We thought it would be really good to check back in with The East Marsh Writing Group now that they/we are able to socialise a lot better ‘in the real world’!
They’ve been getting back to doing what they do best – exploring the real world and seeing how the world can help with their creative talents. With this in mind, the group have collectively written about their latest adventure – to Cleethorpes…
Buckets and Spades
by Paul Haddock with additions from everyone in the writing group
Can you imagine what it’s like when every Thursday five fun loving writers get together at the Sun and Moon Writers’ Group?
We drink lots of tea and tell many jokes in the three hours we’re together.
Then we write. We write a lot, and we write in our own unique styles. We break many of the rules of writing that we were taught at school, but we don’t worry about that because it’s our group, it’s our own individual style, and it makes us happy.
We’ve been working hard over the months since lockdown ended. So, when we were given the chance to rent a beach hut in Cleethorpes for a day, we quickly became kids again.
Once we’d unlocked the hut, and once we’d finished with the oohs and ahs over the quaint little sink (I know, we were in a state of great excitement), we put the kettle on. It took ages to boil on the camping stove.
Ines did a stress-busting session with us. We stamped our feet, swayed and shouted any negative thoughts out into the Humber. It felt wonderful and we were ready for a cuppa after that!
Full of tea and high spirits, we set off as tourists. First stop: the Cleethorpes Light Railway. You should have seen us waving at everyone we passed. Even dogs got a wave. Pat was humming the theme tune to Ivor the Engine all afternoon.
The smell of the steam engine took me back to my childhood in the old steam days. Ryan the engine driver couldn’t help but notice our enthusiasm and he let us each in turn have our photo taken on the foot plate. Kelly did us proud as our official photographer, as you can see from the photos.
On the way back to the beach hut we ordered breakfast buns and tucked in while we waited for the kettle to boil – again!
The weather was wild, but none of us noticed. In fact, we were pleased it was blowing a gale because we had kites. That’s when we really became children again.
It was something I haven’t done since I was nine or ten and on the whole, we did a good job. Even when we couldn’t get them airborne, we had a good laugh. The Olympic gold medal went to Ines, who flew her kite with great expertise. We gathered quite a crowd and at one point I yelled out “It’s all right our mums know we’re here.” If we’d been given buckets and spades, I’m sure we would have built sandcastles with no complaints.
It felt great to become a child again, even just for a day.
