In late June our Memoir Writing group shared stories about Family Rituals, ‘the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand’. Most of us found it difficult to highlight a ‘standout’ family ritual, but as we shared stories found they often related to the preparing and sharing of meals, from the making of scones with grandchildren, to the meals prepared for Christmas (including memories of three pences and six pences in plum puddings), to the tradition of drinking a cup of tea with two milk arrowroot biscuits across the generations (not to be dunked in public of course!).
A number of our stories in late July about ‘A Scary Moment’ ‘Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end… Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.’ related to memories of fear experienced as children living in the country. Stories were shared of being a child fearful of strange cows in a field on the way home from school which looked just like those seen in a dream the night before; being a child fearful that ‘foxes eat little girls’; being a child fearful of something which frightened them while they were collecting flowers in a druid like ring of rhododendron bushes, and more.
Our next topic is ‘On the Job’ ‘We spend much of our lives working. Our job, for better or worse, helps define us. Write a first-person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’. The theme for the Benalla Festival has been released –‘Our Back Yard – A Celebration of Spaces and Places’. The brief for the Festival’s writing competition will be announced in the coming weeks and added as an additional topic to be shared in October or November.
Bev Lee
A number of our stories in late July about ‘A Scary Moment’ ‘Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end… Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.’ related to memories of fear experienced as children living in the country. Stories were shared of being a child fearful of strange cows in a field on the way home from school which looked just like those seen in a dream the night before; being a child fearful that ‘foxes eat little girls’; being a child fearful of something which frightened them while they were collecting flowers in a druid like ring of rhododendron bushes, and more.
Our next topic is ‘On the Job’ ‘We spend much of our lives working. Our job, for better or worse, helps define us. Write a first-person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’. The theme for the Benalla Festival has been released –‘Our Back Yard – A Celebration of Spaces and Places’. The brief for the Festival’s writing competition will be announced in the coming weeks and added as an additional topic to be shared in October or November.
Bev Lee
