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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

 

 

Eltham Arts postcard competition a success

Eltham, , , , , , ,

More the 300 Eltham locals displayed their creative talents for Eltham Arts’ latest competition – ‘A postcard from Eltham’, and winners were announced at a celebratory event on 23 April.

Local community group Eltham Arts was delighted with the number and standard of entries for its latest ‘A Postcard from Eltham’ competition, which challenged locals to design a postcard showing the town as an attractive and creative place to live, work or visit.

Two rigorous rounds of judging were carried out and on 23 April, the competition culminated in an awards ceremony at the Eltham Centre Library, where prizes were awarded in various categories:

WINNERS

Adult winners

First prize

Emily Tyrrell – If you go down to the woods…

First prize

Himani Weir – Where shall we go today?

Second prize

David Kelly – Eltham Hostelries

Second prize

Peter Roper – Eltham Views

Second prize

Sylvia Currey – Tudor Barn Reflexions

Third prize

Pauline Cahill – The Eltham Crossword

12 – 18 age group winners

First prize

Gemma Pellegrinetti – All Aboard the Eltham Bus

Second prize

Natalia Drake-Perello – Memories from Eltham

Third prize

Prize Siobhan Samuel

7-11 age group winners

First prize

Cameron Wren – The Eltham Centre

First prize

Annie Gadd – My Castle

Second prize

Oliver Jackson – Greetings from Eltham

Third prize

Ayesha Faquiri – Eltham

Under 7 age group winners

First prize

Seth Jayawardhena – Severndroog Castle

Second prize

Jay Kumar – Arts in my school

Third prize

Lola Weir – A Windy Day at Severndroog

Commenting on the competition, Gaynor Wingham, chair of Eltham Arts, said: “We were delighted with the response from adults and children to the challenge to design a Postcard from Eltham. The entries were really diverse celebrating Eltham today but showing a love of our fantastic Eltham heritage. With well over 300 entries the judges had quite a task and this is reflected in how many awards were given. Eltham now has some great postcards. We would like to thank everyone who has been involved in making this competition and community event such a success.”

The postcards will very soon be exhibited and on sale locally to showcase the local talent and creativity.

Eltham Arts has so far run a series of initiatives to celebrate the creativity in Eltham, including short story contest ‘Tales of Eltham’ and ‘Eltham in Verse’, which challenged locals to write poetry. Visit www.elthamarts.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for details on these initiatives and more.

Our story for Remembrance Day

This short story was one of our award winners in our Tales of Eltham competition. The author said it was inspired by the Eltham War Memorial, St John’s Church , Eltham High Street. It is a moving story.

REMEMBER
by Ann Tolladay

When he and his brothers finished at Roper Street school, he felt such pride when he was taken on as an under gardener at Eltham Palace. Bill was working in the post office in Passey Place and Eddy worked in the bank at the cross roads.

On a Friday they would meet up for a pint or two at the Greyhound pub. One night it was so crowded they went round the corner to The Rising Sun and there she was, fate had put the love of his life in front of him, all blond hair and blue eyes. They got talking and to his surprise she agreed to met him the next afternoon.

The Tarn could not have looked better, sun lush greens and flowers. Their feelings for each other blossomed too, they married at St. Johns Church and a year later the twins were born. They lived very contently in a two up two down in Sun Yard. Money was short, but his wife and children gave him a life full of love.

Now he lay here in the mud soaking wet cold and yes angry. The anger welled up in him, the destruction and carnage they were causing must be stopped. It was for the love of what he had left behind, for little families like his that he was prepared to do this terrible thing. The whistle sounded then the movement of men going over the top like a great unstoppable wave. At that moment he knew that what ever his fate, in one part of London what he had planted would continue to grow and even in a hundred years time people would remember and be proud of the sacrifice they were making .

Our Tales of Eltham book is launched!

With a hundred people attending the book launch at Eltham library on Saturday it was standing room only ! What great support for our community short story book Tales of Eltham, with over 90 short stories on subjects as diverse as love, loss, pantomime horses, ghosts and funerals for goldfish . Such a range of stories based on the theme of ‘An Eltham Experience’ has created a lovely book written by children and adults who live in the area or know Eltham well. With many authors being prepared to read their stories at the launch we were moved by some stories and laughed at others. What a great creative community we have in Eltham!

If you would like a copy of the book Tales of Eltham , copies are available at Eltham Library or email elthamarts@aol.co.uk

Tales of Eltham front cover

Comments about our Creative Eltham conference

We have been getting lots of great emails about the conference!

‘I had a great day and thought it was very successful. Well done on brilliant
organisation.’ Dr Heather Lilley (Greenwich University)

‘I want to thank you and your team for such an amazing afternoon last Saturday. It was a real eye opener for me. Thank you ever so much. Keep up with the good work. ‘
Sandra Marques (Photographer)

‘Lynn and I really enjoyed the conference on Saturday. We met some lovely people and came away with some great ideas, so thank you for putting it on.’
Rita Billinghurst (Progress Estate Residents Assoc)

‘Well done yesterday – so well attended, well organised and sparking so much interest.’
Reeva Charles (writer)

‘Thank you for a very interesting meeting yesterday. It was good to network with so many people in the arts. ‘
Brenda Hamblin (Eltham Ceramics)

‘Yesterday the Eltham Arts conference was very successful and I was happy to be part of it.’
Svetlana Quigley (artist and teacher)

‘Just had to write to say how hard you must have worked to put all of the afternoon presentation together. Well done.’
Elizabeth Gwyver (Royal Eltham Writers Circle)

;Thanks for inviting me to the meeting this afternoon. l met lots of interesting people, and heard some good ideas. ‘
Jean Bright (Brightglass – glass designer)

And Twitter!

Kirsty Davide @KirstyDavide • Oct 18
Thanks 2 Gaynor & John 4 a Gr8 networking event @ElthamArts Really enjoyed it & looking 4ward 2 getting more involved

Barry White @EldoradoBarry • Oct 18
Great meeting with Eltham Arts today. Very encouraging.

andrew downie @andrewdownie1 • Oct 18
A productive afternoon at the @ElthamArts conference. Looking forward to collaborating and contributing to Eltham as a creative hub.

amy ash @amy_ash_ • Oct 18
@ElthamArts thanks for the exciting day! Nice to see so much interest in the arts. #cultivatingcreativity #letsmakeascene @GeraldMooreGall

Kirsty Davide ‏@KirstyDavide
What a wonderful afternoon spent with @ElthamArts #Brainstorming with local people to get #Eltham more #Creative its a @corganisers life4me

Mark Elliott @Markselliott68 • Oct 18
Attending @ElthamArts conference today. Great initiative to develop the arts here

Amy Duffin @duffinamy • Oct 18
At @ElthamArts’ Conference this afternoon, where the MC and all three keynote speakers are women #girlpower

Creative connections

Eltham Arts Conference workshops
Conference attendees discussing creativity in Eltham

More than 70 locals met on 18 October for ‘Creative Eltham – Developing the Arts’ – a conference designed to showcase the creativity and passion for the arts in Eltham.

Organised by Eltham Arts, the conference was held at The Friendship Centre in Glenure Road, and featured an afternoon of arts-related discussion and activity. The event began with three keynote speakers, the first of which was Miranda Williams, cabinet member for Culture and Creative Industries, Royal Greenwich Council. Williams said that Eltham has a “thriving arts community, which the council is keen to support”.

She detailed arts activity supported and undertaken by the council in Eltham so far this year, which included the summer music festival at Passey Place, organised in association with Eltham Arts. Williams agreed that activity such as this “helps to animate our town centres and provides opportunities for artists and audiences to come together and promote community events.” Williams concluded by encouraging local arts organisations to apply for the council’s Community Arts Fund. “The fund encourages partnerships between established organisations and the community, and I encourage you to apply,” she said. She also recommended listing arts events and organisations on the council’s directory.

Apply for Greenwich Council’s Arts Fund.

Dr Heather Lilley, senior lecturer drama, University of Greenwich, then took the stage to discuss reminiscence theatre – a technique that involves producing pieces of theatre from memories. In 2012, the university acquired an archive of reminiscence theatre productions created between 1983 and 2005, and have been using them with their students ever since. The material is used to create theatre from memories with the elderly in mind, which inspires audiences to link back to a time when their lives were perhaps fuller and involved new experiences. This type of theatre also encourages interaction between young and old people.

As a result of the work undertaken, the university has toured nine care homes in Greenwich and Woolwich, and hopes to extend this initiative. “It’s purely a positive experience for both groups,” said Lilley. “The performers and audience chat afterwards, and have a meaningful conversation prompted by particular subjects in performance, not just stories, real memories, real lives. There is a real responsibility to students to express the memories as authentically and as truthfully as possible.” Lilley encouraged attendees to visit the (free to access) archive and use the material. “There’s no reason why reminiscence theatre cannot be brought to Eltham,” she said.

The final speaker of the afternoon was Amy Ash, learning and participation curator at the Gerald Moore Gallery. Ash explained that although the gallery operates in collaboration with the school, it’s also a service to the community. She detailed several projects that have been undertaken by the gallery this year, which included a weekly arts outreach programme facilitated by Eltham College’s sixth form students, where local primary schools were visited. “We’ve already seen a difference in engagement here,” said Ash. The gallery also facilitated a series of talks which culminated in an exhibition, and are working with local organiastions (including Eltham Arts) to create other new opportunities for the community.

After some networking, attendees broke into groups to discuss several areas affecting the arts: health and wellbeing; business and regeneration; funding and development; publicity and marketing and arts for all. The discussions were then summaried and fed back to the whole group, and will form a blueprint for Eltham Arts’ activity going forward.

View photos from the Eltham Arts Conference.

The next Eltham Arts event will be the launch of our Tales of Eltham book after the successful short story competition earlier this year. The launch will take place on 1 November 2014 from 2.30pm at Eltham Library. For more details, contact us.