Wrekin Writers have a day out

And what a day out it was. The weather was perfect, the setting idyllic and thanks to the 08.53 train from Shrewsbury the chair was late. However, that didn’t spoil anything. Instead of our usual venue we had the pleasure of meeting in the tea rooms at Attingham Park. Fired up by tea, coffee, biscuits, a full house and three new members we began our meeting. After our usual ‘creeping death’ where we introduce ourselves to new members we went around the room with ‘successes’ and what a list. Wrekin Writers haven’t stopped scribbling since the last meeting – well done to everyone. As usual our Chairman’s Challenge provided both laughs and tears as members wrote their interpretation in 100 words on a single word ‘battlefield’. A read around with constructive feedback proved to be a useful exercise and one that was enjoyed by all.

After the meeting some of us stayed for lunch which was great fun. It gave us chance not only to share our writing but also to have a laugh, God we can be a noisy bunch at times but it was good to socialise outside the meeting.

When we finished lunch we made our way around to the side of the house where we met Martin. Dressed in the style of an eighteenth century gentleman Martin was our guide on a tour of the house and what an amazing guide he was. Leading us around the house he brought to life the story of the Berwick family who lived in the house for over 160 years. A story which included bankruptcy, love and political corruption, just the sort of thing to fire our imaginations which it certainly did. Then a stroll around the park in glorious sunshine brought to an end a perfect day out for us all.

My most sincere thanks must go to Wrekin Writer Dorothy Nicolle who organised the event for us and the staff at Attingham Park. Mark, the property manager, Catherine, who is helping us with the book fair in May and Elaine the catering manager who made sure we were all fed and watered.

If our day out was anything to go by, the Book Fair we are taking part in on the 3rd and 4th May will be fantastic. An event we are all looking forward to.


Attingham Park is a National Trust Property for more information please check out their website

My thanks also to Simon Whaley for the pictures I've used in this blog. If you'd like to see more pictures and a short video Simon took of our day out check out our website