 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
About Skelmersdale Writers’ Group
Skelmersdale Writers’ Group meets on the 4th Monday of every month at the Trinity Methodist Church hall on the High Street, Skelmersdale. An informal meeting is also held on the first Monday of the month at various members' homes. We are a friendly mixed group of writers whose ages range from 16 to 60 plus. Our members range from novice writers to experienced and published authors whose interests include, poetry, short stories, novels and non fiction writing. Our aim is to cater for all types of writing and writer and to provide events of interest to the wider local community. Visitors are always welcome and may attend three meetings before being asked to subscribe to the group.
Activities.
Our meetings are informal with plenty of opportunity for members to read their own work and receive constructive feedback, if they wish to do so. We carry information on current writing competitions and possible openings for submission of work to agents and publishers. Workshops led by members are included in the programme and we also aim to host regular speakers from the North West writing community. We have good contacts with other writing groups in the area and are members of the National Association of Writers’ Groups.
NEW FOR 2012
We look forward to welcoming local poet Will Daunt as our guest speaker in February. Will has written five books of poetry, including 'Powerless', published by
Indigo Dreams in 2010 as winner of their collection competition.In 2009, his piece
'Some Boys' won first prize in the Ver Poets national poetry competition.
He is headteacher of De La Salle School, St. Helens.
Visitors are welcome to attend this event free of charge. Details on programme below or email for more information.
PROGRAMME JANUARY TO JUNE 2012
January
9th Read your own work
23rd Bring a piece including the line
‘It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times.’ (Max 1000
words or 40 line poem)
February
13th Read your own work
27th Guest speaker: poet Will Daunt
March
12th Read your own work
26th Creating tension: a workshop
with Elizabeth Brown.
April
9th Read your own work
23rd Read from and/or review
A favourite book.
May
14th Read your own work.
28th The place of place: getting
the setting right, a workshop
with Carol Fenlon
June
11th Read your own work
25th Guest speaker: June Francis,
Merseyside saga writer.
Skelmersdale New Town's 50th birthday celebrations
Skelmersdale Writers' group attended the celebrations held at Skem library for the 50th anniversary of Skelmersdale's designation as a new town. We invited people who attended to help us write the longest poem ever produced (at least in Skem!)
Lots of people participated and we hope to have the whole poem on display in the library once we have tidied it up a bit! Copies of our anthology, 'Tales From A New Town' were also available and we still have a few for sale. See below for details or contact us on writeme@carolfenlon.com
Here are some more photos from the day
Local historian George Orr chats about his Skem postcard collection
The kids get stuck in to building their own new town out of clay, some of the grown ups joined in the fun too.
and all the time the band played on. Skem Prize Band that is.
The chess club stand seemed to be really popular. Our Heather disappeared there for the whole afternoon!
Another contributor to our giant poem
Cath gets the ball rolling after a well-deserved cuppa.
and it just keeps on growing under the watchful eyes of Trev and Rita
and if it all goes up in flames, the Fire Service are here to rescue us.
and you can make your escape in a vintage Morris Minor, or even in a VW camper van - definitely so 1960s
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR MAKING IT SUCH A BRILLIANT DAY. DO WE HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER FIFTY YEARS TO DO IT AGAIN?
Carole Baldock visits the group 22nd August 2011
The group welcomed Carole Baldock, guest poet and editor of Orbis magazine and Kudos. We had an entertaining evening, learning about the trials of an editor's life and picking up tips on what not to do when submitting material. After a well earned cuppa Carole offered critiques of poems we had brought with us. It was an enjoyable session and members were encouraged to send work out rather than sitting on it at home.
Skem writers at Glenburn school's 40th anniversary celebrations
The group were honoured to be invited to judge an interschools' writing competition on the theme of Forty Years On. Prizes were awarded in seventeen categories, based on age and genre. The Skelmersdale Writer's special prize was awarded to Olivia Bott.
The group also manned a stall on the day, featuring memorabilia relating to the history of education in Skelmersdale and included a short written history by Carol Fenlon which was given away free on the day. The group is indebted to local historians George Orr and Harold Swift as well as to Marianne Howell at Skelmersdale Library, all of whom lent archive material for display.
It was a great opportunity to let the local community know about Skem Writers and what we do, also to sell our books but most of all it was good to be included in Glenburn's celebrations and to reflect on how the school has developed and touched the lives of most people in the town either as pupils or parents of pupils, or as adult education students. Here's to another great forty years.
Wildlife poetry workshop and reading with guest poet CAROL THISTLETHWAITE,
Monday 23rd May. The group welcomed Carol who engaged us with a series of exercises which stimulated us to write on the subject of wildlife in all its variety and guises. After a well earned coffee break we were treated (and I mean treated) to a reading from Carol's collection about birds, From The f Field Book published by Bewrite Books. Magical imagery and language held us enthralled together with computer illustrations of the birds. A fantastic evening enjoyed by all.
PULP IDOL (May) 2011
Six hopeful novelists entered the Skelmersdale heat of Pulp Idol, organised by Liverpoll's Writing on the Wall Festival and hosted by Skelmersdale Writers' Group. Each writer had three minutes to read from their work and impress judges Sarah Mclennan and Toby Forward. Winners Cath Cole and Seb Koehorst are pictured here with the judges. Cath and Seb will go forward to take part in the final, competing against other writers from across Merseyside on May 28th at the Leaf Cafe on Bold Street. All the finalists will have the first chapter of their novel included in a book to be published by Writing on the Wall and the winner will enjoy an introduction to an established publisher.
Tales From A New Town, our latest anthology is selling fast. Get your copy now before they're all gone. Order details below.
NEW PROGRAMME JULY TO DECEMBER 2011
JULY
11th Read your own work (venue tba)
25th Oulippo workshop with Robert Shooter (Methodist hall, High Street)
AUGUST
8th Read your own work (venue tba)
22nd Guest Carole Baldock, small press publisher (Methodist hall, High Street)
SEPTEMBER
12th Read your own work (venue tba)
26th Write on the night: character swap (Carol) (Methodist Hall, High St)
OCTOBER
10th Read your own work (venue tba)
24th 'When the Clocks Change' Theme night:1000 words max (Methodist hall, High Street)
NOVEMBER
14th Read your own work. (venue tba)
28th Introducing your character workshop with Joe Welsh (Methodist Hall, high St)
DECEMBER
12th Christmas party (Methodist hall, High St)
RECENT EVENTS
PULP IDOL 2010
Tuesday 11th May at the Engine Rooms, Skelmersdale Writers hosted a heat of this year's Pulp Idol contest. Five aspiring novelists read from their first chapters to Judges Jim Friel and myself. Only one writer could go through to the final. It was a hard choice but we finally selected Mathew Eland. Mathew will compete in the final to be held on 16th May at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Liverpool. All the finalists will receive a book containing their first chapters which can be shown to agents. The overall winner wins a residential course at Ty Newydd creative writing centre.
Left to right, Jim Friel, myself and heat winner Mathew Eland.
Tales From A New Town is the latest anthology from Skelmersdale Writers’ Group and was produced as a result of an event of the same name held at the Engine Rooms in May 2009 as part of Merseyside’s Writing on the Wall Festival. A report of this event can be seen further down this page.
The anthology contains contributions from people who live or have lived in Skelmersdale, recounting their experiences and thoughts in poetry, fiction and memoirs and although many of the pieces are from members of Skelmersdale Writers, others are from people who have never written anything before and who came to the event in response to our call for contributors in the local press.
Copies are available at group meetings, price £3.99 or email me for postal details
Elizabeth Brown and I showing off our new anthology at Ormskirk Library's group networking event, Monday 26th April 2010
After Nought - Our first anthology - available now. 57 pages of excellent prose and poetry
BUY NOW - £3.OO + £1.OO P+P. Email for posting details writeme@carolfenlon.com
******* ONLY SIX COPIES LEFT******** NOW'' S YOUR LAST CHANCE TO BUY THIS ORIGINAL COLLECTION ********* DEFINITELY A COLLECTABLE OF THE FUTURE.. (January 2010)
RECENT EVENTS
LAUNCH OF TALES FROM A NEW TOWN ANTHOLOGY AT SKELMERSDALE LIBRARY.
The group is grateful to Skelmersdale Library for hosting a reading of our new anthology on Thursday 15th April. Members of the group and members of the public attended the reading which was enjoyed by all. Joe Welsh acted as master of ceremonies and Lyn Fenton came along to talk about the work of Marie Curie Cancer Care and to thank the group for dedicating the anthology to the organisation (each copy sold makes a 25p contribution to Marie Curie.
Trevor Jenks struts his stuff!
Dr Ailsa Cox from Edge Hill University's Creative Writing Department gave a reading and workshop on the short story on Tuesday 16th March at 7.45pm. Dr Cox is an expert on the short story form and has done much to raise its profile in the UK, including the development of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for a published collection which is now a well recognised national competition. Ailsa Cox is the author of the Routledge Writer's Guide, Writing Short Stories. Her short fiction has been published in many literary magazines and her short story collection The Real Louise and Other Stories has recently been published by Headland. After reading a selection of excerpts from her short stories and using these to illustrate her writing process, a lively question and answer session was followed by a short workshop on creating narrative voices, so that each of us took away a new character which could be developed with further writing. Yet another very enjoyable event in our series of speaker evenings.
JENN ASHWORTH ON APPROACHING AGENTS 2nd February 2010
Preston based writer Jenn Ashworth shared her knowledge of synopsis writing and how to approach an agent. This was a skilfully presented workshop. Jenn included a wealth of information for writers aspiring to the publication of a full length book or collection and provided an useful handout for future reference.. Feedback from the group was excellent and we look forward to seeing Jenn read her own work at Edge Hill's Rose Theatre on Wednesday 3rd March 7.30pm
for more information about the group and/or events, email writeme@carolfenlon.com
