Maggie Cobbett

The Little Ripon Bookshop

Fellow members of Ripon Writers’ Group and I were amongst the first to know of plans to open a new independent bookshop on Westgate and wished Gill and Simon Edwards every success with it. A few years down the line, The Little Ripon Bookshop has carved out its own niche in the city and is going from strength to strength. Competing with mainstream and cut price retailers as well as all the charity shops is a tough call, but TLRB has built up an excellent reputation for user friendliness and prompt service. Please take a look at www.littleriponbookshop.co.uk for more information.

I’m proud to add that one of the latest additions to the shelves of The Little Ripon Bookshop is the omnibus edition of my own short story collections and my fingers are crossed for all our sakes that it does well.

9 January, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story

Featured in Writers’ News

Life can seem rather flat in the aftermath of the festive season, so I was very pleased to open the latest issue of Writing Magazine/Writers’ News and find the feature below.

As both subscriber and occasional contributor over many years, I’d recommend WM/WN to any aspiring (or established) writer. The articles are generally well researched and informative, the competitions are challenging and the news sections fill in the gaps between editions of The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.

5 January, 2014 - Make the first comment on this story

Hanged by the neck until dead!

I’ve just had the unsettling experience of seeing a friend plummet through the trapdoor of a scaffold. Fortunately, it was during the third episode of Death Comes to Pemberley. For those of you who watched the episode, he was the middle one of the unfortunate trio of condemned men waiting to take the drop with Mr Wickham.

Even though I knew it was a fake execution, it gave me quite a turn to see John waiting to die and I wondered how I’d like to take part in such a scene. Knowing myself as I do, I suspect that it would give me the worst possible nightmares. So, although part of me is envious not to have had the opportunity to work on such a fine drama – another friend was in it too – maybe I’m better off sipping ‘wine’ in The Woolpack.

28 December, 2013 - There are 2 comments on this story

The Owl and the Pussy-cats

This Christmas Owl was given to us as a joke present and described as a ‘novelty door stop’, but we think he looks just fine where he is. The cats seem to agree.

I learned The Owl and the pussy-cat by heart as a child and fretted for a long time over the ‘runcible’ spoon, which no one was able to define for me. There were and are all kinds of theories, but I’m happy to settle for the idea that  it’s a word Edward Lear made up because he liked the sound of it.

Another of Lear’s poems, The Pobble Who Has No Toes, features a ‘runcible cat with crimson whiskers’. Quite what the connection was with my father’s old motorbike I’ve forgotten, but it was generally known by the family as the Pobble. Dad had so many accidents – fortunately only minor ones – that my usually gentle mother threatened to take an axe to the cursed machine and he traded it in for an old banger of a car. At least we as a family retained our full complement of digits!

28 December, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story

A very merry (if slightly baffling) Christmas!

With my birthday and Christmas being only two days apart – bad planning on the part of my late and much missed parents – I’m always overwhelmed with gifts and cards at this time of year. That doesn’t mean, of course, that I’m ungrateful, just sometimes spoilt for choice as to which to focus on.

This year I’ve been given a smartphone by my nearest and dearest. It’s a rite of passage and I’m finding it as much of a challenge as when my old typewriter was replaced by a computer. The number of apps available is making me quite giddy, but I’ll let them wait until I’ve mastered the basics. Fortunately, plenty of help is at hand within the family and I shall be taking full advantage of it over the next few days.

26 December, 2013 - There are 3 comments on this story

More Festivities!

My feet hardly touched the ground on Saturday, 14th December. As a long term volunteer at RAP (www.riponactivityproject.co.uk), I was delighted when a photographer from the Ripon Gazette turned up to record the scene.

After a short rest, I was out again to attend another Christmas party, this time in Wetherby and organised by Trisha and Deej of Strictly Salsa (www.strictlysalsa.co.uk). A good time was definitely had by all and we enjoyed a demo by our Intermediate dancers – now on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnCZDLSenK8 – crazy games and copious food as well as a great evening of dancing. Come and join us next year, if you dare!

On Wednesday, 18th December, Bruce and I joined a large group of our dancer friends for dinner at La Vecchia Scuola in York. It was a rather more sedate affair than the Strictly Salsa party, but the food and the company were good. Situated in Low Petergate, very close to the Minster, the Georgian building was once York College For Girls and one of our party is a former pupil. Karen was able to show us some of its features and actually found a couple of photographs of herself amongst the many on display inside the building.

20 December, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story

The Festive Season Continues

The challenge for this year’s Ripon Writers’ Group’s Christmas Event (about which there is a great deal more on www.riponwriters.co.uk) was to write a seasonal limerick. This is mine and it expresses a deeply heartfelt wish!

A writer who hangs up her stocking
Hopes that luck will soon come a-knocking.
A self published best seller
Would put wine in the cellar
And bring agents and publishers flocking.

Thursday saw the Ripon U3A Spanish (of which I’m a member) and Book groups getting together over a leisurely Christmas lunch at The Old Deanery and very pleasant it was too. An unexpected bonus was the sound of carols being sung across the road at Ripon Cathedral. No photographs, unfortunately, but a very convivial atmosphere.

13 December, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story

A Celebratory Seasonal Reading

I was very pleased to have one of my stories chosen for inclusion at this event organised by the Friends of Harrogate Library (FOHL), not least because it gave me the opportunity to take a look round the newly refurbished premises. These are now of a very high standard and a real asset to the town.

Unsure of the procedure, I’d taken a copy of my story along but was agreeably surprised to find a team of readers (shown on the right of the photograph) waiting to entertain the audience. It was a rare treat to sit back and enjoy listening to someone else’s interpretation of my words and Harrogate Library’s Noelle McCreath (could a name have been more appropriate for a reading at this time of year?), seated in the middle of the trio, did them full justice – even the foreign phrases!

The interval refreshments, including my first mince pie this year, were delicious, the wine flowed freely and I was able to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen for a while. All in all (although my story didn’t win this time round*), it was a very enjoyable evening.

*A slightly different version won a recent RWG competition. See http://www.riponwriters.co.uk/

Below is the press report on the evening:

7 December, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story

Club Focus on Ripon Activity Project

As a long term volunteer for RAP, a social group for adults with learning and/or physical disabilities, I was very happy to write the article below for our local newspaper. The limitations of an A4 scanner have led to its being split into two.

16 November, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story

Time on my hands now? Not a bit of it!

After nine years on the committee of Ripon Writers’ Group, three as Secretary, three as Vice Chair and the last three as Chair, tonight’s AGM has finally allowed me to retire to the back benches. This doesn’t mean, of course, that I shall cease to be an active member and I’ll continue to keep the website up to date for the foreseeable future.

A new challenge has already come my way in the shape of an invitation from Erewash Writers to feature in one of their regular competitions. Open to entrants worldwide, it’s for flash fiction and I’ve been allowed to choose the theme – carpe diem with a twist – as well as act as judge.  Full details can be obtained from http://erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2014-flash-fiction-with-maggie-cobbett.html

12 November, 2013 - Make the first comment on this story