Our February workshop

Writing to music with Fiona Thompson – our February workshop

Pedals – who knew? For our workshop with writer Fiona Thompson, there was much excitement when Fiona brought her harp. Few of us had seen one of these beautiful instruments up close.

Fiona's writing workshops are inspired by Natalie Goldberg, a Buddhist writer who combined writing with meditation.

With prompts and listening to passages of music, we were encouraged to write, and keep writing whatever came to us, until each piece of music finished. We shared our writing, from wistful to heartbreaking to witty to the pure enjoyment of listening to the music itself.

A curious lot, our members wanted to know more – and Fiona invited us to have a go at playing the harp. For an instrument with such subtlety, we discovered that it needs some wellie to play its characteristic cascade of notes, the glissando.

And the sketches? Well, I was supposed to be taking pictures but music is so lovely to draw...

A massive thank-you to Fiona for a wonderful evening and particularly for the generosity of transporting her harp to play for us live.

Find out more about Fiona's writing work here and London City Orchestra here.

Photos by Lydia and Alison

Our February walk

Bethnal Green through fresh eyes – our February walk

This month, we found a new view of the neighbourhood we meet in through the beautifully designed and illustrated Oxford House booklet A Young Person's Guide to Bethnal Green (free to pick up at Oxford House). One of its writers is Graham Barker, who has spoken at one of our meetings and led one of our walks.

Starting with a potter along Columbia Road, normally full to bursting with flower and plant stalls on market day, we turned into Jesus Green, greeted by cheery Spring daffodils. The houses bordering it were originally social housing, part of the Jesus Hospital Estate. 

Weavers Fields (here, crocuses to enjoy) was, we learned, named after the weavers' houses in an area that once had many more streets, cleared in the 1960s. We paused for a look at Peter Dunn's Weaving Identities sculpture, referencing the history of the park and created through school and community workshops, and enjoyed the wonderful carvings by the school students in the bricks at its base.

Onward to Oxford House, a Settlement originally opened in in a former school where University of Oxford graduates lived so that they could volunteer in Bethnal Green. Oxford House as it is now was purpose-built and opened in 1892. Early members, many of them teachers or lawyers, provided youth clubs, adult education and Sunday lectures in Victoria Park and in 1931, Gandhi gave a speech through an Oxford House window to a crowd of 3,000.  And it's still a busy place of activities, classes and café. As we left, we enjoyed the fine views of the City through the gardens and chatted about the changing skyline.

Finishing our walk at St John on Bethnal Green, we were treated to a tour by EEWI member Clare. We learned of its Sir John Soane architecture, the modern Stations of the Cross paintings by Chris Gollon and the concerts hosted at St John that make the most of its acoustics. A huge thank-you to Clare – it's a special thing to be shown a place by someone who knows it so well.

Then, a café stop at The Beehive.

Fancy joining us? Look out for our next Coming up blogpost for details.

Coming up in February

Bethnal Green through fresh eyes, writing through music and coffee on the way to art – adventures for February 

Our monthly walk: Saturday 10th February, 11am – Join us in rediscovering our very own Bethnal Green

Using the beautiful booklet from Oxford House A Young Person's Guide to Bethnal Green which Graham Barker helped create, let's explore and enjoy at a leisurely pace the landmarks, green spaces and atmosphere. We sometimes rush through on our way to somewhere else, but this is a chance to appreciate the area in a different way. Coffee break choices all along the way – the Oxford House one is spacious and offers a chance to explore the building and exhibitions.

Meet at Columbia Road Market – junction with Barnet Grove. Clare mentioned that she might be able to include a tour of St John's as a bonus!

You can pick up a copy of the map at Oxford House, and some will have been distributed at the January meeting.

Our monthly meeting: Thursday 15th February, 7pm for 7.30pm start – Creative writing workshop 

Join us for a workshop with writer and harpist Fiona Thompson, using as prompts some music that she has recorded. 

Bring a notebook and pen. And be ready to surprise yourself at what you can release and capture in the written word. 

We will be at our usual venue: St Margaret's House, 15 Old Ford Rd, London E2 9PL.

Please note new arrangements for access to St Margaret's House: the new code will be available for our regular members via our member WhatsApp group. If you come to meetings regularly and haven’t yet had an invitation to the group please contact us via email.

If you are not a member of EEWI, please press the white bell on the wall and someone will come to let you in. Sometimes this lets us down, so you can always call one of the committee if other means of access fail!

If you are coming for the first time, please contact us via email so we can make sure you are able to get access smoothly.

Our monthly coffee morning: Friday 23rd February – meet between 10.30am and 11am at Zealand Café, 391 Roman Road, E3 5QS

There should be room for us either inside or at a bracing outside table. Afterwards, as we will be in the area, we could pop in to Chisenhale Gallery. The next exhibition, Joshua Leon, will have opened on the previous evening so we can be among the first to visit.