The invitation to join a writers day at Beamish Museum with their writer in residence Becci, came through on a tweet from Mslexia magazine. I signed up immediately and was one of a handful of writers on a sunny Tuesday in July who met in the museum café. After introductions we went in twos and threes to explore various parts of the site. My first area to visit was the Fairground and Railway, which had yet to be invaded by the mass of visitors I’d passed on my way into the museum. As the carousel was steaming up, there was an eerie calm to the Fairground. Short story ideas came thick and fast and my mind is still whirring, wondering which direction to take this inspiration and make it work best. Becci gave us some prompts to think about when visiting each area and these were very useful. After the Fairground, a visit to the Railway again inspired all kinds of different short story ideas, and one possible large non-fiction project which I’m going to investigate fully. It was time ...
