BACKLIST
L’s CLYDECARD a.
i The iollowing oiiers are open to Clyde
Card holders only.
A VVV
GLASGOW
CITY WALKS Tine hali price tickets ior Morrison BowInore Glasgow Walk (Mon-Fri at 6pm and Sun at 10.30am irorn 19 July-30 Sept) and Cathedral Wak (Wed and Sun at 2.15pm1rorn 21 July-29 Sept). Both walks leave irorn Tourist lniornatlon Centre, St Vincent Place, oii George Square.
ROBIH PRINCE OF SHERWOOD
Family Ticket (two adults and two children) ior £15ior iiobin Prince 0i Sherwood at King’s Theatre at 7.30pm irom 27-29 July. Tickets irom Ticket Centre 041
227 5511 and all Ticketlink outlets.
LA CAGE AUX
FOLLES Two Ilpper Circle tickets ior the price oi one ior La Cage Aux Folles at King's Theatre on 23 and 24 Aug at 7.30pm. Tickets irom Ticket Centre 041 227 5511 and all Ticketliu outlets.
SCOTTISH BALLET
Two tickets ior the price oi one ior Scottish Ballet’s Triple Blll oi Bruch Violin Concerto No 1, Othello and Troy (1 -2 Sept at 7.15pm and 4 Sept at 2.15pm) and Anna Karenina (8-9 Sept at 7.15pm and 11 Sept at 2.15pm) at Theatre Royal. Tickets irom Ticket Centre 041 227 5511 and all Ticketlink outlets.
ACADEMY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Two tickets ior the price oi one ior Academy Chanber Orchestra’s programme oi Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky and Britten at Stevenson IIaII, IISM on 12 Sept at 7.30pm. Tickets iroin Ticket Centre 041 227 5511 and all Ticketllnk outlets.
To take up one oi these oiiers present your Clyde Card to the venue box oiiice. All oiiers sublect to
availability. CLYDE
fllllms
Listen to Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 for it iurther details.
74 The List 16—29 July 1993
Will—TIRE
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Sue Wilson isjust back from a new novel-writing course based in a converted steading outside lnverness.
We arrived with high hopes, the sixteen of us. Would-be novelists all. travelling from as far away as Dorset to the new Arvon Foundation writers’ centre at Moniack Mhor, a converted croft house and steading standing amid stunning panoramic views twelve miles outside lnvemess, surrounded by orchids and sheep. The novel-writing course. with tutors Janice Galloway and William Watson. was the sixth in this the first year's pilot programme — the others have included poetry. short stories. fiction. and play-writing. with tutors like Liz Lochhead, Roger McGough. James Kelman and Iain Heggie; virtually all have been fully subscribed. With two other centres long established in England. Arvon in its 25th year remains committed to its original. simple principles: ‘to enable individuals with a commitment to writing to find their way forward by meeting and working with accomplished writers. in a friendly. comfortable and relaxed environment‘. Sitting down to our first night's meal. we studied the others who were to be
a 2i 1' i
our companions for the duration. A disparate bunch. apart from the obvious shared obsession, ranging in age from twentysornething to sixtysomething, in occupation from a computer scientist to a retired naval officer; male-to-femalc ratio in this instance (it varies widely from course to course) four to twelve. Conversation flowed with the Frascati and Bulgarian red — already a lighthearted sense of relief that we could talk freely of said obsession without embarrassment. with all of us here for the same reason, sufficiently committed to pay £220 (bursaries are available) for something that might help us realise our goals. ready to take ourselves and each other seriously as writers.
During the introductory session which followed. some said they were here to start a novel, some to inject new life into a pre-existing project; some for practical or technical guidance. some for a less clearly defined boost of inspiration. self-belief. motivation. Some had published widely in
magazines, others had completed only a
scanty handful of stories. No matter — there are no entry requirements for Arvon courses except enthusiasm.
Few demands were made on our time for the ensuing four days. Having divided participants between them. the tutors saw people, usually individually. once each day to discuss progress.
Janice Galloway
Breakfast and lunch operated on a raid- the-fridge basis (no having to interrupt the flow for fixed mealtimes). with provisions abundantly maintained by the centre’s friendly and impressively efficient administrator. Dinner was cooked on a rota basis in groups of four, eaten cornmunally around a long table. and extremely convivial it was too, everyone happily animated after another productive day. For the rest, our time was our own, and the rest of the world quickly receded into the far, far distance as we all got stuck into our work. Typewriters cluttered. word- processors hummed, pens scraped and the creative juices flowed copiously. cobwebs cleared when necessary by walks. snacks and blethers in the kitchen. And the work read out in turn on the final evening (all of us honiny nervous but also excited by what we'd produced) was — no other word for it —- inspired. The Arvon brochure says that courses' success ‘is measured. week after week. by individuals who come away with a surer knowledge of their own writing. with an old sense of isolation denied. and with a new confidence‘ - i couldn‘t have put it better myself. Well. actually. maybe now I could . . . (Sue Wilson)
Arvon at Moniack Mhor, Moniack. Kirk/rill. lnvemess. 1V5 7PQ, 046383 336.