Acknowledged!

I see we've been added to the official list of Tolkien Smials on the Tolkien Society (UK)'s website.

We're RIGHT down the bottom! Which, geographically speaking, is exactly where we belong!

Welly-moot 0.7 (Jan 25, 2012)

I'd been trying unsuccessfully to meet up with a few people over the past few weeks, and had thought of a better way - I set up an impromptu Welly-moot meeting instead. It was supposed to be three or four people, it ended up being eleven!

The meeting format was the same as the moots before - turn up, greet, get acquainted, buy coffee and cake, and catch up on Tolkienish things.

As you can see, we achieved the goals with ease!

From left - Kumi, Alex (for once not taking the photo!) & me, Martyn, Rachel, Kris, and Judy. Missing are Shu (taking the photo), Rebecca & Peter, and Honey

Rachel and Judy had been travelling through the country, and Honey is temporarily a Wellington citizen. Kumi has been to a few of the meetings already. Martyn had been in touch with me via email to discuss Tolkien stuff in the past, and Kris and I needed to get together again to discuss the running of the Moots.

Was a fun afternoon, and more successful than my two-day planning would suggest!

  - Jack

The Middle-earth Song (by Fortinbras Proudfoot)

After the Dec 22 (2012) Welly-moot, Peter Kenny from the Fortinbras Proudfoot Esq. Foundation sent me another song to use on this website. Peter (aka Fortinbras Proudfoot) had earlier recited one of his poems for our group - here is another one (reprinted here with his permission):

The Middle-earth Song:

By Fortinbras Proudfoot
Tune: "I'm a Believer".

I thought Middle-earth was only in my dreams,
A land found in books and movies;
That has now all changed,
I've travelled to a land;
Imagination's now reality. Chorus:

I travelled that land;
There's no more dreaming.
Through Middle-earth;
And places so real.
I'm amazed....Yeh!
No more dreaming,
There's no dreaming anymore.

First we toured down to Bibo's Hobbiton.
Then off to Mount Doom and Mordor.
Walked Emyn Muil ;
Sat by Gollum's Stream.
Saw the mighty River Anduin; Chorus:

We entered Rivendell the Elven realm;
And magical Lothlorien.
Wore the Elven Cloak;
We "Got off the Road";
And strolled through Gardens of Isengard. Chorus:

In the South we climbed up to Edoras;
Travelled across the Rohan plains.
On the Pelennor,
Charged across the fields,
Like the bravest horsemen from Rohan. Chorus:

Our road led to Fangorn and Amon Hen,
And even to the Wizard's Vale;
The Ford of Bruinen,
Mighty Argonath,
With the Misty Mountains all around. Chorus:

Wellington's own Tolkien group - finally!

Welcome to the official blog of Wellington's very own Tolkien group, Welly-moot. It's been years in coming, but here it finally is. We're now officially affiliated to the UK's Tolkien Society, making us a real "Smial".


Tolkien's works have inspired many people around the world into creativity. Of course, Wellington has a few people who have taken that to extremes, so it seemed an unnatural situation to me that we did not yet have a Tolkien Society or Smial here in town. With this group, we hope to correct that!


The purpose of this group is to bring together people in Wellington who are interested in discussing the works of Tolkien in an informal setting. There's no tests, no grades, no "inner circles of wizardry", and no necessity to memorise parts of the Silmarillion. If your only interest lies in gazing deep into the eyes of Orlando Bloom's version of Legolas then I'm sure we can accommodate that - however if you know the answer to whether Balrogs have wings or not, then we're the group to come to also. Really, Tolkien is the red thread between us all, and we're keen to come together and celebrate his life's works.


We propose to meet every two months, on approximately the last Sunday of the even numbered months. So, this year's schedule is as follows:

• February 26th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
• April 29th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
• July 1st, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema (*Note the new date!)
• August 26th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
• October 28th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
• December 30th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema

Watch this space though - there may be changes to this later as everything is in flux currently.

I'm currently setting up a Welly-moot presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ as well, and in he next few weeks I'll be linking them to this blog. Generally, this blog will be the main page for news, although Facebook tends to carry a lot of our online discussions. Join them all, they're all free!