MORE than 100 people attended the launch of an anthology of short stories written by new writers from across west Cheshire.

Charlie Lea, the workshop leader, gave a short speech to the writers, friends, family and the public before some of the new authors read extracts from their stories.

He said: “It was such a pleasure to run this course of creative writing in west Cheshire, meeting like-minded people and listening and sharing their ideas for stories.

“The course is designed not just to teach writing skills, but to bring about people who share the same aims, ambitions and zest for taking part in a practical cultural activity such as writing.”

The anthology was the result of the Write Time, Write Place creative writing course for beginners, which ran during autumn 2017 in four libraries across west Cheshire and Chester, including Northwich and Winsford.

People attended the eight-week course and took part in workshops looking at topics such as setting the scene, building a character, using dialogue and designing a plot with the outcome to write their own short story.

Alan Carr, one of the authors, said: “The workshops proved a wonderfully creative and enjoyable way to spend time and exchange ideas with other aspiring writers. We were all sad when it came to an end and are hoping to set up our own weekly creative writing group so that we can build on the progress that we have made.”

The course was funded mainly by Arts Council England with support from Cheshire West and Chester libraries.

Alan added: “It’s amazing to think that the apprehensive group who turned up for the first workshop in November should have found themselves as contributors to a printed short story anthology just a few weeks later. We all intend to continue writing."

Stories in the anthology range from children’s pieces to supernatural tales and range from historical First World War accounts to 21st century settings.