Category Archives: Creative Writing

Writing on a Wall Awards 23rd April 2018

Creative Writing, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project

A fantastic response to our Writing on a Wall challenge. They were announced at a celebratory event at the Eltham Leisure Centre where the awards were presented.

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Here are the results, with the top three in each category available to read here by clicking on the links!

Children’s Awards

Short stories:

1st        Dylan Dreyer (11) TheWall

2nd       Zacary Stewart (10) The Great Wall of Lego

3rd       Grace Abe (9) The Wall Standing Between Me and My Dreams

Highly Commended      Taite McQueen (9) Over the Wall

Highly Commended      Emma Yarrow (6) What can you see from the top of the wall?

Commended     Lottie Gillard (7) The Wall Cert

 Poetry:

1st  Issy Jones (10) WALL

2nd  Abdul Salim-Said (6) The Playground Wall

3rd Neil Kumar (6)  Magical Walls

Highly Commended Aimy Durand (11)   Overcoming Walls

Highly Commended Sadie Drummond (9) Over the Wall

Highly Commended Harry Siri (10) The Wall

Highly Commended  Macie Brennan (10) Walls around my Heart

Commended   Chloe Riley (10) The Wall

Commended Ben Evans(7) The Big Brown Playground Wall

Commended Eleanor Jackson (6)  The Playground Wall

Commended Guste Sinkevecute (8) Over the Wall

Commended Lola Garside (8) Over the Wall

Commended Maria Nicolaie (8)  Over the Wall

Commended Marietta Meyn (6 )  The Playground Wall

Commended Nadia Dziubich (7)  The Big Brown Playground Wall

Commended Priana Rettes (9) Over the Wall

Commended Tia Maile  (9 ) Over the Wall

Commended Willow Gage (8) Over the Wall

Commended Zachary Morgan (8) Over the Wall

Commended Agatha Stewart (6) The Playground Wall

Commended Roxanne Peters  (9) Over the Wall

 

Specials community awards:

Moatbridge School (Innovative Banner)

Elephant Class at Wyborne School (Class poem)

The Stewart Family (Creative Family)

Neil and Jay Kumar (Creative Family)

Thomas & James Malia and Oscar Sanford (Creative Family)

 

Over 18’s Awards 

Short Stories:

1st – Linda La Tour – The waiting wall

2nd Tony Clarke – The Photograph

3rd Elizabeth Isitor – The Safety of Broken Walls (The Biafran War)

Highly Commended :  Lizzy Smith – Waiting

Highly Commended: Maureen Stapleton – Good fences make good neighbours

Commended: Roberta Woods – Behind the Wall

Commended : Lizzy Smith – The Wall

Commended : Jasmine Alvis – Library Wall

Commended : Greg Byrne-  More Dead Than I

Awards: Poetry over 18:

1st  Dawn Winchester – No Flow

2nd  Ellese Elliott – Dam

3rd  Jill Carr – The Struggle Within

Highly Commended   Belinda Latchford – Courtyard

Highly Commended Miriam Long – A Mother’s Lament

Commended :  James Curtin – Breaking Wall

Commended: James Curtin- Summer Wall

Commended:  Alan Cummings – London Wall

Commended : Mick Cohen- Unite and Divide

Commended Anne Novis – The Lady of Eltham Palace

Commended : Natalie Peterson- The Truth behind my certificates

Commended : Miriam Long – The ancient stone wall

Commended : Angela McCarron – A wall is a wall

Commended : Christina Bullen – W.A.L.L

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Judges for the Writing on a Wall creative writing challenge!

Creative Writing, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Uncategorized, Wall Project, , , ,

John Paul O’Neill

John Paul O'Neill

John Paul is a poet, writer, broadcaster, lecturer & founded & runs Farrago Poetry. He ran, the first poetry slam in the UK in 1994, the longest running in Europe and hosts regular SLAM poetry events. He has performed in Europe and USA. He has also had poetry, short stories and articles published extensively, as well as producing spoken word projects and presenting and setting up community radio shows.

A Further Education lecturer, he runs workshops for adults and children in creative writing and performance, as well as teaching English.

He has run two creative writing workshops to support the competition and inspire people to join in .

Lee Stuart Evans

Lee Stuart Evans

Lee is the author of ‘Words Best Sung’, a novel set in Nottingham and London set in the 1960s.  This was published by Arundel Books in 2017.

Originally from Nottinghamshire, Lee has lived in the Eltham area since 1998 with his wife and two sons, who go to local schools

Lee is a full-time TV and radio comedy writer.  He has written for many well known and popular programmes including 8 out of 10 cats, Little Big Shots, The Jonathan Ross Show, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and a League of their Own

 

Jo Burke

Jo Burke Author

Jo is an actor, comedian and writer. She was brought up in Eltham and attended Middle Park Primary School. She studied Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths University and The Drama Studio, London.

​Jo has written, produced and performed five, four star, Edinburgh Festival shows and was a ‘So You Think That’s Funny?’ Finalist.

In 2015 her debut comedy book/autobiography ‘iScream’ reached No.17 on the Amazon listings . In 2016 she entered the exciting world of children’s books. Her books ‘Standing on Custard’ and ‘A Squirrel’s Tail’ are a huge hit with, children, parents and teachers

Russell Jones

Russell Jones

Russell comes from South Wales, but has lived and worked in South London for many years . After gaining a first class honours degree and later a B Ed in Education he worked extensively in Secondary Education winning the most innovative teacher in the UK in 2004. He was the Director of Performing Arts for Ark Schools until 2012.

Russell has also worked extensively in theatre both in Regional Repertory and West End. He was the Artistic Director of Soapbox Community Theatre for ten years directing and writing over 20 professional touring productions.

Russell has been the proprietor of Biscotti’s coffee and sandwich bar in Eltham for the last four years, which has a remarkable selection of movie posters on the walls.  He is a great business supporter of Eltham Arts and his café has been a venue for Eltham Arts Winter Festival arts trails. Russell is delighted to have been asked to be a judge in this exciting competition.

 

Eleanor Fitzsimons

Eleanor Fitzsimons

Eleanor lives in Dublin, but has spent time living in London and is a regular visitor. She is a researcher and writer who specialises in historical and current feminist issues. She has an MA in Women, Gender and Society from University College Dublin. In 2013 she was awarded the Keats-Shelley Essay Prize and was runner-up for the Biographers’ Club Tony Lothian Prize.

Her work has been published in a range of newspapers and journals including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, History Today and The Irish Times, and she is a regular radio and television contributor. Her book Wilde’s Woman was shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize in 2014 and was published by Duckworth Overlook on 16 October 2015.

Eleanor is working on a new biography of Edith Nesbit, which will be published by Duckworth Overlook in 2018. Edith Nesbit lived in Well Hall Eltham from 1899 – 1922 and wrote many of her famous books (including the Railway Children) in Eltham

 

 

WALL Project is being built!

Creative Writing, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project, ,

WALL – Our exciting community multimedia project for 2017/2018  

This project has a number of elements and is including the whole community in areas of creativity.

Bricks on the Wall

PlainPhotoBrickWallProject with local schools and community groups. Encouraging groups to draw/paint on brick size cardboard on the theme of WALLs. These will be incorporated into an installation in the SE9 Container Gallery and elsewhere .

We have heard from one primary school that they are planning to make ceramic bricks , which can then be installed on a wall on the school after the project . Other schools are now involved and planning exciting activities and brickmaking.

We now have mosaic , knitted , embroidered and crocheted bricks. A real mix of material and creative talent. El Recreo, our Eltham Spanish group are planning a fabric installation.

Free creative workshops are being organised at the Eltham Centre for all ages .so everyone can make a brick and be involved. These are family workshops and suitable for all ages .

Eltham library : 16th Feb and 31st May 2018 from 10.30 to 12.30am and 21 June 10.30 to 12

New Eltham Library : Sat 28th April 2018 from 2 to 4pm

Leading: Pragya Kumar and John Wingham

Writing on a Wall

Photo for WOAW publicity 5

 A short story and poetry creative writing challenge. This is on the theme of WALLS around us.  This is an exciting topic which encourages people to think about the walls around them and be inspired to express themselves creatively in prose or poetry. It may be a wall on a house or historic building, a wall dividing cultures or a personal wall within which inspires you to write. A great opportunity for all ages to be involved .

FREE Workshops were run by John Paul O’Neill to support the project and inspire everyone to join in and write a poem or a short story. These were at Eltham Library on 30th January 2018 ( Write a poem/short story – workshop  for adults) and on 3 Feb 2018 2 (Write a poem. Family wokrshop for all ages). These workshops were very successful !

Poems and short stories have now been completed and there were a high level of excellent. entries. The celebratory event with an exhibition and awards took place on  World Book Night 23rd April 2018 at Eltham library and was a great success with over 300 people attending . There were awards for children and adults. We were also entertained by the local Eltham ‘Make a Noise’ Choir The exhibition of a range of entries was on display at Eltham and New Eltham libraries

It is planned that a selection of entries will published in a book of the same name.

Writing on A Wall flyer Eltham Arts PDF

Leading: Gaynor Wingham and Miriam Storey

 

Songs across a Wall 

guitar-onWallSinger/song writers were challenged to write and perform their songs around the WALL theme.

We are planning a whole day of WALL songs as part of the Eltham Music Festival in Passey Place , Eltham High St on 21st July 2017. This will give a showcase of local talent. We may also have other events at local venues where singer/songwriters will have an opportunity to perform.

We have produced CD’s in 2016 (Aspects of Winter) and 2017 (A Plateful of Songs) of songs from our challenges , which have been an excellent opportunity for publicity for individuals and the Eltham Arts network.  We may be able to produce a CD this time .

 

Leading: Zahira al Zahira and Dave Kenningham

 

The Secret Story Garden 

SecretGardenBased around the theme of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s book we are working with Eltham Library to developing an outside garden area of the Eltham centre as play and art space. Art works will be developed along with part of the planting. This is dependent on agreement from the building owners. GLL have expressed support for the project

Leading: Miriam Storey

 

Green Walls

plantCellsPhotographer Sandra Marques looks at the cellular structure of plants. We are considering how this may interface with the secret garden project. Exhibition at the SE9 Container Gallery (Sept/Oct 2018) .

Leading: Pragya Kumar (liaising with Sandra Marques)

My Wall

Liz Isitor

“My Wall” is a project by photographer Elizabeth Itisor. She aims to capture stories of local people by taking pictures of them against walls. Her final work will result in an exhibition in SE9 Container Gallery.

Leading: Pragya Kumar (liaising with Elizabeth Itisor)

 

Walls from the Water (The Foundation of Time) 

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Creative project from found objects (many bricks!) from mudlarking on the River Thames foreshore. No one is sure what will be created but it will be interesting and different! This is an 1860’s brick found at Greenwich from our WALL project display in the Eltham Centre (Nov 2017) . It was the star of the display and a talking point. Dave is an now expert on bricks!

Leading: Dave Kenningham

 

Over the Wall and Far away : New Eltham shopfront Mural

Mural on a vacant shopfront commissioned by NEBA (New Eltham Business Association). Completed Aug 2017 entitled ‘Over the Wall and Far Away ‘

A fantastic improvement (and talking point) loved by the community. Well done team !

We were delighted and proud that the New Eltham Lights Up community event on 27th Nov 2017 was staged right by the mural with local children carol singing and the lights being turned on by James Serjeant , Headteacher of Wyborne Primary School !

New Eltham Lights up 2

Leading: Pragya Kumar, John Wingham and Zahira Al Zahira

 

WALL Exhibition at the SE9 Container Gallery

SE9 Container GalleryThis innovative gallery , designer built from shipping containers,  is in the Grounds on St Thomas More Secondary School, Eltham has been booked from 22nd Sept 2018 for four weeks. We are delighted that we will have the opportunity for four  Saturdays to have an installation and exhibition of works from the projects and film generated by the project. There may also be other events organised in the gallery during the show.

Leading: John Wingham and Pragya Kumar

The Acting Class – film screening 

Eltham Arts were delighted to host a screening of ‘The Acting Class’ at Bob Hope Theatre as a part of their WALL project on Wed 21st Feb 2018 . This film which focused on the class barriers within the acting profession led to a lively Q and A with the Directors , Tom Stocks and Labour politician Trevor Macfarlane. A good evening with a thought provoking film.

The Acting Class (D.O’Neill & M.Wayne, 2017, 77mins)

All the world’s a stage but not all the players are equal. When Tom Stocks, a young man from Bolton has to turn down a chance to study at the East 15 drama school because he cannot afford the fees, he sets up a campaign to highlight socio-economic exclusion in the arts. Tom is not alone. Actors from working class backgrounds are struggling to get in and get on in an industry stacked against them. Established actors worry about where the next generation of talent from modest backgrounds is going to come from. Christopher Eccleston, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Maxine Peake and Samuel West are among those who feature in this film talking about the barriers to success. And this is an issue not just for those who see their dreams thwarted because they do not have the ‘bank of mom and dad’ to back them.  Who gets to be on our stages and screens matters to all of us. Whose stories get told, what images we have of ourselves, who we think ‘we’ are, helps shape our individual and national identities.

Awarded Best UK Feature Film by the Labour Film festival 2017.

Leading: Gaynor Wingham liaising with Inside Film 

 

Wall – the Film

Wall-Camera-woman-CaptureThis will be a film to explore some of the issues raised by the WALL theme and document the project. Gaynor will work with photographer Robert Piwko

Filming has started and the film will evolve over the next 6/9 months. documenting projects but also exploring wider issues in our community.  We are planning the film will be shown at the SE9 Container Gallery and elsewhere

Leading: Gaynor Wingham

 

Email elthamarts@aol.co.uk for more information or to discuss a project. or through the website contact.

 

 

Eltham Get Writing! Creative writing challenge

Creative Writing, Eltham, Eltham Arts, Wall Project, ,

      Writing on a WALL

Eltham Arts Creative Writing Challenge 

Short stories and poetry wanted on the theme of WALL!

FB-Header-Wall-TextQuestions

What does the word WALL mean to you? Eltham Palace? A garden wall? A hidden wall of shyness? A door in a secret wall? The Berlin wall? Graffiti on a wall? A wall between cultures which can be broken or climbed? Inspired to write a story or poem? Experienced or first-time writer. Have a go.

Prizes and awards for all age groups will be presented at a celebration on World Book Night 23rd April 2018 at The Eltham Centre, 2 Archery Rd, Eltham SE9 1HA.

To submit entries email writingonawall2018@outlook.com or for more information contact ElthamArts@aol.co.uk. Information on the multimedia WALL project on Facebook and on the Eltham Arts website.

Writing on a Wall – Competition Rules.

  1. Short stories up to 300 words and poetry up to 30 lines to be submitted with the theme ‘WALL’ on any subject, but must be suitable for an all age audience, original and unpublished.
  2. This is a community family writing competition. Open to everyone who lives, works, is educated in, belongs to a club or group or shops in London SE9. Indicate which category (e.g. work) if address not SE9.
  3. There will be awards in three age groups (u12, 12 – u18 and over 18)
  4. All ages can enter. If aged under 18 the name and contact details for a parent/guardian must be provided and they must give permission.
  5. If entries are submitted through a school, the school must ensure that parental permission has been given for the entry to be submitted and details provided on request.
  6. Up to four entries are allowed per person with no charge for entry.
  7. All entries are by email. The name of the entrant, age and title must be in the header of the email. (e.g. Chloe Smith over 18 ‘The Wall of my Dreams’).
  8. The short story or poem with a suitable title and the author’s name must be typed on one side of paper and attached to the email.
  9. The email must include name with contact details (name, address, email, phone number) and if the entrant is under 18 details of parental permission or school staff contact.
  10. Schools, colleges and groups may submit entries on UBS memory stick. Contact for details.
  11. Be careful with spelling and grammar as entries will be displayed or published as submitted.
  12. The judges will be looking for an imaginative story or poem with a good use of language.
  13. The closing date of the competition is the end of February 2018.
  14. The judges’ decision is final and neither the judges nor the organisers will enter into any correspondence.
  15. The copyright of the short stories remains with the author. However, authors, by entering the competition, grant the organisers the right to publish and/or broadcast.

Connecting the Community through the Arts:

Twitter: @ElthamArts
Website: www.elthamarts.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ElthamArt
YouTube: ElthamArts Channel