Newsletters
May 2025
An unexpected reconnection
Pottery is harder than it looks
The Seend Beer Festival
Grammar Rant
June 2025
Writing Workshop at Devizes Art Festival
Warminster Book Festival
What I'm reading
Deputy Mayoral Duties
Grammar Rant
Scroll down to read the June Newsletter
July 2025
Devizes in Bloom Open Gardens
A Visit to Barmouth
To be published mid-July
NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2025
BOOK FESTIVAL APPEARANCE
BOOK FESTIVAL APPEARANCE
When a friend of a friend asked me if I would like to give a presentation at the Warminster Book Festival on 7th June, of course I jumped at the chance.
What a great opportunity for me, as a new author, to showcase The Barmouth Affairs. I chose to focus on the themes in the story and called my talk ‘Family, Friendship and Fidelity’. Researching the topics was fascinating and I discovered so much about family and friendship theory as well as some interesting facts and figures about (in)fidelity.
Driving over on Saturday in the wind and rain, I thought nobody would come out in such miserable weather and I’d have no audience. I needn’t have worried: about thirty people turned up and the applause indicated that they appreciated my presentation. A couple of them told me it’s obvious I have a teaching background. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing! Whatever it was, that’s the first one under my belt and I look forward to more in the future.
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
Last week Rob, Elaine and I, all members of Devizes Writers’ Group, ran a creative writing workshop as part of Devizes Arts Festival. We’re a busy lot in this small market town in Wiltshire!
To begin with, there were envelopes of small items, such as a key, a train ticket or a hairband to inspire a plot. There was a lot of chatter in the room as ideas were shared and bounced around. Then, there was an opportunity to create a character followed by setting. Breaktime was a chance to discuss ideas, writing projects and poetry. There were also some extracts from novels and short stories, by both famous, and not-so-famous, authors for everyone to read and discuss. In the end, all the attendees were able to let their imaginations run wild and everyone went away with a piece of writing. The feedback was positive, including this lovely note above.
WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK
WHAT I'M READING THIS WEEK
The Secret River by Kate Grenville is set in the early 1800s when ‘criminals’ from London were deported to Australia.
Once there, they could work towards their freedom and settle on certain tracts of land. Unfortunately, this caused inevitable difficulties between the Aboriginal people who already lived on that land, which was their home and source of their food.
The story follows a family as they navigate these difficulties and attempt to build a new life for themselves.
Deputy Mayoral Duties
In my new role as Deputy Mayor of Devizes, I attended the Marlborough Mayor Robing.
It was a formal event and quite emotional for the outgoing and incoming Mayors, both women. It seems to be a trend in Wiltshire as I met two other female Deputies of towns where the Mayors are women.
I was also privileged to attend a Volunteer Celebration for Homestart, a charity which supports struggling parents. It was lovely to hear about the relationships between volunteers and families.
GRAMMAR RANT
Using the correct past tense.
Do you know the difference between the past tenses ‘have done’ and ‘did’? Find out more It would seem that the present perfect is falling out of fashion as I rarely hear it anymore.
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Have done – present perfect – used when an adverb (if used) does not specify the time.
I’ve (already) done it.
Did – past simple – used when an adverb of time tells you exactly when.
I did it two hours ago.
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Is there a mistake, grammar or otherwise, that really annoys you? Please share it with me and we can moan about it together!