Manchester 1973was a blurring of sleet on red brickour freedom compromised by the minutiae of tickslibrary time spent with the ponderous clock.Hours wasted in back room pubsdisparate furniture ringed with filmy eyed accusations,Guinness and Gitanes fuelled argumentsspooling in long looping coils like a faulty cassettesluggard days lost before the sky switched to night,wet pavements, the … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “Manchester 1973”
March 24th 1970 5am. I lay in my bed in the maternity hospital in Sunderland. My labour pains were getting stronger and more frequent. After two hours of gas and air I felt as if I was floating. It wont be long now love the midwife said reassuringly. She knelt at the bottom of my … Continue reading Your Memoirs – “Precious Moments”
The Men’s Groups movement started up in the late ‘80s as a result of a whole range of influences such as encounter groups, Humanistic Psychology and Co-counselling, most of which were very much in the spirit of ‘I am because we are’. Larry Butler was actively engaged in many of these groups He was a … Continue reading The Scottish Men’s Group
One July evening, eight people gathered at Larry Butler’s allotment at Kirklee Allotments, close to the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow. Our purpose was to compose a renga. A renga is a Japanese form of collaborative poetry, originating from mediaeval times. Some describe it as linked haiku of alternating 5 syllable – 7 syllable – 5 … Continue reading A Summer Renga
When lonely widow Kitty Merriweather moves to Derbyshire’s Hope Valley, she joins the Silver Rose online dating site because it offers a safe place for the over sixties to find romance. There, she meets the enigmatic Harvey, a scientist working on a conservation project in Bali who promises her “hot days and stormy nights.” Love … Continue reading Love Bytes Back
Grace has always been strange. But it is whilst looking after her grandchildren that things come to a head and lead to the death of 3-year-old Claire. Claire’s death is witnessed by her 8-year-old brother, Adam, who later runs away and disappears. What does his mother’s boyfriend know? Who is the vagrant hiding out on … Continue reading In Desolate Corners, Shadows Crouch
“From her Northumbrian roots to her adopted Wigtownshire home, Nichol conveys sights, smell, colour and movement in season and landscape in a way which brings home not only a deep love of time and place but also a sense of her small, temporary and sometimes vulnerable position within it. Her characterisations of child, man or … Continue reading A Suggestion Of Bones
“A painful little collection, speaking of rape, mental illness, love betrayed, secrets and lies set against dark, tempestuous landscapes that reflect deeply felt inner turmoil. I love the counterpoint of the surreal, yet oddly apposite illustrations” Review by Chrys Salt, writer, poet, theatre director and artistic director of The Bakehouse Available from Kriss – kriss.nichol@googlemail.com
Monsoons and Marigolds is a novel about stories: those we are told; those we tell to others; and those we tell to ourselves. Colette Bryce is a survivor. As she unpacks a trunk, memories gather momentum and the past and present collide. Colette re-lives her hopes and aspirations, her love affairs, betrayal and capture by … Continue reading Monsoons and Marigolds
The Dhanakosa Buddhist Retreat Centre works under the auspices of the Triratna Buddhist Order. The centre is beautifully situated in the southern part of the Scottish highlands, on the shores of Loch Voil in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park – a setting that provides ideal conditions for retreats. Dhanakosa runs many different courses … Continue reading The Expressive Writing Course at Dhanakosa
Larry Butler is an eminently suitable subject for Autumn Voices. In almost all of the healing and therapy groups in which he is involved, a large proportion of those present are over 60; and Larry himself, now aged 75, is a role model of continuing to be active, creative and productive in later life. Born … Continue reading Larry and Ubuntu: An Introduction
I was four years old. My family consisted of my Mother, my two elder sisters and Pro, a teacher who spent her retirement acting as nanny or governess to various families with children. My sisters believe she was Mother’s paid companion. I just thought she was someone Mother had met on the boat on our … Continue reading Box 6: The day I raised the level of The Atlantic
An ex-soldier is intent on vengeance – but on a scale, which is beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. DI Mick Fletcher is intent on getting back to London and escaping the rain sodden hell of Rochdale to which he’s been assigned. Only recently he was sure a successful murder investigation would be his ticket back down … Continue reading A Man In Flames
Our youngest, Leonie, was the first to marry, having asked permission of her two older siblings! I was mindful of the things that slightly marred our own Wedding Day, which was otherwise small, intimate and very enjoyable. One was that my mother and I quarrelled about my choice of wedding dress, and the other that … Continue reading Box 5: A Tale of Two (ruined) Wedding Dresses
At the age of ten I was sent to boarding school. This was ostensibly so that my so-called education was not disrupted by our every move from house to flat, from village to town. I had already attended seven different schools, both private and public (private being those owned by the head teacher, public, those … Continue reading Box 4: The school sports jumper
