Testimonials

"Mark really knows how to engage with people of all ages. In the two years that I have worked with Mark I have yet to see him fail to get a young person to write. He has this unique way of capturing young people’s interest and then inspiring them to pick up a pen and write."

Jennifer Miller, Community Learning & Development Worker

"Last March we invited Mark Thomson to join us at our ‘Celebration of Learning Day’. This is our annual learner’s conference. Mark, not only opened the conference for us but also ran one of our workshops about writing poetry. This proved to be highly successful and the one comment which I heard repeated throughout the day and that was that he was "brilliant"!! His natural way, and the ease about him, made everyone feel that they were talking to an old friend. And in a very a short time, he gave every individual in the room a great sense of pride and confidence. In his workshops, he made them believe that there is a writer within ourselves and it is only a matter of us finding out for ourselves. Listening to what some of the participants came up with at the end of the workshop, showed that he was successful in getting the message across. That is a "mark" of a very special and a great person We hope he will come back and visit us soon."

Nasreen Kharegat, Adult Literacy and Numeracy Manager, Argyll and Bute Council

"Mark Thomson has a unique and vibrant poetic voice that cuts out the pretence and tells it how it is in a style that is entirely his own. As a performer he brings poetry to new audiences - even self professed poetry haters have to submit to his talent. As a facilitator he is able to reach the people other workers can't reach"

Rachel Jury, Producer conFAB www.confab.org.uk

"Mark is wonderful! - That's what the staff and pupils at Baldragon Academy think! Mark has worked with the teachers in our English Department to deliver lessons to our pupils on the writing and understanding of poetry. Mark has delivered lessons himself, and the feedback from the pupils is always very positive and encouraging. They like the honesty and reality that surrounds Mark. He is not like their teacher: he writes poetry and performs it with great gusto so that everyone is entertained. Mark has performed at our annual Scots Night and at our annual Burns event. He has become such a regular contributor at school that he wrote a poem entitled "Baldragon" and it has pride of place in the entrance foyer of the school, so that our visitors can read it. Mark is always very accommodating and willing to help in the school. We have plans to include him more in the future development of courses in our English Department. We wish to include the Scots language more, and Mark has agreed to help us with this. We look forward to many more years of working with Mark and enjoying his company and his performances!

Gerry McGarry, Deputy Head Teacher, Baldragon Academy