A Zambian Story – by Roger Barton

This story is about my experience of working in Zambia during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It is a factual account of what happened to the lives of ordinary people, during a crisis when its major export commodity, copper, declined in price. During these years, the country was a so-called ‘front-line state’ in the [...]

Read Full Post »

School Days

At last weeks workshop we were looking at Kia’s work that describes his first day at school and how his Dad had forgotten to collect him. This seemed to strike a chord with the rest of the group. Especially with Mona who had the audacity to bite her teacher on her first day at school. [...]

Read Full Post »

Every man’s memory is his private literature – Aldous Huxley

We saw some fascinating things at the Leeds Museum Discovery Centre on Friday. Many of these things would have been considered quite ordinary by the people who used them in their everyday lives years ago. But to us, in 2008, they are a window into the past; a window through which we can see [...]

Read Full Post »

Ray’s Father

This is a photo of my father standing at the wheel of the Cutty Sark in Greenwich. It was taken in 1984, when I was living in London. It’s a bitterly cold, clear day in January and I am struck, yet again, by how much more comfortable my dad looks when he’s outside. In [...]

Read Full Post »

Independence Day

Pudsey and Calverley writers groups are a lively and independent lot who know just how they want things to be done. This was apparent on Friday when the group were asked to start work on a writing exercise during the workshop based around the photographs and objects they had brought in with them.
We soon [...]

Read Full Post »