Talent past and present remembered at 20th birthday for Listowel creativing writing group

It’s been a wonderful fiche bliain ag fás for all involved in the ‘Just Write’ creative writing group out of Listowel with the two decades culminating in an afternoon of celebration at the hallowed St John’s Theatre in town this past Saturday.

The occasion? Why only the writing group’s 20th birthday celebrations of course and what a day it was as member of the group, Barbara Derbyshire, told The Kerryman this week.

“It was a great day and I think everybody had a fantastic time. We did readings of our own and of people who have passed away over the years. John McGrath, he was the emcee and he kept everything moving which was just wonderful,” she said.

“There were no glitches or anything like that, it all went very well. Everybody was just delighted to be up there on stage doing their thing and of course, the theatre itself, St John’s, it’s just the most amazing place to be. There’s just so much creativity in the air there,” she continued.

Going on, Barbara said that the group hitting two decades in existence is even more amazing when the initial group was only planning to run for six weeks...yet here they are 20 years later still going strong.

Thankfully, this incredible streak seems set to continue for many-a-year yet with a number of new faces expressing interest on Saturday in adding to the group’s numbers.

It’s this influx of fresh ideas and fresh takes on assignments that Barbara loves the most about the group.

“We’re all given the same prompt but you couldn’t imagine the different kind of work that comes out of it. Everyone takes a slightly different angle on the themes. Seeing all the ways that people think and seeing everyone’s own voice coming out in the work is amazing.

Finally, anyone who comes along on the day and likes what they see and wishes to try their own hand at creative writing, they can contact Barbara on 086 876 0899.