A new workshop held on 8 August 2023
Greetings to all at Good Things Collective. I’m Claire [Griffel] and I finally arrived back in Lancashire where I was born in February this year. Morecambe was the first place I went on holiday as a young child.
I was offered the chance to facilitate a writing workshop at GTC by Becki and Jo. Even though I have done this work for years and even though I’m a storyteller for all ages and even though I make art and take photos and even though I am a teacher of expressive arts for all ages … In spite of this I managed to be really nervous before the workshop!
It was going to be my first paid workshop in Lancashire!!
But as it happened the people who came told me they really enjoyed the session. I was so relieved I bought some cake…
After some warm up prompts, we all worked together to create lines for poems and to create stories. This is a really good way for a new group to work together. Everyone contributed a line and then we edited the work together. We voted, yes voted, on the choice of title to start us off and none of us knew how we got to vote for this title. But then, perhaps this happens with votes in life.
We hope you enjoy one of the poems we wrote:
D.I.Y.
She had her own toolbox in the airing cupboard
The toolbox lay untouched
Drenched in violins, swoon to what was
Time to take control and D I Y
Do it yourself, do it immensely, do it for yourself
Don’t let others do it for you, do it yourself,
She began to make the day, hanging the sun on a nail,
hoisting the sky
This workshop sparked an idea for a new collaborative project and exhibition. In the future this writing group could work together with artists and creatives to exchange work and ideas - something like a conversation. If you are interested get in touch!
Blog by Claire Griffel