Circles’ roundup
If your writing group would like to feature here, whether you need new members, have an event to publicise or to suggest tips for other groups, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk
Brentwood Writers’ Circle
As one of the UK’s oldest writing groups, Brentwood Writers’ Circle started with a bang – well, a bomb actually, writes Sylvia Kent.
Brentwood resident Elizabeth Baxter, principal of the town’s secretarial agency, enjoyed being a published author and member of the Society of Women Journalists founded in 1894. At the start of WWII, members met at London’s Stationers’ Hall.
In May 1941, Elizabeth received a postcard announcing that ‘due to Stationers’ Hall being bombed’, meetings were cancelled forthwith. Angrily, she decided to create her own writing group. Paying for a short advertisement in the local newspaper, Elizabeth invited aspiring writers to join her in her parlour with a view to starting a ‘writers club’. Several responded. Later that month a couple of ladies (in smart hats) turned up with some students from her secretarial agency and a trickle of soldiers from the nearby barracks. A constitution was agreed and the BWC, with ten members, was founded. War was raging at the time and although Brentwood was being bombed, membership grew with Elizabeth as chairman. Members met in each others’ homes and it wasn’t until the 1960s that the Circle had a regular venue.