An old way of calling

My Friday letter to you

Dear Writing friends,

This weekend, I’ll be putting up our tree and the first thing to come out of the box of tree decorations will be this very old family angel.

I think I’ve written about her before. I made her with my beloved Grandma Nicholls when I was a tiny girl, so this year she must be reaching her half century.

I still remember going with my Grandma to buy the little doll from the dark, musty ‘Tuppenny Shop’ on the High Street. You had to go down two steep, stone steps to squeeze into the shop. The ceiling was low and the dusty light filtered through one small window. The shop was owned by an old lady with a very wrinkled face and bright, black, beady eyes. I remember thinking that she must be a witch.

We bought the doll and I carried it home proudly in a pink and white striped paper bag. I was fascinated by her round, blue, opening and closing eyes with real eyelashes.

Our angel originally had a dress fashioned from a doily, dipped in glitter. As a teenager, I gave her a bit of a makeover from some leftover Christmas wrapping paper.

I regret that now. I wish she still had her tatty doily dress and her lopsided tinsel halo, made with my Grandma’s careful hands.

Anyway, thinking about our tree angel made me think of my Grandma, who kept a leatherbound book called Yorkshire Dialect Poems on the fireplace shelf and could recite many of them. I loved to hear the strange words, some of which I didn’t understand. Years later, those memories inspired this poem (from my poetry pamphlet Refugee).

I savour the sound of those old words, many of them from West Yorkshire, where I grew up and where my Grandma lived for all of her life.

Spuggy is a West Yorkshire dialect word for sparrow and spink is the word for finch.

Kist is chest, from the Old Norse word for box. Skep is a wicker basket.

Many Yorkshire words have their origins in Old Norse. They are full of interesting consonant clusters. They feel good on your tongue and teeth. They seem to spark with life.

Writing Experiment

Are there any old words that you have carried with you from your childhood, or perhaps words that were particular to the place where you were born or to your family?

Could you use one or some of these words as a starting point for some writing?

Let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear some of your words too.

Tomorrow Saturday 9 Dec 20204 on Zoom!
Writing Together - 5pm to 6.30pm

SPECIAL 90-MINUTE FESTIVAL OF LIGHT WORKSHOP

Come and join us for a very special Writing Together Workshop on Zoom, where we’ll be warming ourselves around the flames of our virtual campfire and igniting sparks to light our way through the darker months ahead.

When you join us for a Writing Together paid subscriber session, you’ll find a gentle and restorative writing space where you’ll receive support and inspiration for your writing. Camera on or off, we’ll write together in response to suggestions and prompts and then have an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve written and the process. The first part of the workshop is recorded for everyone so that you can catch up later if you can’t join us in ‘real time’. The second reflective part of the workshop is never recorded, in order to honour confidentiality.

I’ll be sending out the link very soon but there’s still time to subscribe before Saturday by clicking the button below. I hope to see you there!

Writing Together 2024 begins:
Thu Jan 17 at 6.30pm (UK time)

Thank you for making space in your inbox for my writing. Your ❤️s, restacks and comments mean so much to me and give me extra energy to keep building this Dear Writing community with you.