Bedford College alumna, Gillian Clarke, shares her experience of the recent Bedford Society writers' evening, held at 11 Bedford Square.
On 8 October, a group of Bedford alumni, inspired by Professor Caroline Barron and eager to share their enthusiasm for writing, gathered at 11 Bedford Square. The evening was divided into two main sessions, chaired by Professor Robert Hampson from Royal Holloway, University of London, who allowed each speaker to make a five-minute presentation on her or his own work. Interestingly, the speakers were drawn from a range of academic backgrounds, spanning the arts, sciences and social sciences.
My abiding memory is of the sheer variety of literary enterprise. We heard about books published and yet-to-be published, poetry, novels, memoirs, all written with passion, or even anger, as in the case of a book by Betty (Sanders) Hales, charting the events and official corruption that led to the closure of a beleaguered East End comprehensive school – a text that was censored before publication. Passion itself is the theme of a planned trilogy by Jamie Moran, – not the passion associated with romanticism but the sort of passion or heroism you are willing to die for. At the same time, Jamie is working on a three-volume epic on the loss of the West in America. Maggie (Fell-Smith) Freeman's historical novels are to be re-published in 2020, and Angela (Dutta) Horne is currently putting the final touches to her novel/memoir.
Molly (Mountfort) Poulter has published two memoirs, one recording her involvement in the building of a hospice in Kent, and the second an account of her life as an 'everyday woman', whereas Barbara (Elsley) Oakes's memoir has been written for personal reasons and not for publication. Gillian (Grice) Clarke talked about the challenge of editing the different volumes of her father's memoir, based on his prolific diaries. A former curator of the Royal Photographic Collection at Windsor, Frances Dimond, is fortunate to have full access to the Royal Archives as she writes a biography of Queen Alexandra - a former patron of Bedford College. Verina (Gilardoni) Jones spoke of her role as editor and translator of a book about a remarkable eighteenth century Italian woman writer, Eleanora Fonseca Pimentel.
Barbara (Elsley) Oakes, who began writing verse when a patient in the Royal Marsden Hospital, now channels her creativity into developing teaching materials based around the English Phonemic system. Maggie (Fell-Smith) Freeman used to edit a small poetry magazine and was a founder member of the Essex Poetry Festival. Rosalind Kaye, Betty (Sanders) Hales, Molly (Mountfort) Poulter and Chris Sheppardson have all written on subjects or causes close to their hearts. Rosalind's first book, a survey of non-conformist chapels in Essex, was followed by an account of the Halstead Industrial School, founded in 1869 by Lucy Greenwood, an enlightened Quaker. Chris Sheppardson, an established author of five books on both hospitality and sport, spoke of his passion for changing lives, particularly those of sports players once their sporting careers are over.
The session was brought to an end by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, who noted that most of us had concentrated on what we had written about rather than exploring different ways of dealing with material. Perhaps we need a second session to address this! A highly successful author, she spoke of her time as a student at Bedford and her own career as a professional writer. Unfortunately, there was no time left for questions, though that hardly mattered as we all had ample opportunity to talk to each other before, during and after the formal part of the evening. Our sincere thanks go to Caroline Barron for bringing us all together, to Robert Hampson for his sympathetic chairing, to Lucy Hughes-Hallett for her professional support, and to our hosts, the Bedford Society.
Gillian Clarke (née Grice)
German with French, 1962
