I arrived in a sea fog which made the beach invisible and muted the sounds of Easter Monday holiday makers. Thereafter it was a perfectly sunny, warm week at the The Nawe / Lapidus Writing Retreat at Ty Newydd Writers Centre in North Wales - ripe for gentle distraction activities like winding the coastal path to Crricieth.
I was co-hosting the Retreat this year with Nawe's Chair Liz Cashdan. It's essentially an unstructured opportunity to get away from everything and write. The environment is calm and conducive with delicious and healthy meals provided (all dietary requirements catered for!) by Gwynn and Erin who live on site, and a congenial office staff on hand to help with anything from printing to taxis and local info.
Optional workshops were also available including one on poetry and a novel writing workshop from a published author.
Liz and I also offered one to ones which allowed time for individual participants to explore aspects of writing and writing for wellbeing.
A highlight of the week was the visit from Jill Teague of Lapidus, who lives nearby in the North Wales forest, to facilitate her Writing in Nature
workshop. This gave us an opportunity to focus on the landscape around
the centre, encounter nature and its inhabitants and process the
experience in writing and words.
Robert Graves' The Welsh Incident begins with the lines
‘But that was nothing to what things came out
From the sea-caves of Criccieth yonder.’
The Retreat is held each year in April at Ty Newydd. More details are available from Nawe.
It was Lapidus: The Writing for Wellbeing Organisation's 2014 AGM on 29th November and the room was alive with energy and positivity from Lapidus members passionate about writing and words for wellbeing.
It's been a challenging year for Lapidus and as Chair I'm pleased to report the organisation is now solvent and stabilised.
Member numbers continue to grow but as all funds derive from membership we need to look for other sources of funding too. This is one of the challenges for the coming year. Another is to ensure a place for Lapidus and writing & words for wellbeing on the National Wellbeing Agenda. Over the next few months the Lapidus Board will be looking at ways to promote Lapidus as the 'go to' organisation for writing and words for wellbeing.
Earlier in November I attended the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) Conference in Bristol. This was an inspiring event with workshops and seminars from 9am to 9pm.
Roger McGough and Deborah Moggach were both interesting and hilarious. I learned about notebook poems, lines as inspiration, celebrating mother tongues, poetry improvisation, wild writing and creative approaches to change and renewal.
Lapidus is a partner organisation with NAWE and holds an annual joint Writing Retreat at Ty Newydd, North Wales. Next year it will take place from Monday, April 6th - Saturday April 11th, 2015. I'm happy to be co-hosting with NAWE's Liz Cashdan. There will also be a guest workshop from Jill Teague entitled, Treading Softly - Writing in Nature.
A highlight of the week was the visit from Jill Teague of Lapidus, who lives nearby in the North Wales forest, to facilitate her Writing in Nature
workshop. This gave us an opportunity to focus on the landscape around
the centre, encounter nature and its inhabitants and process the
experience in writing and words.
