Mark Cotter
For a brief moment it looked like that this was going to be a meeting with blockbuster attendance. Alas, coughs, colds and other maladies prevented some for attending. Of course, there’s always the new year but we missed these friends. In hindsight, it might have been a blessing in disguise as the craft papers, scissors, glue and threat of glitter vied with the coffee cups, water bottles and half eaten pistachio pastries. (Scones had long been consumed before the meeting officially got underway!)
We were meeting at the end of November for our December meeting - not as mad as it seemed as Advent Sunday trespassed into the end of November. However, we needed to meet in time to receive Jeni’s fabulous Winter Words prompts. I think of this as the first gift of the season, an advent calendar of prompts to be explored daily; however, it goes all the way to the end of the month, not just Christmas Day.
We started with a list of good things that have happened in 2025 rather than a simple list of words. Our seasonal writing prompts started with *A Child’s Calendar* by George Mackay-Brown which prompted us to loot at the year from our perspective. The second text was *The Christmas Wren* by Gillian Clarke which, after Jeni read it to us, made its way into more that just Sarah’s Amazon basket. I also ordered a copy. We were invited to write about childhood Christmases. Where was Dylan Thomas’s Childhood Christmas? Nowhere to be seen this year, supplanted by Gillian Clarke who had been invited by the Dylan Thomas Centre to respond to Thomas’s work. *The Christmas Wren* was the outcome and a stunning response to the old favourite. Finally, we looked at *The Lighted Window* by Peter Davidson - something to, perhaps, inspire the next part of the session.
All the good things…
Sometimes, a short writing stimulus can come from just looking back at the simplest of things.
And then Jeni’s new trolley - absolute bargain from Argos, apparently, and insulated so the craft things don’t get cold - vomited papers, card, scissors, glue, punches, boxes of things, and threatened glitter. Yes, Alicia’s and Sarah’s eyes lighted up at the thought of glitter: mine did not. A range of tasks kept us occupied making boxes, calendars and, generally, getting into the creative zone as time gently slipped past and we, undoubtedly, looked strange to other users of the Refectory. Amid the creativity more coffee appeared and jostled for table space, more things created, started and aborted (some folding things just require more thought processing than is available on a Saturday morning).
Eventually, the siren call of the charity shop, bookshop, children, or just plain necessary Christmas shopping started to call us from our crafting revelries, and soon they were ended. Still, we have Winter Words and the website Advent writing prompts to keep us creative through to the next meeting towards the end of January. A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
When Christmas, writing and charity shops come together