As I look out towards Weymouth Bay a faded leaflet flaps gently in the breeze. It is pinned neatly and preciously to my pinboard, above my desk, at home, in my makeshift office, previously the spare room. It says ‘Writing Matters, creative words for Health and Wellbeing ‘, fortnightly workshops starting on November 13th 2009 at 10am to 1pm.’
This leaflet symbols a change in my life; I now write for a living, after losing my job through illness and spinal surgery. It gave me access to an invisible network in Dorset. It needs to be framed.
The writing workshops were funded by Dorset County Council and the Dorset Library Services. Weymouth Library held them free every fortnight. Sue Ashby ran them and I apprehensively went along, back in November 2009. I was recovering from Spinal Surgery, alongside also having M.E. I felt this was the perfect opportunity for me to engage once more, with my rusty writing skills. English had been my best O’ level result at school. I had continued to regularly write poetry for my family and friends, amusing them all, especially my children’s friends whom begged me to repeat them over and over again. I needed something to help restart my life.
I took along some scrap paper and a pen; I nervously began to scribble, inspirational words that seemed to flow easily. Sue gave the group a topic and a timeframe to write and off I went. I began to find my own style, although I struggled with my brain fog and pain from sitting, I found it so cathartic and exciting, I was instantly captivated once again. I started a blog and found it easy to type my feelings in to the computer; it gave me an incredible emotional release. I enjoyed meeting other writers and have gained some incredible friends.
The network has four contacts: East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck and West Dorset. Sue Ashby is the contact for North Dorset and she started the network with Pat Yonwin. They met at an Arts and Health conference in 2009.
Pat is an Artsreach board member and former Wayfinder. She lives in the picturesque village of Winfrith. In her 50’s she decided to become a mature student and do a degree in Events management at Bournemouth University.
Being a very active member of her local community and after meeting Sue, she actively welcomed the idea of a Dorset Writers’ Network, providing Sue with the last location she needed, to join her new venture. She then managed to get some extra funding from POPPS towards the network and its implementation.
‘How does it feel to be a community superhero? I asked her seriously.
‘Don’t be so silly’ she replied laughing. ‘I just enjoy what I do’.
Pat passionately wants to show older people that there are events going on all around the county that they can participate in and actively encourages then to join. There is a scheme underway for a Radio project with Radio 4 in conjunction with Age UK and a Poetry Postcards project for the Olympics.
Sue Ashby is a published writer and trained counsellor and lives in the Northest part of Dorset. She started her amazing work with funding for writing workshops, through the Early Interventions organisation and Making Connections; they started in 2008, with over 45 workshops. These workshops continued and Sue obtained further funding from the Dorset Libraries to carry on teaching the groups, showing them how to run themselves without her expert guidance, once the financial support had ended.
She then applied for a grant from The National Lottery and won £10,000. This amazing donation enabled Sue and Pat to fulfil their dream of creating a Dorset Writers Network. The idea was to bring local writers together to share workshops, training and events, enjoy writing and make connections along the way. There is no fee to join the network; you just need to be a writer. Dorset is a large county and writing can be quite isolating.
Although the county is large, one network member said ‘it has many locations for events, and it’s astonishing how much information changes hands while doing a bit of washing up, or sitting around a table chatting with two or three others. Or just eavesdropping on the next door conversation! It’s all good.’
Last summer we met in a local artist’s home. We were inspired by her paintings and wrote poetry about them.
One local writer, who attended, based in Weymouth said ‘The event you organised really fired me up – I started writing poetry and short stories and I haven’t looked back since. It changed my attitude to writing. I even entered the Guardian Travel Writer’s competition, and got a runner – up place (2000 entries). The piece was published in the Guardian.’
I met Krissi at the’ How to get Published’ workshop held in Dorchester Baptist church, and she told me. ‘I saw a POPPS (Partnership for Older People Projects) initiative event, advertised at Wareham library on creative writing and thought that I would give it a go. Initially I joined as respite from my role as a carer, but after the course a group of us carried on, hiring a room for ourselves and nearly 4 years later we are still going strong.’
From personal experience, I know how hard it is to keep a writing group going, but I am pleased to say that along with two other original members from November 2009, we have kept ‘Weymouth Writing Matters’ group going, meeting once a fortnight in the library. I am passionate about keeping the group running and we hope to print an anthology in the future. Our writing really matters to us.
I have written a book of poems for children called ‘Down The Plughole’ which was published in April 2012 by Bristol poetry publisher Poetry Space. www.poetryspace.co.uk. Without this group none of this would have been possible. After losing my job, my future was uncertain. Writing has helped heal my brain, I can write when I feel well enough, from wherever I want. I even wrote a poem for my next book in bed. There is no stressful commute or pressure from an overzealous boss. I thoroughly enjoy exploring my imaginative capacity to create exciting stories for children. The Dorset Writers Network has made this happen for me, so why not join the web of connections, what have you to lose?
Check out their new website:http:dorsetwritersnetwork.co.uk or buy their latest new project Poetry Postcards, which are available at any DWN event.
©Fiona Murphy 2012
