Writer? Activist? Writer? Activist?

For some time now I have been feeling a wee bit schizophrenic, having to put on various outfits depending on what is happening out there in the fictional and real world. I feel I am losing my grip on who or what I am, or should be, or what I ‘ought’ to be writing on this blog. I see that other writers find a niche and they stick to it, whether it is chic lit, fiction writing in general or some other aspect of writing like publishing or blogging. I write fiction and non-fiction and I am also an activist and that is the problem.

I was very involved with Friern Barnet Library, and started a petition to re-open it. As well as campaigning for libraries, green spaces, and many other injustices, such as the way single mothers were ostracised in the 50s, 60s and 70s. I also co-run Greenacre Writers which involves various groups for people writing novels and short stories, workshops and the fantastic (recently renamed) Finchley Literary Festival. And on top of this, I keep my eye on issues that affect children in care and care leavers. I spent all of my childhood in care. I lived in a residential nursery, I lived with foster people, various family members and in children’s homes. So I have interests in many camps. In the last week or so I had been thinking about the new year and how this year I would be sticking to only writing about writing, I would not be tempted or sidetracked by political issues/stupidity. No, not me, from 2014, I would only write about writing and fiction. And then this happened:  Children to stay with foster families until they are 21 To which there has been celebratory response and I also join that celebration.

While it’s really fantastic that foster kids can stay with their families until they are 21 instead of 18, I question the legality of a decision that chooses one group of children in care over another. What happens to the children in residential homes when they get to 18? At the moment they have to leave. The current ruling excludes them. Approximately 9% of all children in care (68,000) will still have to leave care at 18. Is this just and fair? Natasha Finlayson, CEO of the Who Cares Trust, said via Twitter that it… 'Will be harder to extend support for kids in children's homes I think, but there is a rock solid equality case to be made.' I do not understand how a government press release that begins: ‘All children in care…’ can by the end of the first sentence conveniently omit nearly 7,000 children from the new legal duty on councils to provide support up until 21 years of age. These are the 7,000 children in residential care, children's homes, a minority not included in this new legislation. I dread to think how the children in those homes will be feeling after this news but having been in care myself, I can imagine.

This poster was done by a child in a children's home.

Ben Ashcroft is author of 51 Moves a story that chronicles the harrowing experiences of the social care and welfare system and his journey - the 51 times he moved premises between 9 and 18 years of age and its impact. He told me that many young people in children’s homes had contacted him to let him know of their distress and despondency at the news. Ben said, ‘There are a lot of us fighting the corner of young people in homes. They deserve so much better than to be treated like this. The stories of anger I have heard since yesterday from young people. They are feeling it! People need to stand up and be counted as all these young people deserve to be treated equally until 21. Nice to see so many people who do care!!’ 

Ben also shared a message from a 15 year old in a children’s home: ‘Just because foster children are settled in a family environment does not mean that young people in residential [homes] are not. I would love to live here until I am 21.' Ben added: ‘If you are in support of young people in children's homes getting the same support as Foster kids until 21+ please join our campaign. [Twitter @AshcroftBen and see details of the petition below.] It is only fair all looked after children get support until 21+ no matter where they live.’

It was while I was Tweeting my support to Ben that I saw another Tweet from Ian Dickson who is one of the organisers of The Christmas Dinner.* Some people don’t like Crowd Funding, but this is one that will add to the enjoyment of your Christmas dinner by helping young homeless care leavers who could possibly be searching rubbish bins for their Christmas food. Ian asked in Tweet speak: ‘…what happens if an 'older' foster placement breaks down? Res care or the street? Needs discussion.’ 

I realised the enormity of this was mind boggling, one day an 18 year old foster person is in care looking forward to three more years of having a home, the placement breaks down, as they often do, and the next day the young person is in a residential children’s home. Does he/she suddenly have to get out of the children’s home having lost the 3 years he/she would have gained in a foster home? I don’t know the answer to this question but whether it happens over days or weeks, there is NO government financial support for kids in children’s homes over 18 years of age.

And what effect will this legislation have on children in care who have already been separated or rejected by family - sometimes via the courts and ‘parent’ state that is supposed to protect them. Suddenly the 7,000 have become second-class citizens again, without a voice by the very institution that has very recently said in the Care Leavers Charter: ‘We will make sure you do not have to fight for support you are entitled to and we will fight for you if other agencies let you down…’ So what will the government do now - fight themselves? 

And what can we do?

We can begin to help make the change needed for those in residential care by signing this petition

So, there you are, another campaign underway. It's not as if there aren't campaigners that are also writers, George Orwell for instance, who wrote 1984; and Alice Walker who wrote The Colour Purple and many other social change books. She even describes herself as having been "an activist all of her adult life" and she writes fiction. So it looks as though I’ll have to put up with my split-writing personality for now, I didn’t even get to make a new year’s writing resolution before the activist in me took over and made me write this blog!

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*The Christmas Dinner is a pop up organisation founded by the poet Lemn Sissay MBE. Ian is part of a group of 12 professionals. Their aim is to provide a Christmas Day Dinner for care leavers aged between 18 and 25 on Christmas Day in Manchester. Many care leavers are sat in flats, B&B’s, hostels, away from family or are sofa surfing and indeed living on the streets on their own at Christmas. Christmas is a reminder of everything they never had. It's often a dreaded day. Not now. They will put on a scrumptious Christmas meal and create a magical day to remember at a secret location in Manchester where they will provide dinner for forty 18-25 year olds. 

*Another worthy Christmas cause is the Topѐ Project,  a volunteer run, youth led project, aiming to combat loneliness for care-experienced young people. The Topѐ Project is named after a 23-year-old care leaver who took his own life in 2010. His death had a profound impact on the young people who knew him, and after this tragic event the group came together to look out for and support one another. Each year since, the group has come together during the holidays for a Christmas celebration. Many care leavers dread Christmas and find it an isolating time. They are often not in touch with previous foster families or children’s home and spend the day alone in independent accommodation.

All that's left for me to do now is to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas. 

A Reader

Being a reader for short story competitions means I have to read a helluva lot of stories. There are many ways to start a short story - scene setting; conflict; mystery; and a narrator who speaks to you are just a few. I can usually tell from the first paragraph whether or not the story is going to work. I am also a reading detective and am often disappointed if from that first paragraph, I have worked out the plot of the whole. If I am reading for pleasure and am not hooked by that first paragraph, I can decide not to read any further, if I'm reading as a judge then I have to read on.

I am also a trained 'reader'. I underwent The Reader Organisation's, 'Read to Lead Training', some time ago. The Reader Organisation brings people and literature together, not just any old literature but 'great' literature. They use an innovative 'shared reading' model that brings people together for weekly read aloud reading groups. Stories and poems are listened to, thoughts and experiences are shared, personal and social connections are made. I recently ran a 'Make Friends with a Book', session in the restaurant of the hospital where I work. It was lunchtime and packed with nurses, doctors, other NHS staff and members of the public. I chose to share, 'Tea with the Birds', by Joanne Harris. A powerful story about loneliness, isolation and mental illness. It also happened to be Mental Health Awareness Week so it was the perfect story in the perfect setting.

I suspect that as Canadian author Alice Munro has just won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature, there will now be a revival of the short story form. Sarah Hall, winner of the BBC National Short Story award says: 'My feeling is that the short story is, if not gloriously ascendant in Britain, then airborne and at reasonable altitude'. And I agree, it has been a struggle but in all honesty the short story form has been slowly clawing its way back from banishment for some time. It was the 10th anniversary of the short story festival, 'Small Wonder' that is held every year in September, at one of my favourite places, Charleston - the former home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.

Having just completed another batch of short stories for the Greenacre Writers competition, I've been questioning: What makes a good story? I may change my mind in a few days but this week I am saying it is the subject. There will be those among you who say, any subject can work as long as it is written well, and yes this is probably true. For me though, it is what is at the heart of the story that is important. I have to be interested in what I am reading about as well as how the story has been written. And that of course comes down to the telling, the voice, the emotion, and often a funny little title. So it is not the first line that must grab your reader, it is the title. Put everything into that title - intrigue, emotion, strange voice, and if possible even humour.

'Tea with the birds' - what does this title conjure up for you?

Sarah Hall's winning story 'Mrs Fox', is about a woman who turns into a fox much to her husband's bewilderment. Here's an extract from the story: Mrs Fox

Do you have a favourite short story?

Fallen Women

Amherst Lodge, Ealing - now a luxury block of flats

It is still difficult for me to write that I spent the first sixteen years of my life in care. Sometimes I am still shrouded in the shame that my birth caused. I was born in 1958 and my mother was not married. This means zilch nowadays but back then my grandparents, like many other Irish Catholics, refused to have me in the house. At six weeks old I was taken from my mother who had been staying in a mother and baby home in Ealing and put into a residential nursery in Barratts Green Road, Harlesden. This was to be the beginning of a journey that took me to various foster homes, children’s homes, spells with family and too many schools for one small child to cope with. The only reason I was in care was because society had decided that if a woman became preganant and was unmarried, she was deemed unfit to be a parent. If the immediate family refused to help, which was mostly the case, the baby would be put up for adoption. And even though help was available, financial help, as well as housing, this was very rarely offered, due to the adoption market that was predominant back then.

When I was taken into care, ‘bad blood’, was bandied about because my mother suffered from depression, possibly bipolar, although in those days the psychiatrists weren’t as knowledgeable as they are now. If the parent of a child had any history of mental illness, a baby would not be put up for adoption. 

A couple of years ago I made contact with Phil Frampton, whose story was very similar to mine. His mother was also unmarried and Phil was placed in a children’s home. But the reason he wasn’t adopted was not because his mother had a mental illness but because he was mixed-race. I found Phil through a website that listed children in care who had made a success of their lives. It has always been important to me to succeed in life, and not to end up as a prostitute, in prison, homeless, a drug addict or an alcoholic – I am too familiar with the negative stereotypes that children in care have to grow up with. I think possibly I was close to being an alcoholic at one time in my life as the friends who used to carry me home would probably tell you.

At around the same time as meeting Phil, I met Josie O Pearse at an event hosted by Lemn Sissay, another successful child of the state. Josie had been in care as a very young child and was then adopted. When I was much younger, I would occasionally meet someone and immediately feel some sort of bond – this was the case with Josie. Whatever her experiences, we clicked and became friends. Phil, Josie and I started the https://www.facebook.com/UmbrellaMAA. We are campaigners, activists, supporters of direct action. Back then the mother group, the Movement for an Adoption Apology did not seem to include children who had been in care and we felt that our voices weren’t being heard, so we set up our own organisation. We met in Parliament and sat in a room with other mothers and children who had been affected by the social policies of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Our aim was to get the government to apologise to the women and children who suffered and who continue to suffer from the impact of the forced child adoption practices in the UK during the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

Phil and John Leech MP for Manchester Withington, created an early day motion EDM92 Forced Child Adoption. Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few EDMs are actually debated. What EDMs can do is create publicity around the motion so that more MPs will sign and become involved.

There has been a lot of publicity about the apology made by the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to people affected by Australia's forced adoption policy between the 1950s and 1970s. Tens of thousands of babies of unmarried mothers, were thought to have been taken by the state and given to childless married couples. Speaking in front of hundreds of the victims, Ms Gillard said the "shameful" policy had created "a legacy of pain".

An UMAA supporter got Lord Greaves to "ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the government of Australia regarding its apology for the past practices of forced adoptions of children of unmarried mothers; and whether they plan to issue a similar apology on behalf of past United Kingdom governments."

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash): “The United Kingdom Government have not made any formal response to the apology issued by the Australian Government. The Government have no plans to issue a similar apology.”

As mentioned, the EDM has created publicity, apart from the many newspaper stories of mothers and children being reunited, and shows like ‘Long Lost Family’, there are now two films that are being shown in the UK this month. The first is 'Philomena'. After falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, he was whisked away by the nuns to America for adoption. Philomena spent the next fifty years searching for him in vain. The film stars Steve Coogan and Judi Dench. The premiere is Wednesday 16th October. 

MAA issued this statement: 

"MAA has tried indirect action over the past three and a half years to no avail, now is the time for DIRECT ACTION. PROTEST DEMONSTRATION FOR AN ADOPTION APOLOGY AT 'PHILOMENA' PREMIERE. We intend to stand outside the Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square on the 16th of October at the premiere of the film 'Philomena’ with placards demanding justice for the birth parents of the past (many of us are still alive but getting older all the time). Thousands of women of our generation, were pressured by the authorities into giving up our babies, just because we were not married…What good would an apology do? It would be an acknowledgement, a recognition, of what so many women suffered. Many of us never had any more children and many suffered serious mental health problems for years afterwards." 

Many people say things like, that was then or what's the point of an apology. My mother died when I was 13, and I believe that the way she was treated by those in authority as well as her own family contributed to her depression and subsequent death. So I am campaigning for my mother, for all the women that were forced to hang their heads in shame and were cruelly treated and had their babies stolen. Babies whom they would have loved with a deep passion and who, children and mothers, were never, ever the same after the separation. And I'm also fighting for myself, Phil, Josie, and many other children whose lives were damaged, lives that were interrupted, lives that were stolen. I hope that like the Australian mothers and children, we will one day gather in a large hall somewhere and listen as our government takes responsibility and gives us an apology.

Ann Fessler, author of The Girls Who Went Away and director of the film 'A Girl Like Her' - both about mothers in the US who lost children to adoption in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s - is coming to London to screen her film A GIRL LIKE HER. It's a special one night screening at THE FOUNDLING MUSEUM (what a perfect setting) in London on Thursday October, 24th. Ann will be doing a Q&A afterwards, so please spread the word. She wants to meet fellow adoptees as well as moms from the UK and Scotland at the screening (Marion McMillan who started Origins Scotland will be there). 

I will be attending both the premiere, where I’ll be standing with my head held high, outside the cinema in Leicester Square, in the appropriate colours like a true Sufferagette! And a week later I’ll be at the screening of ‘A Girl Like Her’, at the Foundling Museum. 

Writers Retreat

I remember the last writing workshop I attended was at the Jane Austen's House Museum and run by Rebecca Smith, Author of Jane Austen’s Guide to Modern Life’s Dilemmas, A Bit of Earth, Happy Birthday & All That and The Bluebird Cafe. Rebecca teaches at Southampton University.

It was a freezing day and had been snowing. Walking through the snow-covered park in the early morning I did wonder if I was wise to be travelling at all. But travel I did all the way to Alton in Hampshire. Rebecca was an excellent facilitator - calm, interesting and interested. The workshop, ‘But intricate characters are the most amusing…’ was of course linked to Jane Austen's writing. Elizabeth Bennet was a studier of character, and so, of course, was Jane. Rebecca spoke about all sorts of relationships – romantic, friendly and difficult. With examples from Jane Austen’s work and contemporary fiction, we looked at creating and capturing the sort of convincing characters and relationships that are at the heart of all good fiction.

Jane Austen's House Museum

What did I enjoy most about this workshop? Not having to do the preparation myself! And I even wrote the beginnings of my autobiographical novel, Homesick about a 16-year old girl who is leaving care and setting out into the world. So, it was a fantastic experience for me. What may you ask (quite rightly) has this to do with a writer's retreat?

Well I organised the recent Greenacre Writers writing retreat at St Katharine's, Parmoor, Oxfordshire. And although there was some organisation involved, researching places to stay, as well as negotiating with St Katharine's and the writers, I pre-warned the writers that I would not be doing any workshops, or tutoring. All I did when people first arrived was a sort of reflective exercise, that asked a few simple questions along the lines of what the writers were hoping to get out of the weekend. And in fact none of the writers except me bothered to do the exercise so I won't waste my time with that in the future. We were all there to write and write and write is what we did.

St Katharine's, Parmoor

The first thing that happened was an amazing piece of luck. We were told that we would be inside the house rather than in the annexe St Joseph's which is a little cheaper, and that it would be at no extra cost. My room was lovely - old rickety furniture, comfy bed, my own shower and the most amazing peace. No cars anywhere near the beautiful old house.

The estate, in the Chiltern hills above the lovely valley of Hambleden, was in possession of the Knights Templar originally (says Langley), was probably surrounded by wild open moorland country, and must have been an isolated place in those days. The magnificent cedar tree in the grounds was reputedly grown from a seed collected from the Lebanon during the Crusades.

The amazing Cedar tree where I sat and enjoyed the amazing peace of St Katharine's

In 1995 the Sue Ryder Prayer Fellowship took over Parmoor, now a Grade 2 Listed Building. The Fellowship was conceived by Lady Ryder to be a "spiritual powerhouse" for the needs of others. In the grounds, the walled garden is being brought back into productive use and supplies vegetables and fruit for the kitchen. The outline of a formal garden has been uncovered and is being made into a sensory garden by Lane End Elim Centre Oasis Project while a large sunken garden awaits restoration.

Lady Ryder cherished frugality, compassion, respect for the contribution of volunteers, and the spiritual dimension of charitable work. Her loss is keenly felt but her memory lives on in Parmoor.

It was this frugality that I most admired about St Katharine's as well as the amazing sense of peace I felt the whole weekend. However, there was nothing frugal about the food, home grown and home cooked, it was delicious. The writers were an interesting bunch and I learnt many things during the course of the weekend. Including all about Fracking from Irving, which apparently causes mini earthquakes - so not good for the environment and well done the protesters in Sussex. Find out more here. 

A few of the writers: me, Mark, Irving and Lianne

The view outside my bedroom window

Irving was convinced he was sleeping in King Zog's room!

I managed to get lots of writing done, as well as a quick trip into Marlow with Lianne and Mark where we treated ourselves to some new clothes! And returned with chocolate and wine for the evening spent chatting in the spooky old library. The food was excellent and my fellow writers told me over and over again what good value the weekend had been. We will definitely be booking another retreat!

WRITING RETREAT 28TH-30TH MARCH 2014

Occupied and Opened - the story of Friern Barnet Library

Book Launch TBC

Exactly a year since the occupation and liberation of Friern Barnet Library, there was a celebration and preview of a new book on the 5th September 2013 in the library at 7pm. Occupied and Opened - the story of Friern Barnet Library. 

‘A library is a shrine to the written word, a place of reverence and knowledge. Living and working there gave me peace and clarity from the moment I awoke and emerged from between the shelves until when I slept between them once more.’                                                                                                        Donnie Vortex, Occupier

The book features the community voices and community spirit that went into saving the Friern Barnet Library and will be published later in the year.

If it was not Philip Pullman saving libraries in Oxfordshire, it was Alan Bennett saving his library in Kensal Green. Our library and the community campaign stood for something greater, it started to symbolise something beyond what many of us could imagine. It had somehow, demonstrated that power and passion people had for libraries, for reading but also for benefiting from the opportunities afforded a public space, a library, a community home.                            Martin Russo Chair, Save Friern Barnet Library Group

Includes: Introduction by Richard Stein, Leigh Day – top human rights lawyer. An article from Boyd Tonkin, Literary editor at the Independent. There are stories from the Occupiers - Phoenix, Daniel, and Donnie, and local campaigners - Rosie Canning and Mr Greenacres. Barnet Bloggers Roger Tichborne, and Mrs Angry, tell tales about the Council and court case. Save Friern Barnet Library Group members Maureen Ivens, Martin Russo, Frances Briers, Joanna Fryer, and Tamar Andrusier, explain the hard work and heartache behind their campaign. Maryla Persak-Enefer and Helene Alderman describe the passion that went into getting the library building listed. Dorrell Dressekie talks about the history of the building. Mackenzie friend, Reema Patel, talks about her part in organising the campaign and helping the defendants in court. Cllr. Barry Rawlings describes his role as a local councillor. Fiona Brickwood talks honestly about the personal journey she underwent whilst saving the library. Donald Lyven describes his visit to Squatney Wick to see the film, A Polite Revolution and Lucy Nowell gives a picture of life behind the camera. And finally a reflection on community and protest by Sarah Sackman. 

Pre-order the book here
Published by Greenacre Project. ISBN: 978-0-9569914-3-0 
Editor Rosie CanningTel: 020 8346 9449/07907 796417