I only had her marriage certificate to go from, but I managed to find her in a newspaper article from 1842. It turned out Ann was a much poorer relation of the family that Pedders Lane is named after. She’d been walking to Lancaster to visit father when she was assaulted by her sister’s former boyfriend who was upset about being passed over. Ann made it back to Lancaster and brought a prosecution, and her attacker was later found guilty.

From this I wrote a poem called Meeting Myself Coming Back. When I was studying at Lancaster University I had done that route so many times, and I felt that although a lot had changed in terms of safety, a lot had stayed the same.

What does National Poetry Day mean to you?

It’s always a day to draw attention to poetry and open it up to people who still think it’s an inaccessible posh thing. It’s a chance to show that isn’t all it is. Poetry is so many different things, and anyone can write it.

To mark the day I’ll be at Fulwood Library on Wednesday 4 October at 2.30pm to read from Fleet Salvage. There’s no booking needed and it’s free to attend. I worked there until recently so it will be nice going back. I’m also appearing at Lancaster Litfest at The Storey in Lancaster on Saturday 7 October at 5pm. Booking is needed to attend in-person, and tickets are free or pay what you can. People can also watch live online or on 30-day catch up.

You can find out more about Fleet Salvage and read sample poems on the Broken Sleep Books website. The pamphlet is available to buy from Natalie’s Etsy shop.

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