The attendance at our September meeting of 72 people reflected the interest in the speaker that morning – Judith Barrow, writer, teacher, author.
Judith began by telling us a little about her background – she left school after her G.C.E.s, worked in the Civil Service, moved to Wales 38 years ago to live in a house they were building in the middle of a field whilst bringing up their twins!
20 years ago, after contracting breast cancer she completed a degree course with the Open University & then went on to obtain a Masters degree at Trinity College. After this she wrote plays, poems & short stories but Judith went back to her roots in Oldham to do the research for the first book in her trilogy – Pattern of Shadows. The Glen Mill had been converted into a Prisoner of War Camp in 1939 and going there had brought back memories to Judith of how she used to go & meet her Mother at the mill where she worked, after school. The main character, Mary Howarth goes on to feature in the other two books – Changing Shadows & Living in The Shadows.
Judith leads creative writing groups in Narberth, Tenby & Pembroke Dock and many people showed an interest in the possibility of a creative writing group for Pembrokeshire U3A.
This was a lively, interesting talk given by a remarkable & inspiring lady.