NOW BACK ON LINE WITH MY LOVELY ANCIENT 'BLOGGER' BLOGSPOT

BWC Committee 2022 with Brentwood Mayor

Hello everyone:   I've been on holiday to lovely Devon and have now managed to pick up where I inadvertently left off a week ago. Have no idea what went wrong with my blogger mechanics in this, my 17th year of blogging, but here we are again.

Many thanks to everyone who made contact by phone, email and other communications. Back in business!!! 

This afternoon is celebration time for Brentwood Writers' Circle who are holding their 81st Annual General Meeting. Proceedings and news will appear in their website.www.brentwoodwriterscircle.com

LATEST NEWS REPORTING ON OUR GOOD FRIEND THE BEST SELLING NOVELIST KATE MOSSE

Interviewing Kate Mosse at Waterstones' bookshop in Chelmsford

So good to listen to this current 'This Cultural Life' on BBC Radio 4 today. Members of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists are always interested in current interviews on BBC radio and other channels that are linked to those wonderful novelists and journalists who have joined us on some of our SWWJ events over recent years. Earlier today, the award winning novelist Kate Mosse gave a superb interview on BBC Radio 4. Kate was our guest at Stationers' Hall, London a few years ago and here she is with our then Chair Barbara Field-Holmes and Baroness Floella Benjamin (our President).

PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHELMSFORD CIVIC SOCIETY'S SPECIAL DAY - 10 SEPTEMBER 2022

 

JUST STARTED WORK ON MY 'FASCINATING FASHION PROJECT THROUGH THE CENTURIES'

 

Currently researching into the world of clothing from the past for my new project. It's surprising how much discomfort- even pain - that women experienced to achieve this tiny waist around 1880s went into some creations.  

BOOKING IS NOW OPEN FOR OUR FABULOUS SWWJ CONFERENCE ON 16 SEPTEMBER AT BRUNEL UNIVERSITY, LONDON

 

THE SOCIETY OF WOMEN WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS CELEBRATING 125+ YEARS OF PROFESSIONAL WRITING WORLDWIDE

HAVE YOU BOOKED YOUR PLACE YET? for The SWWJ Writers’ Conference 2022   Friday 16 September 2022   09.30 – 19.30 BST   The Antonin Artaud Building, Brunel University London Kingston Lane London UB8 3PH View map Booking website for this fantastic event is open. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to meet with old and new friends.

ON AUGUST 1 JUST A LITTLE ESSEX FOLKLORE WHILE CELEBRATING "LAMMAS" DAY

Harvesting in Billericay Essex

With all the hot weather, over the last few weeks, our farmers are working harder and earlier than usual at this time to harvest their crops. 

Many years ago, when I was researching people's memories and thoughts about their childhood in the fields surrounding our villages, especially in Essex, I was lucky enough to find many local folk who were kind enough to lend me family photos which illustrated my farming columns and eventually, my book Folklore of Essex.

Throughout much of Europe, Lammastide was also a traditional time of year for craft festivals and still is today in many British communities.  The medieval guilds would create elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright colours and ribbons, marching in parades and performing ceremonial plays and dances for the entranced onlookers. In America, the small town or country fair echoes the Lammas tradition.  Their agricultural competitions and midway games resemble the ancient European festivals at which people gathered to pay homage to the land and the fruits of their labour. 

With the advent of Christianity in Britain, pagan rituals were officially replaced by church services or masses in which the first harvested grains were milled and baked into loaves of bread, taken to church, blessed and then offered as thanksgiving to God.  Lammas Day itself was a Christian holy day in Britain from Saxon until medieval times.  Bread from the first harvest was blessed in a church ceremony known as the “loaf mass”.  It was then shared among the congregation, as a symbol of communal thanks for a successful harvest.  “Lammas” derives from the Old English ‘half loaf’, and ‘maesse’ meaning a feast.