The Main Thing In Life Is To……

THE MAIN THING IN LIFE IS TO…

 

“The main thing in life is to swim …” 

A Care Home Participant, during a recent poetry reading workshop.

Hello, 

I was inspired by the above quote from a resident at a care home during one of my poetry reading workshops – Read Aloud, for C&C Housing Trust. That particular session was not themed around swimming but it motivated me to research poetry, story and images around the theme. I took the findings to different groups. One of the groups were really excited about exploring the theme, as they felt it triggered so many stories and memories from their lives. I was delighted and heartened by the evocative writing that I’ve been privileged to hear during these workshops. 

I love research and I love getting lost in powerful literature. I love seeing how it inspires the writers I work with and how they breathe new life into words. 

Here’s an extract from one of the published poems we were inspired by:

With Emma at the Ladies-Only Swimming Pond on Hampstead Heath

                        the water 

            lay in dappled shade, while Emma 

in her underwear and I 

                        in an ill- 

            fitting borrowed suit availed us of 

the breast stroke and a modified 

                        crawl. 

  By Linda Gregerson

Try this!

What about you? What are your swimming memories? Write for ten minutes. No stopping. No editing. Enjoy!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a wonderful timefacilitating Creative Writesworkshops at North Bank house and gardens in central Muswell Hill, N10, where the very first workshop was held in 2009. There was the themed Colour As Writing Inspiration Workshop, where we mined our memories, did a silent walk and writing exercise and used poetry & colour charts as inspiration.

Here are a couple of quotes from participants of the workshop:

“It was great to meet you the other night and thank you very much for such an enjoyable class!”“It was lovely to meet you…and I really feel the session was useful for me.  Plus I learned a few things I didn’t know about myself which is always a good thing!”

The next Creative Writes Themed Workshop is Myriad of Objects this coming Wednesday 9th November 2016, 7.30pm at North Bank house in Muswell Hill, N10. 

There is also a block of three workshops beginning Wednesday 30th November 2016, 7.30pm and running on consecutive Wednesdays. 

Click here for further information and to book onto our workshops:

http://www.creativewrites.co.uk/themed-workshops/themed-creative-writing-workshops/

Last weekend, I was immersed in theCreative Writes Treasure Box – Write Your Legacy weekend workshop. I have never known 6 hours to fly by so quickly! We made time to walk and write in the beautiful Autumnal gardens at North Bank. We used quotes, poetry, images and our own memories and wrote and wrote – filling those Treasure Boxes.

Here’s a comment from one of the weekend workshop participants:

“Thank you for the workshops. They were really lovely and very helpful.”

We will have a new Creative Writes website soon! We will also be publishing our Creative Writes 2017 Workshop dates. Watch this space…

If you have any questions, or would like to be added to our mailing list please email [email protected]

Bye for now, 

Nichola x

This blog was originally published here.