Gloucestershire writers have joined forces to thank Rona Laycock for her work in encouraging and promoting local authors.

The monthly ‘Writers in the Brewery’ get-together at Cirencester’s Brewery Arts Centre has been a showcase and a source of inspiration for new writers for nearly 10 years, thanks to Rona’s hard work as organiser.

Members of Somewhere Else Writers and Rona’s own Catchword group paid tribute to her generosity in a presentation at Catchword’s Ashcroft Road base this month.

In a separate ceremony Rona was also named winner of a Cheltenham Arts Council Award for her services to Gloucestershire Writers’ Network. The network acts as an information hub for writers throughout the county – and also organises an annual competition offering local writers the chance to perform their work at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

Respected writer, critic and editor Jim McCue stressed the importance of clarity and precision of expression in a masterclass for Somewhere Else Writers this week.

Jim, a former editor and columnist on The Times, dissected a number of texts, including pieces by the group, to illustrate how incisive analysis of the words and phrasing we choose could improve the quality of our writing.

He is joint editor with Christopher Ricks of The Poems of T. S. Eliot, named Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. He has edited and given editorial advice on books for Penguin, Oxford University Press, Faber, the British Library and others.

Stephen Connolly’s short play ‘Sky Pilots’ has been selected as one of 3 that will be performed and recorded by BBC Radio Solent next Month.

The brief was for 15 minute scripts, with a connection to Dorset, Hampshire or the Isle of Wight. Over 370 scripts were entered, which were narrowed down to a short-list of 10, before the winners were announced on BBC Radio Solent on Friday 16th March, Stephen hearing the news while he was being interviewed live on air by Julian Clegg. All 3 plays will be performed at Thornden Hall, Chandler’s Ford on Thursday 12th April 2018.

Stephen’s play ‘Sky Pilots’ is a romantic comedy set in a hot-air balloon. Prim, recently ordained vicar Jonathan is taken for a hot-air balloon ride by his wacky balloonist girlfriend Lucy (Sky Pilot a euphemism for vicar). The wind dies, leaving them marooned above the most embarrassing landmark in England, the Cerne Abbas Giant, forcing them to re-evaluate their relationship: can two very different people make a life together?

To listen to the interviews, go here.

Stephen Connolly’s short piece ‘The Window Box’ has been selected by Retreat West Books for inclusion in their Climate Change (AKA Cli-Fi) anthology ‘Nothing Is As It Was’ named from a story by Nick Ryle Wright.

The anthology will be published in April to raise funds for the Earth Day Network. There will be 33 stories included in the paperback and ebook anthology, and others will be published on the website in the run up to launch date, with the option to make a voluntary donation included with each.

The Window Box is the first chapter of a novel entitled ‘The Fourteenth Duke of Plimsoll’, more details here.

Retreat West will soon be launching another charity anthology celebrating the 100 year anniversary of women’s suffrage.

Members of Somewhere Else Writers attended an evening of dramatic monologues in Cheltenham this week to raise awareness and funds for abused women.

The V-Day event, coordinated by University of Gloucestershire lecturer in dramatic writing, Senja Andrejevic-Bullock, featured work by some of the biggest names in contemporary literature and drama, including Maya Angelou. They were performed by students at the university.

V-Day is a global campaign founded by Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues, to help stop violence against women. Money raised from the event will go to Gloucestershire Domestic Abuse Support Service. After the event, service manager Sally Morrissey spoke inspiringly about the need for greater understanding of the psychology of abuse.

We’ve just finished recording the final episode of our soap opera The Inn on The Green. At the moment there are no plans to do more – but who knows? We have lot of new members with new ideas – and there’s been a suggestion that a body might be discovered in the walls of the pub– so watch this space.

Thanks go to Selwyn Morgan who steered our sometimes leaky ship to harbour. He made it look easy, when we all know it was not – and to Corinium Radio who provided us with a safe space to experiment and learn from our mistakes.

We have learnt huge amounts about writing radio scripts, grown in confidence when performing and – perhaps most importantly – laughed – and learnt not to be too precious about it all.

Episode six is due to be broadcast on Corinium Radio at 4.30pm on Sunday February 25th. If you miss it you can catch up, along with earlier episodes, on this website.

Episode 5 of The Inn on the Green is now available here!

Stephen Connolly’s ‘The Destiny of Shoes’ is one of a number of scripts that will be produced by York-based Off the Rock productions in 2018.

Off the Rock will be recording the selected plays throughout the year for their Sound Waves series but rehearsal and recording dates are still to be confirmed.