Relax, Recall, Write!
Celebrating Age – Elder TreeRelax. Recall. Write! came about through a collaboration between Derbyshire writers Lynn Ludditt (Lead Writer), Leonie Martin (Shadow Writer) and Writing East Midlands as part of the Elder Tree Project.
Aimed at empowering older people across the East Midlands to create new writing, the mixed-format project consisted of five online writing for wellbeing workshops (devised by Leonie) alternating with five email-based resource sessions (devised by Lynn). Over the course of the project, participants were encouraged to use reminiscence activities to begin to write their own memoir.
All twelve participants recruited to the project committed to the sessions each week and all except two submitted an extract from their memoir for the e-book and took part in the live recorded reading of work at the final session, which for many was a huge step forward in confidence and demonstrated an improvement in their wellbeing as a result of the project. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive with many seeking ways of continuing their writing journey beyond the scope of the project.
The workshops, which ran from January to March 2021, produced an anthology of writing, which you can read below.
Relax, Recall, Write!
Residency At A Glance
Location: Online
Partners: First Art
Lead Writer: Lynn Ludditt
Shadow Writer: Leonie Martin
Sessions took place between January and March 2021.
Anthology
Relax, Recall, Write!
Participants collaborated on an anthology of memoir, which you can read below.
Thank you to: First Art for their support on the project, and to all the participants for their supportive encouragement of one another, and their fantastic writing.
The Elder Tree was part of the Celebrating Age programme, which was jointly funded by Arts Council England through the National Lottery and the Baring Foundation. It aimed to tackle issues of social isolation and wellbeing in older people, encouraging them to join in group activities focused around arts and culture.