Hello - Welcome to Tuam Creative Writers'
The Tuam Pen Club, that has now been expanded and rebranded as Tuam Creative Writers, attracted a wide range of people both men and women, young and old, workers, carers, immigrants and retired people.
Like the population in general we brought a wide range of experience to the club, enjoyed a variety of hobbies and pastimes and drew on our memories of home life as well as of travel and exile.
The common denominator was a desire to write and, in the process, to recall and remember, to make sense of our experiences while at the same time developing an appropriate style. We are ordinary people trying to do something extraordinary.
"Enjoy reading some of our recent work."
THE LOST GIRLS
THE LOST GIRLS It was an annual ritual in the school. Sometime after Easter the Year Head had to organise a day out for his
One Homogenous Human Race
I watched and listened to a special classical music concert on September 2nd live streamed from Kylemore Abbey. It was streamed globally by the
Like A Mosaic
Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Friends are a truer list of life’s essential elements. Our family Earths us while our friends give us Air. Leaving home
Sitting With Baskets
Sitting With Baskets Once, in the early sixties, after a loud drive in second gear along a bumpy track tacked between thick trunks, Fedora Father
TURNING A COLLAR
“He saved string, scrap wood, old screws, nuts and bolts, jam jars, coffee cans, cigar boxes, orange crates. He threw nothing away … He
The Living Is Easy…
It’s late August, the sun is relentless, searing heat ,energy-sapping, becoming intolerable for this writer. In the middle of a ten acre field, my task
A Day In The Life
The lilac outside our bedroom window is in bloom. The fragrance from the light purple or lilac, cone shaped panicles bring me back to my
Galway Trees
I stroll nonchantly by on my evening walking ritual. They barely notice me with bowed heads sharing their secrets with the birds of how they
TELSTAR AND THE LUNATIC
Telstar and the Lunatic I was fortunate to be a teenager in the 1960’s. It was a time of great change and optimism, even
Something In The Way They Move
Something In The Way They Move A man’s shoulder swagger and the sway of a woman’s hips may be seen as an attraction in
A Moon Lover
A MOON LOVER Have a kind thought for the moon lover who adheres to ancient Greek mythology and describes herself as a Selenophile, after
What Time Is It ?
What time is it? We have family and friends living around the world and it’s a job to keep track of what time
Soul Time
As the afternoon was very close i.e. uncomfortably warm, I took a break from the strenuous back-breaking work in the bog that had occupied my
THE GARDEN
And now the Irish are ashamed To see themselves in one year tamed So much one man can do That does both act and
FOOT AND MOUTH OUTBREAK
It happened a long time ago. We were unhappy, my fellow teachers and I. We felt we were not appreciated. There we were slaving away
Climate change is not My problem or is it?
Climate Change is not my problem. Or is it ? When I began to think about the statement ‘Climate change is not my problem’,
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY I remember it all so clearly, the day they arrived in Galway city – disoriented, frightened and looking totally bewildered
Let the Dialogue Continue
The sun’s path has started to drift north of the equator and people are thinking about the joys of Spring and Summer. After we have
My Journey
My Journey started six days ago. It was to a place called “The Spring Clean” and was long overdue. I paid for it with “elbow
Addiction
I wrote this poem twenty years ago, in another life. Addiction happens when we cannot deal With the way we feel. And we seek