Clearing the decks!

New Year's Eve. I looked around the study this morning and despaired at the number of folders, notebooks etc. with scribbles of this and that, photos I always meant to use, half-written poems and unfinished stories. All still there though so haphazardly filed (well - abandoned!) it would take a month of Sundays to locate any one item should I need to.

But taking a fresh look at things begun months, if not years, ago has resurrected my interest in some of the projects; others have the potential for a bit of recycling at least (prose that could mutate into verse etc). So it's been a morning for clearing the decks, sorting and putting in order. Needless to say things always look worse before they get better and I'm still knee deep in piles of paper, but by tomorrow I'm hoping January will start with a tidy study and well catalogued folders to spur on the writing year!

A long abandoned child's bike photographed last summer
- there has to be a story in it!

Perfect presents

For Christmas I had two perfect presents - a scented candle from my daughter and a distance learning course from my husband - with more of a connection than is immediately apparent!

I don't know why my father cut down the lilac tree at the top of our garden in Worcester - I must have been about eight at the time and perhaps that's when the vegetable plot gave way to lawns and borders and a rethink of that top corner. But from childhood I have always looked forward to the coming of spring and lilac blossom has always embodied that for me. The scent never fails to awaken in me a sense of hope and looking forward. So now, sitting on top of my filing cabinet is a beautiful scented candle that perfumes the whole room even when unlit. And the association with my childhood, the memories evoked, lead on to my other perfect present .....

Exeter University offers a distance learning course on "Writing Memoir And Family History". I'm well into recording and publishing sections of the family history (witness several of the blog entries below!) but writing memoir has seemed a bit self-indulgent in the past. However, if any of my writing survives for future generations the family history wouldn't be complete without at least a mention of my life as part of that - and, if I'm going to include it, I'd like to write it in the same sort of social context as I'm using for Digging Up The Family. So the idea of a short course which encourages, supports and perhaps helps structure the venture certainly appealed. It doesn't start until March but I'm certainly looking forward to it.

(PS. Hopefully my present to my husband - a tripod for his camera - is equally appropriate. Last Christmas my daughter and I gave him a landscape photography course. We seem to have developed very absorbing hobbies that keep us both out of trouble and make birthday / Christmas presents no problem!)

Winter weather

My mother in the 1950s

Odd things come to mind as you lie in bed on winter nights listening to the wind howling outside and rain battering against the windows. Last night for some reason I had vivid recollections of the wash days of my childhood (they were only once a week then, and a major household exercise, not the quick daily occurence now possible with automatic washing machines, tumble driers etc). The weather would have a marked effect on my mother's Monday mood - yes, wash day was always Monday! - and the following poem is dedicated to her memory.



Winter Wash circa 1955

Wild horses tugging at her hands,
she fights to rein in sheets,
tether them to the line, then
wields the pole, hoisting
the standard for battle -
shirts, slacks and socks
pennants on the breeze.

A standoff with the elements -
a threatening sky, a spot or two of rain;
a truce - but from the kitchen watchtower
she keeps a careful eye in case
a rescue mission must be launched,
a retreat, to regroup at the
clothes horse by the fire. 

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2013)

Picaresque - Troubadors at La Tasca

What a super evening we had at La Tasca - a really appreciative audience, lovely tapas during the interval and just great fun all round. Our poems in the first half had a "Winter" theme and in the second we majored on "Ghosts", with contributions on everything from poltergeists to Resurrectionists via Highgate Cemetery and Civil War spirits. Two of our members weren't able to make the evening but we hope they'll be with us for our next one - we've all got very different poetic approaches but put us together and we seem to work well!

A Real Community Venture.

I spent a magical hour yesterday lunchtime in Gloucester Cathedral listening to the Caring Chorus, a new choir made up of staff from our local health authority, the brainchild of an ex-student of mine, Lucy Mathieson. All I can say is - move over Gareth Malone! Under the expert input of their musical director, domestic staff, consultants, nurses, porters, medical secretaries and other sundry healthcare workers put on a brilliant concert, with pieces ranging from 1970s hits through African vocals to the beautiful Irish Blessing (which had me in tears). It was their first public appearance and they got a standing ovation from a packed cathedral. A tremendous success - and a great tribute to Lucy's belief in her idea and her dedication to making it happen.

Caring Chorus

I think there's something very special about such community ventures, something that unites and gives a common sense of purpose. It's great when that works with writing too; for several years I've worked in nursing and care homes with elderly residents undertaking joint writing projects - two of which resulted in informal publications sold in aid of the home's activity programmes. Anna Saunders, the director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, is currently planning for the forthcoming festival (March 28th - April 6th 2014) and I'm very much hoping that we'll be including outreach programmes with workshops for local groups to really make it relevant to the whole Cheltenham community.

Let Us Be Merry!

Well, November and NaNoWriMo are safely done with - and yes, I did manage my very modest contribution of four articles for Digging Up The Family. December has started very hectically. Yesterday I was interviewed on Write Out Loud on Corinium Radio about the poem with which I'd won the Gloucestershire Writers Network competition at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, this morning saw the broadcast of my own programme "Cirencester's Own Poetry Please" and this afternoon I've been at a rehearsal for the Charlton Kings Community Players concert "Let Us Be Merry" being staged on Wednesday.

"Let Us Be Merry" is an annual feature in the village and always great fun to be in. Last year I wrote and performed a short story entitled "Waiting" about the Russian Orthodox Christmas; this year I'm afraid that time and life got the better of me despite my good intentions to write my own material again and I'm reading instead the Charles Causley poem "Ballad Of The Breadman". If it's not one you know, do look it up - a very modern, thought-provoking take on the age old story.

Almost there!

I was beginning to think that things were conspiring against me in relation to managing my NaNoWriMo commitment - and I know I'm not quite there yet - but a new laptop is halving the amount of time things take and lowering my stress level considerably. The old one had given good service over the years but was becoming increasingly temperamental, to my considerable irritation.

I'm half way through my fourth and final Digging Up The Family article. It will be a very modest achievement compared with the screeds many people around the country will have churned out this month but, in my present circumstances, the limit of what I could sensibly manage. I'm planning to collate the articles with other existing family history material I've worked on in the last couple of years; I'll then just have another half dozen or so articles / chapters to tackle before beginning to wrestle with my first attempt at self-publishing! Any helpful advice gladly received ....

Behind schedule ....

Evangeline and Grace

I came across a quote earlier today that really struck a chord - "If you can't get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance" (George Bernard Shaw). With the number of indiscretions, irregularities etc. in our family closet I could have a whole ballroom of waltzing skeletons! A plethora of material there to write about.

But now mild panic has set in as I realise the date - November 20th, two thirds of the way through NaNoWriMo - and here I am only half way through my pledged task of four completed Digging Up The Family articles in the month. How folks are getting on slogging through their 50,000 word novels I can't begin to imagine, when the prospect of failing to complete even 8,000 words looms here .....

But I'm not opting out - for a start, these two girls have stories well worth telling, to say nothing of their brother. So a few things (well, housework definitely!) are going to have to go on the back burner for the next ten days as I plough on regardless.

Picaresque

I have to admit that until recently I had no idea what "Picaresque" meant. If it's a new word to you too - look it up and you'll find that it describes "troubador adventurers who live by their wits". Yesterday I became a fully fledged member of just such a band!

"Picareque" is the name adopted by our troupe of local poets, led by the celebrated Jennie Farley; to quote from our press release we are eight women "whose adventurous journeys in poetry have produced imaginative meetings with rogues, rascals, saints and sinners - and moments of reflective magic". Yesterday evening we gave our inaugural reading at Global Footsteps in Cheltenham and were delighted to have a very enthusiastic reception. Next month we have been invited to perform at La Tasca, the Spanish restaurant in Regent Street in Cheltenham - it promises to be another great evening (with tapas thrown in!). If you're free on Monday December 9th at 7pm do come along to hear us; seats are limited so ring 01242 220775 to book.There'll be a £3 donation on entrance but I guarantee it will be well worth it!

A breath of fresh air

I've just come back from a week walking the Wales Coastal Path, a venture we started a year or so ago and of which we've now completed about 95 miles - which only leaves us another 775 to go! Given the very dicey weather, we managed not to get too soaked and to avoid getting blown off the cliff tops. Last Saturday afternoon the sea at Porthcawl had to be seen to be believed.

Nothing like striding out in the fresh air to clear the mind of everyday minutiae and to enable you to think constructively. I got very little writing done during the week but a lot of planning, most of it on the hoof. Much of the stretch we walked I had known in my youth - a very different existence! - and all sorts of recollections with writing potential came flooding back.

This month I've got to concentrate on the commitment I made for NaNoWriMo (and I've managed one of the four articles so far) but I'm squirrelling away a number of new ideas for use as and when opportunities arise later. As ever, we've come back with endless photographs and notes - I've learned from experience though that these need transcribing ASAP as jottings hastily scrawled in a damp note book as you're slogging up a cliff on a muddy, slippery footpath are virtually indecipherable a week or so later!.

A Different Undertaking for NaNoWriMo

Lots of talk about just now concerning NaNoWriMo. I know that I could never sustain the narrative for a novel and putting aside such a concentrated chunk of time as it would demand is beyond me in my present circumstances anyway; however the idea of a limited period of time focussing on one particular writing project certainly appeals to me.

I got into the writing game initially because I wanted to put together a family history. That plan somehow went on the back burner pretty rapidly though, overtaken by branching out into short stories and poetry. But the desire to pursue it has never really gone away and now seems the ideal time to resurrect it. The forthcoming issue of Vintage Script will have the third in my series on "Digging Up The Family" in it (on the 1918 influenza pandemic). So here's to having at least four more articles completed between Nov. 1st and 30th!

What skeletons in the cupboard ...?!

Cirencester's Own Poetry Please!

I'm having great fun at the moment putting together and recording a programme for Corinium Radio's broadcast for the end of next month. I'm interviewing six people who live or work in the town about their connection to Cirencester and talking to them about their poetic likes and dislikes. At the end of each interview the person is choosing a poem which has a special significance for them to be read on air.

It's been fascinating to talk to a wide variety of people - including a newly arrived resident in a care home, a book shop owner, someone working with young homeless people, a curate, a hospital manager - and to find out about their poetic journeys. Their choices are as varied as their backgrounds, with poems from very different eras and voices.

If you'd like to listen in to the programme, it will air on Sunday Dec. 1st at midday on 87.7FM. If you live outside the broadcast radius, a few days after the live broadcast it will be available on the Corinium Radio website. Hope you enjoy it!

The Poets' Hare!

I had no idea that winning the Gloucestershire Writers Network poetry competition for the Cheltenham Literature Festival involved taking on custody of a hare for twelve months! But adorning my desk as I write is this chap; I've yet to find out his history and his actual significance but I know that he has spent time with some winning poets who have gone on to far greater things than I can ever aspire to, so I am delighted to have his company.

And the event at which he was presented to me was fantastic - I'm sure it will mark the pinnacle of my literary career! Along with the winner of the prose section of the competition and ten runners-up (including my colleague John Holland from Somewhere Else Writers) I was entertained in the Writers Room at the Festival before our readings in The Studio. It's quite a capacious venue and it was so exciting (if a little intimidating) to have a large audience of family, friends, local writers and general festival goers.

With Rona Laycock, writer and event organiser

The judges from both sections of the competition were with us - Jennifer Cryer, who had judged the prose, and Jennie Farley, who had judged the poetry. It was fascinating to hear the variety of work that had been inspired by the Festival title "Memory" - some autobiographical, some family oriented, some purely fictional.

The evening was concluded by Jennie with a wonderful selection of her own poems on the theme, speaking to us so movingly of childhood, parents, love and lovers.

I still haven't really come down to earth after it all. Over the past few days I've been to several other events with "proper" writers presenting their work and I just can't believe that I've been a small part of such an amazing festival!.

National Poetry Day

With Kyffin Williams painting "The Dark Lake"

 A great way to celebrate National Poetry Day - an afternoon at Swindon Art Gallery for the launch of "Separate Ways", the anthology of the Blue Gate Poets based on the modern art collection there. Those of us with poems in the anthology led the audience around the gallery and read our work in front of the painting which had inspired it; later Tamar Yoseloff (who had led the original workshop) read from several of her publications. Tamar has such a talent for using one work of art to inspire another - and equally to inspire enthusiasm for this approach in is those of us who can only dream of attaining such heights!

Tamar's reading

Here and There

Coming back from holiday is never great but at least this time there are several things to look forward to here - largely  on the Cheltenham Literature Festival which starts this coming Friday. Lots of poetry this time (including my own very small contribution in The Studio on Monday 7th at 8pm!) and some interesting talks I've booked for.

Before all that comes the Swindon Poetry Festival and on Thursday I shall be reading at the launch of the Blue Gates Poets anthology at the Art Gallery and Museum at 2pm - do come along if you're free (it is!). World Mental Health Day falls on October 10th this year and I'm also involved in a poetry reading in Cheltenham to mark that, organised by Anna Saunders, the director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. She's passionate about poetry being life enhancing for everyone - and indeed life saving for some - and I'm delighted to have been asked to contribute.

So that's the "Here" - how about the "There"? Well, the "There" was Ireland, where I spent a week with my daughter in Cobh, near Cork, in a wooden lodge that would make an ideal "write-away" venue! I've come back with loads of notes and ideas, but I'm afraid I achieved little in the way of actual writing - too busy out and about. The setting and seclusion would certainly lend itself to another, solo, visit though. And Ireland of course is a land of story tellers and writers - as so many of the postcards, books etc. remind you. To my chagrin however, they all major on the males of the species (James Joyce, W. B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde) - tremendous writers I know, but how about Maeve Binchy, Edna O'Brien, Kate Cruise O'Brien, Julia O'Faolain? Why, oh why are female writers so frequently overlooked?

Heritage in Poetry

Today and tomorrow see the annual Heritage Open Days, with places of historical interest opening their doors free to visitors. This morning I spent an hour at Gloucester Cathedral in the company of the poet Peter Wyton and it proved an entertaining and enlightening event!

A few years ago Peter published a book entitled "The Ship In The City" - sadly now out of print - and he read from it a broad selection of poems about people, real and imagined, who played some part in the early life of Gloucester and its places of worship. Tradespeople and kings, scribes and stonemasons, Edward Jenner and Henry VIII were brought back to life in his whirlwind review of a couple of millenia. A fascinating morning - thank you, Peter.

The Purpose of Poetry?

Diagnosis

The consultant’s room

a gallery

exhibiting the scans.

my head

an apple sliced,

my core on public view.

To launch the show

an invited few

stand round, comment

on the pictures,

discuss design,

flaws in execution.

I have no trained eye

to appraise

the work of art.

My interest more visceral,

I await

their verdict.

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2011)

A couple of years ago I was at a poetry reading by Andrew Motion. After the session a very earnest woman in the audience asked him "What is the purpose of poetry actually? What is its real value?". I can't remember the poet's response verbatim, but I recall wondering why things have to have a value outside themselves, whether some things can't just exist on their own merits. After all, we are human beings, not human doings - sometimes simply being is enough!

But I believe that often poetry does have enormous value in presenting the world in a different light from that in which the reader / listener usually perceives it, making them perhaps rethink beliefs and ideas. Some months ago a Health Poems Project was devised in the North West; although funding cuts (of course!) have since narrowed its scope, some of the poems submitted for that project are now to be used on a forthcoming NHS Research and Development Team website. The organisers hope that "they'll help reseachers, practitioners and patients make more creative links with each other ... help in training nurses (and) enable researchers to understand the patients' viewpoint".  My poem featured above is to represent the neuroscience category on the website; if it goes any way towards meeting those expressed aims I shall be delighted..

Excuse and no excuse!

Following an unfortunate incident in Crickley Hill Country Park yesterday morning (involving several dogs and a wet patch of grass) I'm now the frustrated owner of a splinted left wrist! I have decided this is a splendid excuse when it comes to housework, gardening etc. but it leaves no excuse when it comes to getting down to putting pen to paper ....

Back in May this year I spent a fascinating day at a poetry workshop run by the BlueGate Poets in Swindon at the Museum and Art Gallery there. The tutor was Tamar Yoseloff and we were working from the excellent modern art collection the gallery houses. Shortly both on-line and print anthologies will be coming out with the poems inspired by the day. Here's a preview, with my poem based on Kyffin Williams painting "The Dark Lake", a dramatic portrayal of the landscape around Llanberis in Snowdonia.

 

Intrusion

 We are interlopers

in this barren place,

hushed by echoes

of quarrymen’s rough shod feet

striking out past

unplumbed silent depths

on grim grey paths

of splintered slate,

the winter morning

numb with cold.

Fashioned from time-worn stone,

moulded by mountain ways,

still in death

they command this land.

Their absence haunts

each cwm. each crag -

and taunts our timorous footsteps

when we trespass in their slag.

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2013)

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Shades of autumn

The last few mornings have had that autumn feel to them - a chill in the air, hazy horizons over the valley when I walk the dog, a dampness underfoot. I really don't want to see the summer go yet - we just don't seem to have had enough of it - but at least on the writing front there are things to look forward to as a new season starts.

On Wednesday September 4th a new poetry venture - "Well Versed" - is starting at the Muffin Man in Cheltenham  with a mixture of invited guests, music and an open mic. I'm delighted to have been invited to take part in the first evening. Perhaps you might like to come along too - 7-9pm. It should be fun. The following Saturday, September 7th, sees "Poetry In Store" at Waterstones bookshop on the Promenade from 11 -1pm - a variety of poets (myself included) will be reading their own work and that of others. I'm not sure of the date yet, but my monthly poetry group will also be doing a fund raising evening for the Global Footsteps Cafe charity later in the year - watch this space for details of that one.

But the piece de resistance has to be the Gloucestershire Writer's Network evening at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Monday October 7th! Tickets go on sale as from next week. I loved the event two years ago (when I was a runner up in the poetry competition); that year it was held in the amazing Spiegeltent with its nineeenth century carved pillars, huge mirrors and coloured lighting. Sounds like a more mundane venue this year I'm afraid, but I'm still looking forward to it no end! The winners and runners up in both the poetry and short story sections will be reading their entries, followed by Jennie Farley reading some of her work on the festival theme of "Memory".

Most usefully this week I've received the judge's critiques on my winning entries for the GWN poetry competition and the Onward Short Story prize.  Whilst I know only too well that  I have an awful lot still to learn, it really is very heartening to be congratulated when you have mastered something you've really been struggling with! So both lots of comments (edited highlights below) were most welcome.

"The winning poem is a gem, using as its metaphor a Victorian sampler embroidered by a 13 year old girl ...  during a hard Welsh winter, each coloured thread representing dreams of summer. This memorable poem is as carefully worked as the sampler itself, not a stitch (or a word) out of place." Jennie Farley


"What’s really striking in this story is the strong sense of place and the use of detail from the natural world. There is some beautifully cinematic writing, as though we are watching a film. The story also knows just where to begin and end, which sounds simple, but is one of the most difficult aspects of short fiction to judge correctly. The author also understands the ‘tip of the iceberg’ technique where little details are used to suggest an awful lot more in the reader’s mind. Combining elements of French travelogue, ghost story, and contemporary family issues, this is a rich and well crafted story." Prof. Ursula Hurley


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THANK YOU!

This post is really just to say a massive "Thank You" to the people who have helped me with my writing over the past couple of years, the people who have encouraged me to write, introduced me to different techniques, given such useful constructive criticism; the people who have picked me up and dusted me off when I've been down and who have celebrated with me when I've had successes. When I retired from lecturing I didn't find the transition from academic to creative writing easy and I'm so grateful for all the advice and support I've been given. In particular Rona Laycock's classes at the New Brewery Arts Centre in Cirencester were fantasic for me and lately the sessions I've been attending with the poet Jennie Farley have moved me forward a great deal.

What has made me especially aware just now of all the help I've been given has been the news that, in addition to winning this year's Onward Short Story Competition, I've also won the Onward Poetry Competition - I'm still recovering from the shock! But I know that so much of the credit goes to Rona, Jennie, my Ty Newydd tutors of the past two years (Lavinia Greenlaw, Paul Dodgson, Victoria Field, Nigel Jenkins, Paul Henry, Tom Bullough) and others I've been fortunate enough to do occasional workshops with. To all of you - a huge "THANK YOU!"

This is the poem with which I was fortunate enough to win.

An Autistic Child

Fluent at six

You read as if

By instinct,

Concentrating

For hours,

Cocooned within

Your world

Of words.

“A gifted child”

They said.

But to spread

Your wings,

To interact,

You must read

Between the lines,

Decode the syntax

Of expression

Interpret posture,

Gesture, space,

Leaf through the pages

Of the human face.

Not yours

The gift that

Makes for

Easy friendship,

Give and take,

Acceptance by

The crowd.

Such literacy

A mystery to you –

A lesson

To be learned

Piecemeal

Over years.

Easier by far

The comfort of your books.

 (Copyright Gill Garrett 2013)

Unexpected success!

Who would have thought that I could be so indebted to a twelve year old girl from a hundred and fifty years ago! This is a photograph of a tapestry that hangs in our living room, worked by my husband's great great grandmother. For the Gloucestershire Writer's Network competition this year the theme was "Memory" and I submitted a poem entitled "Retrospect : Anne Dakins, her work, in the 13th year of her age, 1861". I could not believe it yesterday morning when I heard that it was chosen as the winning poem. I shall be reading it at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October.

The news finished off a perfect week for me. The "Gaining Confidence" course at Ty Newydd enabled me to do just that. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, stimulating few days with tutors who took a real interest in student's work and presented lively and thought-provoking sessions. We were a very mixed group - in terms of age, background and writing styles - but, as always, I learned a lot from the other students and their approaches too. Four days is never long enough though - I'm already planning next year's trip!

Looking forward to "Gaining Confidence ..."

On Monday I'm off to Ty Newydd for the week - an event I've been looking forward to since January! I think mine was probably the first application for the course at the Welsh writer's centre at Llanystumdwy; as soon as last year's course there ended I was planning this next visit - I love it there.

For those of you who are not familiar with Ty Newydd, it was Lloyd George's last home and he is buried a couple of hundred yards down the road on the banks of the River Dwyfor. The house is set in fabulous grounds with views over Criccieth Bay and is the epitome of faded elegance. Literature Wales runs a variety of creative writing courses there - poetry, prose, play writing, writing in health and social care - some a week long, some over weekends. This will be my fourth visit and I've not been disappointed in any of the courses I've done so far. The tutors have been excellent, the accommodation comfortable, the food good - one evening in the week you're expected to help out preparing dinner, but that's all part of the fun of it.

Next week's course is on "Gaining Confidence In Poetry and Prose". The two tutors are Paul Henry for poetry (I heard him read last year at the Much Wenlock Poetry Festival and was hugely impressed) and Tom Bullough for prose (I've not met him before but his reputation goes before him). I'm expecting great things of the week, so watch this space!

A writing community

When I was working as a freelance lecturer I found that keeping contact with other professionals in my area of business was essential a) to ground me in what was happening in the larger health and care world and b) to maintain my sanity! For all the pro's of being self employed, a definite con can be the isolation often involved. Writing, I have found, can have a similar profile - but I have learnt from my previous experience how to deal with it.

My writers group Somewhere Else is excellent on a regular basis but I try to occasionally link up with other writers too for a breadth of vision and to find out what else is going on in the local scene. Once a month I go to Writers in the Brewery in Cirencester; it welcomes a variety of invited writers to read and discuss their work and provides a platform for others with an open mic session. It runs on the last Thursday evening of most months of the year.

This morning the Catchword group held their annual coffee morning with writers from all over Gloucestershire invited. It was hot, noisy and great fun - and the cakes (especially Sarah's raspberry and almond one) were fantastic! Great to hear about other people's projects, publications and proposals. Wilkie Martin's first comic crime novel "Inspector Hobbes and the Blood" comes out on Friday. Great excitement there! And I could share the news of my competition win earlier this week. My short story L'Ermitage has won the Onward Short Story prize in aid of the Theatre Royal in Hyde (and should be on the website shortly). After entering an awful lot of competitions with no joy at all and a few with modest success, that certainly made my week!

(If you are interested, my story The Journey, which won third prize in the Curry Mallet History Festival competition, can be read here (scroll down to 3rd Prize!))

Digging Up The Family

Creative non-fiction can cover some very diverse areas. For me a fruitful area for non-fictional inspiration has been the family history research I've now been carrying out for a number of years. Not that our family has been anything out of the ordinary, but you can always find the extraordinary in that ordinary. I've learned so much about social history - and it's been a lot more interesting than the political / military affairs of nations that passed as history in my school days!

Next month Vintage Script magazine will publish "Victorian Juvenile Justice", my article based on the experiences of my grandfather in the 1880s and 90s, when the theft of a loaf of bread and half a pound of butter earned him two weeks in gaol and two years in a reformatory - at the age of ten! Their last issue featured my article on mourning jewellry, a topic on which I'd known almost nothing until being given a brooch belonging to my grandmother in which was embedded a lock of her mother's hair; that started me off on a fascinating journey of discovery. The magazine, which comes out three times a year, is an interesting  mix of historical / retro articles and stories and it's well worth a look at if you have leanings in that direction.