With the financial strictures local councils and charities have faced in recent years, so many really valuable community facilities that I've known have been axed. On the one hand the effect on local people can be devastating - on the other, it can be galvanizing, propelling individuals and groups into action to maintain or develop for themselves what they know they need and deserve. An excellent example is The Cwtsh in Newport. When Stow Hill Library was closed down in 2013, the site was taken over by a band of volunteers and re-opened two years later as an arts centre; it's now a thriving venue hosting everything from art exhibitions to ukelele classes via "pop up" activities and a film lab - and creative writing sessions.
On The Writer's Room this week I was fortunate enough to have as my guests members of the writing group which meets weekly at The Cwtsh under the capable leadership of tutor Angela Platt. Some of the group have written most of their lives, others are very much newcomers to prose or poetry, but they all share tremendous enthusiasm and dedication. Five members contributed to the programme, four in person and one
in absentia with Angela reading her short story for her. It was a real pleasure to host such interesting and varied guests - hopefully we'll see, and certainly hear, more of them in the future.
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| Fay Jenkins |
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| Angela reads a story by Barbara Hawkins |
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| Alan Barrow |
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| Christine Armstrong |
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| David Rees |
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