October's session began with an exercise using this month's topic 'This (....) Life', to draw upon current preoccupations, joys, frustrations. Short 'slices of life' stories were written and shared including 'This ('Jigsaw Playing Lockdown'), ('Proud Mother's), ('Grass Cutting'), 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'), ('Vexatious'), ('Frustrating Technology Monday'), ('Bureaucratic B.S'), and ('Frustrated Shareholder's') Life'.
In danger of the group drowning in despair over technology related bureaucracy and covid (the complexities of registering vaccination certificates on the QR check in app having taken a toll) - Bev Lee shared her feel good 'This (Time Travelling) Life' story about time spent immersed in the lives of ancestors while adding recently discovered photos to ancestry.com. Neville's 'This (Royal) Life' story drew us in to the imagined life of the young Queen Elizabeth when she travelled to Benalla in 1954. The daughter of a doctor with a fascination with Ireland and travel, Margaret shared 'A Fortunate Life' - with apologies to A. B. Facey', a story of life in a large family which moved frequently, an ‘inbuilt support group’ endowed with good genes and ‘a good sense of humour’. Barry's story 'This (Confusing) Life' addressed the confusion of the messages in the news around the pandemic he has experienced while journalling about it over the past 18 months, and his concerns about the opening up and the journey to follow.
Bev Morton's evocative, quietly humorous story about 'Courage' addressed her fear of heights and its impact on her, particularly during her many travels in Greenland. Elizabeth's Right Here, Right Now - I'm Thinking of Saturday Nights' story took us to Ireland from 1946 to 1956 in a beautiful story about how her resilient family shared Saturday's working together, of bath time on a Saturday night, of her father's skills and philosophies as the family's cobbler. In her story 'Found' Joy reflects on finding a career as one of the early graduates taking up work in the computer industry as a trainee programmer, a career which culminated in roles in project management, quality control and senior team management.
Some stories on previous topics were also added this month to 'Our Stories' on the website.
Topics for our next class on 22 November –
‘Found’ Use the simple prompt ‘Found’ to write about something of lasting importance to you which you discovered at some stage of your life. What led up to it, what did you find out, what has it meant to you since? It can be a thing, an idea, a person, ….. the sky’s the limit!
‘Triggers’ (alternative topic)Keep a notebook close by this month in which to note any ‘triggers’ which led you to reminisce about a time in your lives. You may have been talking to someone, watching television or a film, driving somewhere, reading a book. Choose one to three of these and write about the memories evoked – keeping the total words to 500 – 750 words.
Bev Lee
In danger of the group drowning in despair over technology related bureaucracy and covid (the complexities of registering vaccination certificates on the QR check in app having taken a toll) - Bev Lee shared her feel good 'This (Time Travelling) Life' story about time spent immersed in the lives of ancestors while adding recently discovered photos to ancestry.com. Neville's 'This (Royal) Life' story drew us in to the imagined life of the young Queen Elizabeth when she travelled to Benalla in 1954. The daughter of a doctor with a fascination with Ireland and travel, Margaret shared 'A Fortunate Life' - with apologies to A. B. Facey', a story of life in a large family which moved frequently, an ‘inbuilt support group’ endowed with good genes and ‘a good sense of humour’. Barry's story 'This (Confusing) Life' addressed the confusion of the messages in the news around the pandemic he has experienced while journalling about it over the past 18 months, and his concerns about the opening up and the journey to follow.
Bev Morton's evocative, quietly humorous story about 'Courage' addressed her fear of heights and its impact on her, particularly during her many travels in Greenland. Elizabeth's Right Here, Right Now - I'm Thinking of Saturday Nights' story took us to Ireland from 1946 to 1956 in a beautiful story about how her resilient family shared Saturday's working together, of bath time on a Saturday night, of her father's skills and philosophies as the family's cobbler. In her story 'Found' Joy reflects on finding a career as one of the early graduates taking up work in the computer industry as a trainee programmer, a career which culminated in roles in project management, quality control and senior team management.
Some stories on previous topics were also added this month to 'Our Stories' on the website.
Topics for our next class on 22 November –
‘Found’ Use the simple prompt ‘Found’ to write about something of lasting importance to you which you discovered at some stage of your life. What led up to it, what did you find out, what has it meant to you since? It can be a thing, an idea, a person, ….. the sky’s the limit!
‘Triggers’ (alternative topic)Keep a notebook close by this month in which to note any ‘triggers’ which led you to reminisce about a time in your lives. You may have been talking to someone, watching television or a film, driving somewhere, reading a book. Choose one to three of these and write about the memories evoked – keeping the total words to 500 – 750 words.
Bev Lee
