The Writers

 

Simone Chalkley recently finished a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing at the UEA as a mature student. She was delighted to find she could behave in a classroom and that talking in class was her best attribute, not her worst, after all!

Before she became 'mature', she was also a mum, wife, cat mum, editor and proofreader, lover of nature and humanity, volunteer, activist, rebel with a cause, and published poet in local Cambridge publications Allographic and Edgewords anthologies.  

         

 Jaqui Fairfax

                                                               

The landscape informs and influences my emotional path through life. My writing reflects this.

Colin spends most of his life wondering when, and if, he will ever return to his homeland of Cornwall.

He's been an artyfartyfannyfantastic most of his life and can't see that changing anytime soon. What drives him now is his determination to save the good things about our lives. And in his next life he's coming back as a dancer.

Steve Parnwell joined Mid-Anglia Constabulary (Now Cambridgeshire Constabulary) in 1971. One of Steve’s specialist roles was the Force Wildlife Crime Officer, a portfolio he carried from 1991 as Chief Inspector through to his retirement in 2001 as Chief Superintendent. Steve now runs a busy Ecological and Habitat Management Consultancy employing over 30 staff.

He turned his hand to writing after attending the second International Police Association IPA Special Interest Group writers’ course held at Castle Gimborn, Germany, Autumn 2019.

Steve’s writing is somewhat eclectic, ranging from short stories to anecdotes about his boyhood life, and as a police officer and self-sufficiency small holder. Steve also composes poetry from time to time and is a keen observer of wildlife and nature. 

Tragically Steve lost his wife Madeleine when she drowned in a road traffic accident at Christmas 2017 and in honour of her memory he created Madeleine’s Patch wild flower meadow nature reserve (https://www.facebook.com/madeleinespatch/) from which he draws much of his Nature Notes and Tales from Madeleine’s Patch inspiration. These are now regular features in Writes IPA Section UK Writers Special Interest Group and Global Writers Forum Magazine.

Steve is currently engaged in writing his autobiography whilst still pursuing his shorter musings.

 Paul trained as an archaeologist and taught for much of his career.  His love for landscape goes back to his childhood days and has taken him digging and walking throughout Britain. 

Since settling on the edge of the Fens, his research interests have increasingly focussed on trying to understand the hidden histories of the region and since retirement, he has begun to write poetry and prose inspired by this unique and haunting landscape. 

Roger Mitchell

A career in medicine faltered as I was too squeamish so my hobby, natural history, became my profession. After a short dalliance in fishing and shell-fish farming, I spent over 30 years in government service in nature conservation and environmental science, then became chief scientist for an International Environmental Charity, and later worked in philanthropy and managed a large Scottish highland estate. 

Along the way I have written scientific papers, reports, articles and chapters for various publications and been Chief Editor of two International Journals. 

I was born on the Fen edge near the Nene and then, after trying life in Hampshire and Oxfordshire, have now lived for over 40 years on the Fen edge near the Great Ouse, along which I walk, cycle or kayak most days. When not doing that I am still engaged in conservation research and practice, some focused on fenland habitat restoration and the proposed UNESCO Fen Biosphere.

Jean Rees-Lyons

Artistic Director, The Word Garden

Life, for me, is a theatre of words: a drama of incident, place and passion. My work draws upon dreams, stories, memories, research: archive, biography, history.

 

Jean’s creative activities include prize-winning drama and published poetry. Her most recent successful projects include: Arts Council England funded: Origins, The Scottish Soldiers, the Ouse Washes; the Origins of Landscape Change in the Fens, from which she adapted and produced the film, Coventina’s Quest. 

Previously, she received National Lottery Heritage funding for The Family Adams Project during which Jean devised, The Gypsy Play at Café Marguerite, a children’s community drama; she contributed to, and edited,

The Living Memory Book, is an illustrated record of project activities and archive findings. These and other community projects have been widely distributed, locally, nationally and internationally. 

Barbara Grafton

Writing is my profession: strategic marketing plans, promotional copy and social media content for IT, Pharmaceutical, and Consultancy companies. For relaxation I write poetry, short stories, life memories, and nature-themed articles for my local Conservation Society Newsletter. I am certain I don’t have a novel in me.

In 2019, I went into lockdown with Jean Rees-Lyons to mentor her on the Arts Council England funded book: Origins, The Scottish Soldiers, the Ouse Washes; the Origins of Landscape Change in the Fens. The joy of this project lay in utilising many of my skills and passions, researching (insatiable curiosity being my default setting) social history, archaeology, genealogy, memory, human rights, landscape, and nature. 

I also take photographs, draw, paint, and make mixed-media works. I am enthusiastic about incorporating some of these, plus sound elements, into the next stage of the Marketplace Creative Conversations project with Bel and the delightful group of fellow creative travellers.