A guest article by Susan Pugh, chairman of Cleveleys Writers
Cleveleys Writers – Writers for Charity was formed in 1999. We are a friendly group of writers of all abilities, from published writers to beginners. We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 1.30pm in our new home of the lounge at The Park Club on West Drive, Cleveleys. We recently moved from a small room at Cleveleys Library which we had outgrown. Having more space has enabled us to re-open our Membership to more writers.
Our Group Mission is to enable local people to express their literary talents and emotions by writing poetry, short stories and plays. Each meeting we have readings of our own works, and critiques are available if requested. Occasionally we hold workshops on various topics. We also run an Annual Writing Competition for our members, with a presentation of certificates at our Christmas Dinner.
Each year we select a local charity and produce an anthology of our poetry, and short stories, which we sell on their behalf, to raise funds for them. Last year we raised funds for Brian House Children’s Hospice, and the R.N.L.I. We were also alerted by an article in The Gazette to the theft of £100 from a Hounds for Heroes charity box at the local golfing range. The Writers rose to the challenge and compiled an anthology in record time to raise a total of £180.
We aim to promote literacy to all ages, and Cleveleys Writers are proud to have published Breeze Along The Wyre, a children’s story book about four animals and the adventures they have in and around the villages and towns along the River Wyre. The idea of the book is to encourage reading amongst the young with stories set in areas the young readers know. The paperback is currently available on Amazon and Kindle. It is accompanied by a child’s colouring book featuring the illustrations from the paperback and a larger print story book, both only available directly from Cleveleys Writers.
Every year we run a popular lyric competition through the local schools in Wyre. The winning junior and senior pupils’ lyrics are set to music by our talented musicians. Each winner is presented with a CD of two interpretations of their song, and a mounted and framed Silver Disc at a special presentation at the winners’ schools.
The Wordsmiths with a Song, who are a sub-group of our poets and musicians, regularly perform at local Care Homes, Trinity Hospice and for local Community Groups. The Wordsmiths read poetry which they have written – some happy, some sad, some thoughtful, and some just plain mad! Our two musicians intersperse the poetry with rock and folk songs. Donations from some of these gigs fund the publishing of our charitable anthologies.
If you enjoy all things literary, and want to join in and try writing for yourself, come along to our friendly group at The Park Club, Cleveleys. The first visit is completely free, so come along and join in .
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