jolenesheehan community writing

Autumn Reflections

Hear this blog post read aloud:

Our 5th of September Stories of Our Lives session was a lovely celebration of Autumn , bringing together stories, memories, conversation, creativity and the sharing of our new Autumn panel which was designed with community input. (Read more about that project Windows through the seasons.)

We began by sharing pieces of writing about Autumn from earlier Stories of Our Lives sessions. From there, the conversation went in all sorts of directions. We remembered school days and new terms, gathering apples, conkers and crunchy leaves, Freshers’ Week, preserves and crumbles. (I felt very hungry by the end with the mention of so many delicious flavours and textures!)

We talked about abundance and harvest, but also about drawing inwards, resting, healing and getting your breath back.

Image description: A group of around fourteen adults sit together around tables in a bright community room, chatting and smiling over cups of tea, papers and activity materials.
Sharing stories, memories and conversation around the table at our Stories of Our Lives autumn gathering.

We also talked about the cycles of the seasons and the ways they can mirror our own lives. Autumn as a time of change, gathering, giving back, letting go, making meaning, nurturing ourselves and beginning again.

We finished by writing and drawing on wooden leaves, which people could take home or hang in the community garden, before going outside together to see the new Autumn panel.

Image description: A smiling woman stands beside a wooden-framed community artwork in a leafy garden. The artwork is filled with bright autumn colours, leaves, fruit, seasonal images and the word “AUTUMN” across the centre.
Jolene with our colourful autumn community panel in Chorlton Library’s community garden.
Image description: Two women stand beneath a leafy fig tree in the community garden, reaching up to attach small decorations or leaves to its branches. Sunlight falls through the foliage, with a colourful painted panel visible in the foreground.
Adding autumn leaves to the tree in Chorlton Library’s community garden during our Stories of Our Lives autumn session.

Read on to see the beautiful thoughts and stories that the group wrote afterwards:

Continue reading “Autumn Reflections” →
margaretkendall community writing

Turning points

Jolene Sheehan and Anne Delargy ran this fascinating and thought-provoking session. Jean Thompson, writing afterwards, described the contents of the session so clearly that it makes an ideal introduction to this blog post:

“Who would have thought that a game of Snakes and Ladders would lead to such deep and philosophical discussion about the meaning and turning points in life?

Jolene started us off on our journey by giving us each a small tile (different for everybody) that she had painted with an image and we had to think about how this image could help us reflect on the turning points in our lives. Anne guided us through the subsequent reflection and discussion engendered by the tile, then introduced us to the game of Snakes and Ladders. Good fun as always but I don’t remember this game when played with young children ever led to such a deep discussion. But why not? It complemented perfectly the previous reflection using the tiles.

Going up ladders were the positive turning points in our lives, going down snakes the more negative ones. But can you have one without the other? How much does chance play a part in decisions and turning points? When you slide down a snake, how can you stir yourself again to get up the next ladder? ”

We hope you enjoy reading the following pieces of writing inspired by the session, including more from Jean later.

Continue reading “Turning points” →