Hello, and thank you for visiting my site. I hope that you'll return often and always find something of interest about my world and what inspires me to pick up a pen. (This is a figure of speech, unfortunately. My handwriting is terrible!) Here's what I've been up to recently...
A chance to show off my new hair do!
Networking is definitely the name of the game for writers and I was able to persuade fellow Swanwicker Phil Collins to join us at Ripon Writers’ Group last night. Phil gave a very entertaining illustrated talk on comedy writing, of which he is a master, having written (and often performed in) numerous sketches, short plays and a couple of pantomimes.
Phil, Cathy and I meet in Swanwick, Derbyshire each year at the Writers’ Summer School and are looking forward to August already. Places are still available, so why not join us? https://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/
20 March, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Sights & Sounds of Ripon 2025
The annual showcase of all Ripon has to offer included local writers’ groups this year and here I am in the Cathedral with Leah Fletcher from the Hornblower Press. During my ‘shift’, I was happy to answer enquiries about Ripon Writers’ Group and Write-On, Ripon!, both of which are open to new members.
There was a lot else going on in our little city, with performances from local choirs and dancers as well as various exhibitions and free entry to all three museums.
The sun shone brightly on the proceedings and everyone had the feeling that spring was just around the corner.
9 March, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
All Write on the Night!
I’m always happy to run a workshop for other writers and this week saw me doing so ‘in house’ at Ripon Writers’ Group.
The subject was ‘keys’. I encouraged everyone to explore the different meanings of the word, delve into a box of actual keys for inspiration and then pick up their pens. The first task was to write a few lines about a key selected from the box; the second to write a piece of flash fiction beginning with the words, ‘I turned the key in the lock and was amazed when…”
During the refreshment break, we celebrated Joe’s birthday with cake and (optional) wine. Tea and coffee were on offer as usual. Joe, whose late wife Daphne founded RWG over forty years ago, is our longest standing member and President for life.
The final task of the evening was to begin work on a longer piece of writing with the focus on a key or keys (in any sense of the word) of particular significance in one’s own life. This could be polished up to submit for publication and/or presented at our next open manuscripts evening.
7 March, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Sheer escapism!
Every now and then it’s enjoyable to relax and watch something just for the sheer pleasure of it. Such was the case last night at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. The actors who took over the roles so familiar to fans of the TV series were spot on and the stagecraft left absolutely nothing to be desired. No wonder then that the packed theatre rang to the sound of very well deserved applause.
27 February, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
From Austria with love!
Write-On! Ripon was in the middle of our usual Tuesday afternoon meeting this week when a surprise contribution arrived from a member currently enjoying a winter sports holiday in Austria. She’s having a great time and, of course, we had to send a photo straight back to her.
20 February, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Promoting Independent UK Authors
I always enjoy supporting fellow writers and this afternoon saw me at one of Harrogate Library’s monthly Books & Beverages sessions. Chaired by Sue Williams, the authors’ panel today consisted of Susanna Lewis, Nick Boreham and Sara Sartagne. All were there to talk about their latest books. Susanna has written Finding Joy in the Everyday, a very touching memoir of her late mother, Nick has just brought out Jurymen May Dine, a crime thriller about a miscarriage of justice and Sara’s The Year of Yes & No is a ‘duality’ novel about two women in different time periods.
As regulars of the Swanwick Writers’ Summer School, Susanna and I just had to have a photo taken together for its Facebook page and here we are!
7 February, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
A good start to 2025
Happy New Year, everyone!
It is always a pleasure to speak to audiences large or small, whether about one of my books specifically or my writing/life in general.
My first booking in 2025 was with a Ripon u3a group. In the time allotted to me, I packed in as much information as I could about my experiences as a TV/film ‘extra’. There was, of course, a great deal more that I could have said, much of it contained in My ‘Extra’ Life. As with most of my other books, I carry a small stock for people who request a signed copy. (Otherwise, it is available from Amazon as either a paperback or a download.)
Networking is of huge importance to writers and I am pleased to say that a lady in the audience requested that I give the same talk later this year to another group with which she is connected.
There is no better place to make connections that the Writers’ Summer School in Swanwick and I’m looking forward enormously to my annual stay there in August.
It should coincide with the publication by SpellBound of my new book, which centres on the summer my friend Rosie and I ‘rode the Dog’ across the USA. More details to follow. Watch this space!
25 January, 2025 - Make the first comment on this story
Honouring an old tradition
It is Boxing Day 2024, the weather is glorious and I have just emerged from the annual carol service in the Cellarium of Fountains Abbey. Hundreds of people were in attendance, many of whom had taken part in the annual pilgrimage from Ripon Cathedral. On this one day of the year, the National Trust allows free entrance to the estate until 12 noon, which is much appreciated by non-members, including my son Richard who took the photo above. But what is it all about, you might ask yourself, and why is it graced by high ranking clergy and other august personnages from North Yorkshire and beyond? The photo below shows the Very Reverend John Dobson, Dean of Ripon, the lady in the background is the Right Reverend Anna Eltringham, Bishop of Ripon and the gentleman on the right is Ralf Meister, Bishop of Hanover. Also present, although not caught on camera, were the Lords Lieutenant of North and West Yorkshire. When the service was over, anxious for a group shot, some of them handed over their phones to Richard. I joked with him later that he should have asked for a credit if they were planning to publish the photos, but he hadn’t, of course.
On St Stephen’s Day in 1132, a group of 13 Benedictines from St Mary’s Abbey in York set off from Ripon to walk the last few miles to the land they had been granted on the River Skell. Their aim was to build a monastery in which they could lead a simpler and more devout existence. Once settled into their new life, they joined the austere Cistercian order. During the years that followed, and largely thanks to the efforts of the lay brothers, Fountains Abbey became wealthy through wool production, lead mining, cattle rearing, horse breeding and stone quarrying. All that came to a halt in 1539 when Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries, but the site holds the largest monastic ruins in the country.
I’m not sure whether the monks would have appreciated the music provided by the Stray Brass Band Ensemble, but we certainly did.
By the time we’d toiled back up the hill to the Visitors’ Centre, refreshments were a very welcome sight.
26 December, 2024 - Make the first comment on this story
All writers need friends!
All writers do indeed need friends and belonging to more than one local group, as some of us do, can only be a good thing. There were so many of us at Write-On! Ripon’s Christmas do at the Claro Lounge that we had to have a photograph taken from both ends of the table.
Loungers have access to a very well stocked bar and so it was quite appropriate that the suggested theme for the final meeting of the year was ‘The Morning After the Night Before’!
18 December, 2024 - Make the first comment on this story
Red kites fly again!
Only a very occasional poet, I was very pleased to find this in the BBC Wildlife magazine.
Eccup reservoir is very close to North Yorkshire’s Harewood House, where there is a feeding station for these magnificent birds. The Emmerdale village is also in the grounds, so I had many opportunities to observe them during my years as a television ‘extra’. They disrupted filming on more than one occasion, notably on the day when some helium balloons were launched to celebrate a character’s birthday and the birds attacked them.
Please go to the Stories and Poems section of this website if you’d like to read ‘Red Kites’.
13 December, 2024 - Make the first comment on this story
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