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RISING BROOK WRITERS - sharing the joys of creative writing with the Over 50s and Senior Citizens

WORKSHOPS

October 2008: A new group enjoys

a taster of the RBW touring workshop programme

This is what some of the organisations visited by RBW have to say about why RBW should be supported by funders:

Dobree Close & Wolseley Close Sheltered Housing Association is delighted to support Rising Brook Writers in their application for funding to continue the excellent work they do in our community.

Our members had been so entertained by a presentation about an earlier RBW publication that we had no hesitation when the opportunity came to contribute to the Stafford Remembers project. All our members thought it was such a good idea and it stimulated them to start reminiscing weeks before RBW came to three of our regular meetings. The first workshop was very enjoyable. We all had a good laugh with everyone joining in and sharing their wartime memories. A couple of months later RBW returned and members recorded their stories. On the third visit we received free copies of the book and everyone was excited to see their words in print. Members who wanted to give the book to relatives were also able to buy extra copies. It was a wonderful experience for them.

The Stafford Remembers project is an excellent initiative. Situated as we are on the edge of a large authority, members can sometimes feel a bit left out of things but seeing their contributions in the book alongside those of other groups made them feel part and parcel of a wider community. The quality of the RBW workshops and publications is fantastic. Producing the books in large print was particularly helpful to one or two of our members whose eyesight isn’t what it was and making the stories available on CD means no-one in the community is left out.

The RBW Stafford Remembers workshops are something totally and utterly different for groups like ours. We normally just get speakers from the police or fire services who have important information for us but the meetings can be a bit dead. Often members just sit there listening but can feel they are being babied. RBW bring fresh, new ideas. Their meetings are very lively and entertaining with everyone getting to join in. They put members at their ease and treat them as individuals. Everyone can see their stories are important. No-one else in the area provides this sort of stimulation. The mission of Stafford Rural Homes is ‘Opening doors’ and RBW reach out into the community and open doors to give people like our members the opportunity to show what makes them tick as individuals. It’s a wonderful, unique initiative that needs to continue and we whole-heartedly support their request for further funding.

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The Monday Club is pleased to have contributed to RBW Stafford Remembers project and to support their request for funding to continue the programme of touring community workshops.

RBW visited our regular meetings on three occasions and members were very enthusiastic about being included in the project. There was a definite buzz from one visit to the next. The introductory session went down very well and everyone was comfortable with the presenters and the humorous programme. In the second session members recorded their stories. On the final visit everyone received a free copy of the book and we listened to extracts from our stories on CD.

The Stafford Remembers project makes a valuable contribution to the local community because history matters and people matter. If no-one records these stories we lose the real memories – and the perspective - of people who were alive at the time. From the point of view of older people like our members, they don’t normally have opportunities to talk about things that mattered to them when they were younger. Several of them bought extra copies of the book so they could share their memories with their families. One member died shortly after the project and we sent the book to his son who was so pleased because he had known nothing of that time in his father’s life. It was also a great thrill for everyone to learn that their experiences - and their voices on the CD - were to be kept in the County Archive. By contributing to the RBW project they felt included as part of the community.

We support the RBW application for funding to continue this project because they are the only group in our area doing this work and they do it so well done. Their workshops are well-presented, particularly in the way they include everyone, making sure that people with hearing difficulties, for example, don’t miss out on the experience. It’s also helpful for members such as ours that the project is continuous over a period of time. Speakers usually come to the group, do their talk and that’s it. Knowing that RBW would be coming back encouraged members to concentrate and think about the next stage of the project. Above all, there was a good end-product. The books were of a convenient format to hold comfortably and the large print was greeted with ‘Oh, you can read this!’ from many members who need a magnifying glass for normal sized type. Being able to listen to the CD was a real bonus for one member who has almost lost her sight completely. Many older people also like to read a little and then rest to absorb what they’ve read and the lovely layout with pictures breaking up the text is just what they like. Overall, it was a really useful experience for The Monday Club to contribute to the Stafford Remembers project and we hope we have the opportunity to do so again.

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Oulton Good Companions is pleased to support Rising Brook Writers (RBW) in their application for funding for their touring workshops.

We invited RBW to join us on three occasions. The first time they read from earlier publications and encouraged members to share their wartime memories. They kept everyone entertained. When they returned they recorded individual members’ stories and on their third visit they brought everyone free copies of the finished book. We were all pleased with the published stories and when we read them there was a lot of ‘Did you really do that?’ going on. Some members bought extra copies for their relatives and two members who were sisters were surprised to find they had very different memories of the same events. We learned a lot about each other during the project and were very pleased to contribute.

The ‘Stafford Remembers’ project shows just how much living history there is in a community like ours. It’s important to collect these stories so they are available for younger generations. Older people so often get a bad press these days but they were just born and grew up in earlier times. Preserving their experiences as RBW do helps to show how they lived, what they achieved and why so many things are like they are for us today. On a personal level, 80 and 90 year-olds don’t always talk about their past to their families but ‘Stafford Remembers’ ensures the memories are recorded as part of family history.

No other organisation apart from RBW is doing this in our community. They get out to groups like ours and encourage members to tell their stories, help them to publish them and do it in an entertaining and up-lifting way. Our members are avid readers and they were very pleased with the professionally produced books which were well illustrated and available in large print for anyone who might need that. Contributing to ‘Stafford Remembers’ was a very good experience for everyone and we support RBW in seeking funding so that it can continue.

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On behalf of the Stafford Branch of the National Association of Widows I am writing to support Rising Brook Writers’ application for funding for their touring workshop programme.

We heard about RBW touring workshops too late for us to include three visits in our programme before their publication went to press but our members were so keen to contribute that we invited RBW to one of our meetings anyway. Everyone had a wonderful time. RBW read some of the stories they’d collected and encouraged members to share their wartime memories in an entertaining and light-hearted way. We were very interested to hear how the memories were recorded and published as books, which we were given free of charge, and CDs. Members were really pleased at the possibility of contributing to the next project, especially getting their memories into print. They will be thrilled with that and get so much out of the experience.

An important part of what the NAW does is to introduce members to the possibilities of developing their interests and social life in new ways. The RBW ‘Stafford Remembers’ project reaches out to groups like ours to demonstrate in an active way the opportunities for creative writing that exist in our local community. Everyone has a story to tell and as experienced and enthusiastic writers RBW encourage others to get started. Many of our members do like to go back in time and there are already signs they have been stimulated to share memories with their families - and in our meetings - that they haven’t shared before. We’ve seen a new side to some members! We were also very impressed with the quality of the RBW publications. Their books are well illustrated and the large print is a real plus for our older members. Some of us prefer to listen as we relax or do other things so we thought putting the stories onto CD was a lovely idea.

We work with many groups in the community because our members need lots of outlets to help them move forward with their lives but RBW do stand out. They involve everyone in their workshops – and stimulating our members to communicate is so important – but they entertain and amuse them as well. Meeting a group of ordinary folk who love what they do and want to share their enthusiasm with others is so important for a group like ours. We can only see positive outcomes for our members from our continued association with RBW and we have no hesitation in supporting their funding application.

RBW is deeply grateful to all the above organisations for helping us by participating in our community projects . . . we loved entertaining them and we throughly enjoyed meeting so many interesting people.

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Now here's some workshops we made earlier: . . . .

2005 - Library workshops began from April to September

2006 - Library workshops evolved into being open every week throughout the year

2006 - External Workshop Tours began with 11 workshops

Feedback: as a result of the RWB 2006 workshops we have been informed that one person was inspired to write and publish their grandfather's biography and another person started their autobiography and has gone on to be published as a travel writer. Another lady in her eighth decade started writing poetry and short stories last year and is now being published.