Each month we try to have an Autumn Voices member contribute to the blog. This could be anything from poetry to pottery and if you’d like to be a guest blogger then apply once you’re logged in as a member.
In the lush green county of Hampshire lies a range of chalk hills: the South Downs. As a young boy I lived close to these hills in the post-war 1940s as an unofficial evacuee from the London bombings. These diminutive hills rose to the dizzy height of 800 feet at their highest point, Butser Hill, … Continue reading A week in Kintail
Irene Haining spent the majority of her working life in Glasgow teaching in an inner-city school. Although she and her husband Andrew enjoyed their time in the city, they always knew they were country people at heart. On retirement they returned to their native Dumfries & Galloway, and both agree that it was an excellent … Continue reading Growing older … and feeling healthier
“I love this beautiful book. It will not only help you to die a good death it will strengthen you to live a good life” Richard Holloway We are honoured and delighted to offer a free copy of Living Our Dying to the person who writes the most striking and memorable flash memoir based on … Continue reading Living Our Dying
As I see the first daffodils bravely open – shades of yellow brightness defying the relentless grey of winter – I am reminded of the deep sense of privilege I feel working as a health care assistant with Marie Curie. Throughout these last few weeks however, many of us have been feeling distraught and helpless … Continue reading The Great Daffodil Appeal
Deafness* *An inability to hear properly OR unwillingness to hear or pay attention. I would dearly love to be classed as the latter but regrettably my hearing is very limited and continues to deteriorate. There are numerous reasons why someone has difficulty with hearing and the severity ranges from mild dysfunction to total deafness. With … Continue reading Deafness*
Autumn Voices is delighted to share Jo Clifford’s words on International Women’s Day. Jo Clifford is a proud father and grandmother, playwright and performer, based in Edinburgh. She is the author of over 100 plays, many of which have been performed all over the world. Plays include: Every One, The Tree Of Knowledge, Faust Parts One … Continue reading Jo Clifford on International Women’s Day
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
‘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?
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!
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?
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
It was inevitable – having mastered the basics of photography and having trained as an architect – that I spent a lot of time photographing buildings around the world. For reasons that I mentioned in my previous blog, I had discovered the joy of nature and wildlife photography and when I wasn’t photographing buildings, I … Continue reading Street Photography and Annan Through a Pandemic
As a youngster, I hated having to line up on some special occasion for a family photograph. Once suitably posed, there was the universally understood ‘cheeeeese . . .’ followed by ‘click’. It was in the gap between ‘cheeeeese’ and ‘click’ that I would pull a stupid face that would only be discovered on the … Continue reading Photography: How It Started
Patti Landmann was the winner of our 2021 Autumn Voices Spring Short Story Competition, and we’re delighted to see her back here talking about her creative seasonal crafting and showing us some of the fantastic things she’s made. Hello Autumn Voices Community! I’m Patti Landmann to my friends, but Patricia Landmann officially for my 81 … Continue reading A wonderful Wisconsin woodcarver
About Leslie Knitting is easy. All you need are two pointy sticks (needles), some yarn (wool usually), and you’re away. There are only two basic stitches – plain and purl – and all patterns are a variation of these two simple stitches. The texture of your knitting project depends on the size of the needles … Continue reading Knitting is easy!
