Francis Wyatt, right, discusses his work with Sean Taylor Picture Ref: 77253-81SWINDON FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE: BUDDING scribes were able to pick up a few pointers at a writing workshop as part of the Swindon Festival of Literature.

Author Sean Taylor, who has written storybooks for kids and poetry for adults, was on hand at Lower Shaw Farm to offer guidance yesterday.

Fifteen people turned out to work on their poetry and prose and to gather inspiration from the farm.

Sean, 39, said: "It was a really confident group. We were working on different things and then reading them out and there were some really strong, distinctive voices."

Sean, who lives in Bristol and has had 15 books published, says he carries out the workshops to combat the loneliness of being an author.

He said: "It's an antidote to the lonely job of writing and this is a great space to work in.

"I've been to the literature festival before but I haven't been involved with it like this."

The group spent the morning working on a descriptive piece of writing and poems about people they knew.

In the afternoon they worked on story writing.

Student Francis Wyatt, 21, of Park North, was the youngest group member.

He said: "I write real-life rather than fiction but I'm trying to learn new things.

"It's been helpful. It's good to hear people with a more lucid imagination.

"But I want to get into writing in some form or other.

"I have no pretensions of writing a best seller but I wouldn't mind making a living out of writing."

Mum-of-two Sharon Rich, 36, from Longcot, was interested in the workshop having recently started writing.

She said: "I'm a new writer so I found it quite hard. I found it quite nerve-wracking reading my work out.

"But I enjoyed just getting to meet some other writers and it's nice to be involved in the festival.

"There's so much interesting stuff going on this year, I'll be going to two or three other events as well.

"I'm trying to find my niche as a writer so it's been lovely to be able to take in the peace and quiet of the farm."

Festival organiser Matt Holland said: "I'm really pleased with the wide range of people that came from Swindon and further a field. That's what's really nice."

Also yesterday, BBC2 presenter Jane Owen gave an illustrated talk, Gardens Through Time, at Lydiard House on the gardens and the history of their design.

Fringe

SWINDON'S Fringe Festival is also in full swing.

Renowned poet Martin Newell gave a poetry workshop at the Beehive pub, on Prospect Hill yesterday and the traditional Eastcott and Swindon Beagles pub crawl took place.

Last night Mr Newell read a selection of his poetry to a crowd at the Beehive.

Landlord Andy Marcer said: "It's all going very well. We had about 20 people on the hunt and this is the fourth or fifth time Martin's been here and he's always popular."

Today Peter Snowman will be showing a selection of short films at the Beehive from 7.30pm.

Andy said: "It's a sort of preview to the Swindon Film Festival and it should be very interesting."

Gareth Bethell