Out of Bounds (Jan-Feb 2025)
“I did this course last year and it was a great experience. Really amazing how much a small group of strangers can help each other and become close over a few weeks. Well run and highly recommended for anyone interested in how boarding school may have affected them.”
- Patrick
A series of Creative Writing for Wellbeing workshops (Zoom),
co-facilitated with John Shirley
Thursdays, 9th Jan-13th Feb 2025
6.30-8.30 pm UK time
out of bounds (idiom) = outside the limits of where one has permission to be
A series of six Creative Writing for Wellbeing workshops offering ex-boarders inroads towards achieving a better understanding of the boarding school experience. We will be creating a safe space for personal and group exploration with writing prompts and an opportunity - but no obligation - to share your writing and be witnessed. These Out of Bounds sessions are offered up as a gentle but powerful exploration of what it is to be a boarding school survivor. We aim to support and connect people who are reflecting more closely on their experience of boarding school.
John: I was sent to boarding school at the age of eight because my father worked for the RAF, moving around every two years, and so it was the done thing to send your children away to school.
My boarding school experience looked idyllic from the outside. A country house in extensive grounds of flat playing fields and woods to roam in. It was 1972, innocent times maybe. Not in retrospect. Neither innocent or idyllic. Abandonment is what I call it now. Dropped off and left in an idyllic country house setting.
It took me until my mid-fifties to start to properly re-evaluate the true impact of my boarding school experience. I have been doing the work now for five years and the lifting of hitherto unseen and inexplicably heavy burdens has been transformational to me and the important relationships I have with my wife, my family and friends.
When I write, I make creative and imaginative inroads into the deep tissue damage of my boarding school experience. When I write, I see my feelings on the page and get in touch with my current self and my childhood self. I find words to connect the decades and make sense of what has gone on in between.
Rachel: I didn’t go to boarding school. For many years I’ve used Creative Writing to explore how childhood experiences have shaped my sense of self and relationships with others, and it is an honour for me to hold space, alongside John, for participants to explore the long-lasting impact of their boarding school experience through Creative Writing for Wellbeing. I acknowledge the courage that this work takes, and offer open prompts that allow participants the choice to work with memory, imagination, poetry and/or fiction, and to write directly into the boarding school experience and legacy or to approach it more obliquely.
All levels of experience of Creative Writing for Wellbeing are welcome. All you'll need for the workshop is a notebook, a pen, and space where you can work undisturbed (to protect confidentiality for yourself and others), or earpieces.
Note: John and I are a husband-and-wife team.
Zoom: Min group size: 6, max group size: 8. £195
We offer two concessionary rate places @ £175 on each course on a first-come, first-served basis. Please enquire.
Early bird prices: Pay by midnight (UK time) 18th October 2024 £180/£160
Read about the aims and objectives of my courses and workshops and read my FAQs, where you can also find out about my theoretical approach to running Creative Writing workshops.