the friendly writers group

 

 

                        Photograph by courtesy of Malcolm Tinn

 

'A WAY WITH WORDS'

 

HWW presentation for Harlow Arts Festival

- the best ever?

An audience of around 60 gave a warm reception to a well-paced HWW presentation on Saturday afternoon, June 28.

 

It was a good plan to begin with, and at New Hall, Moot House, it all came together on the day: a large supportive audience, a cast of HWW readers who were clearly enjoying the spotlight and a comfortable-sized venue with helpful acoustics.

 

The programme comprised two halves of roughly an hour each, with opening welcome and closing thank-you from Adrienne, 13 readers, a balanced mix of prose and poetry combining humour, pathos and reminiscence, and a 20 minute interval.  

 

The readers for the presentation (in order of appearance) were

 

            Adrienne Tinn    Anne Neuhaus    Roger Ennals     Heather Lewis    Peter Bateman  

            Margarete Briggs   Rosemary Porter   Rose Gotley   Hazel Taylor   Michael Yarrow

                                          Rene Dixon   Jenny Beale   Alan Blunden

 

There were well-deserved special thank–you’s: to Malcolm Tinn for an excellent mic system that all the readers seemed to be at ease with; to Hazel Taylor for the attractive floral arrangement; to Mike Yarrow for designing and producing the programmes, and to the many Workshop members who brought the drinks and nibbles, helped to set up the room and assisted with clearing up afterwards. The whole presentation was a fine team effort.

 

The Writer’s Workshop set themselves ambitious targets, and have a policy of using friendly constructive criticism as a means of encouraging the highest creative standards from each member. That the group can put on a programme of 37 written works and keep a large audience engaged is a token of just how well that policy is working in practice

 

The Harlow Arts Festival is an annual celebration of all the arts activities in the town.  Amongst the objectives of most amateur creative groups are a desire to reach the highest possible levels of excellence in their craft, and to encourage others to join in.

 

Writing is not just an interesting activity within the reach of anybody who has a pencil and paper: it’s a life skill. In their yearly contribution to the Harlow Arts Festival the Writers' Workshop clearly demonstrate the enjoyment that can be created for reader and writer alike.

 

There is always a moment of reflection that follows a successful showing: how do we follow that?

By keeping on writing, and heeding the helpful criticism, that’s how.

 

A way with words? You bet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Photograph by courtesy of Malcolm Tinn

from right to left:

Alan Fox, Peter Bateman, Heather Lewis, Rene Dixon, Jenny Beale, Mike Yarrow, Margaret Briggs, Hazel Taylor,

Alan Blunden, Rose Gotley, Anne Neuhaus, Adrienne Tinn, Roger Ennals, Rosemary Porter

The Workshop writers at the Festival presentation