Summer Away Day

Yesterday Catchword, my writing group, enjoyed an "away day" in Stroud, with a morning visit to the museum in Stratford Park, a delicious lunch at the home of one of our members and an afternoon of writing activities in her beautiful Cotswold garden.

No hint of the future ...

The museum is small but has fascinating exhibits - some definite inspiration for writing there! In the "schoolroom" gallery I was interested to find Laurie Lee's school reports; he was from Slad, of course, just two miles up the road, and attended the boys school in Stroud in the mid to late 1920s. The report at the end of his first term, Christmas 1925, would not have led to expectations of his later literary genius, stating "English - position in class 28th - disappointing"! His periods of absence and illness are documented and the difficulty he experienced in music tuition with his very poor family unable to afford a bow; a couple of years later, however, his progress and achievement are rewarded with the comment "Violin - his playing is a pleasure to himself and listeners".