The Background A few years ago, we invited a Buddha to run a Mindfulness Workshop with our group, Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Tinnitus Support Group and he suggested writing a letter to our tinnitus. This, for me, was many years after my own tinnitus had started. When my tinnitus appeared, my life was happy and … Continue reading Creativity and Tinnitus
Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: I’ve been married for over 57 years I have two children I love our beautiful garden and especially our ducks, buying plants and bird watching I enjoy helping people to manage their tinnitus (something I have done since 1986) as well as producing, along with my daughter, our … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Audrey Carlin
‘In my bairn days, I hed the speech o a bairn, the mind o a bairn, the thochts o a bairn, but nou at I am grown manmuckle, I am throu wi aathing bairnlie.’ (1 Corinthians 13:11 – New Testament in Scots, William Laughton Lorimer, 1983) As a bairn, my first leid was Scots. Till I was … Continue reading The Oor-Wulliefication o Scots?
Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: I was born in Glesca and brocht up in Lumphinnans, Fife. My wife is Deif and we hae twa bairns, yin Deif and yin hearin. I’ve spent mair than 30 year producin TV programmes in British Sign Language (BSL) Nae regrets, but … Gin it had been possible … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Robert Duncan
Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: Although I am 80 years of age I feel (and tend to act) as if I were decades younger. I am still one of the five directors running the Welfare team at Glastonbury Festival and it would have been my thirtieth year there two years ago if not … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Christine Williams
Born in my grandparents’ house in Cardigan in West Wales, I was surrounded by my mother’s family speaking Welsh to each other, with the casual familiarity of the monoglot. Then Dad came home from the war and our little nuclear family moved to their own house and the dominant language changed to English. Dad was … Continue reading I’m glad I’m Welsh!
Toyah Willcox should really need no introduction to you all – she’s a prodigiously talented singer, composer, writer and actress, as well as the co-creator and host of the hugely entertaining Sunday Lunch videos and Agony Aunts podcast with her husband, Robert Fripp. You can read more about her here. Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: I am … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Toyah Willcox
Dear Orlando, I’m in a terrible state. Please help! I’m in my ninth decade of life – the last of my nine lives if you will – and my humans have just dropped a bombshell piece of news. We’re moving. To Australia! Apparently one of them has a spectacular job over there and we are … Continue reading Despair down under!
Throughout January we asked you to send in flash submissions on the topic of New Hobbies. We’re delighted to share the winning entry of Finola Scott, aged 71, with you. Finola Scott’s poetry and short stories have appeared in anthologies and journals including Gutter, New Writing Scotland, The Fenland Reed, Lighthouse, RAUM and The Ofi Press. Her work has … Continue reading New Hobbies – Winning Entry
Shetlandic / Shetlan/ Shetland dialect That subtitle could bog us down in the dreaded question: ‘Is it a language or a dialect?’ And ‘what should it be called?’ Let’s not go there. Shetlanders just say ‘we’re spaekin Shetlan’. Leaving the politics of language aside, Shetlan or Shetlandic is somewhat distinctive, a ‘relic’ as the linguist … Continue reading What’s not to love about mother tongue?
Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: I was born and brought up with my three siblings in Shetland. I’ve lived in Edinburgh since I was a student. I love collaborating with artists and musicians. I love language, especially mother tongue. What is your favourite age that you’ve been so far in life, and why? … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Christine De Luca
I avoided learning Gaelic earlier because it seemed too much of a cliche for such a fervent Scot as I, especially when all my people were Lowlanders. I finally succumbed to it when we lived in Glasgow from 1992 until 1996. I had known it was nothing like English and was one of the Celtic … Continue reading Suas leis a’Ghàidhlig
Tell us 4 important facts about yourself: I am Scottish I have learnt Gaelic I prefer dogs to people I cannot abide silences or snobs What is your favourite age that you’ve been so far in life, and why? The age of 36 when I met my life partner, just when I had given up … Continue reading Quick & Quirky Questions with Andrew Wilson
Dear Orlando, I’m probably going to sound like a grumpy old lady in this letter, but I’m facing a bit of a situation and need your help. I’m a seventy-nine-year-old Red Setter, and I share my home with the obligatory humans and a cat called Betsy. I rather like her, and she is a pretty … Continue reading The Scarlet Setter
I have always enjoyed writing. At school I remember having bits and pieces published in the school magazine and winning the senior poetry writing competition. In later years I dabbled in short story writing and then occasional pieces of journalism. Editors like people who can supply photographs and words – it saves them having to … Continue reading The Poetry of Entanglement
