Organising a visit

My U3A creative writing group has now been going for a year. To celebrate we’ve decided to go out. Two days ago I decided to go and make a research visit.  

For our venue we’ve chosen the beautiful John Rylands Library .  This is at once one of Manchester University’s libraries and a museum that the public can visit for free.  There is a small café and a very interesting gift shop there as well.

We’ll meet at eleven and spend about an hour wandering around the museum.  Then shortly after twelve we’ll find somewhere to sit and write.  At 12.30 we’ll met in the café to share ideas, if not actual writing, and enjoy a brew. We can polish our ideas to share at our regular meeting.   

I’ve made a list of possible topics that we might write about:

• Enriqueta Rylands, who founded the library in remembrance of her husband John  
• Create a Bury alphabet a bit like the Manchester Alphabet
• Set a story in the library
• Imagine you are Enriqueta’s ghost. What do you make of what is going on now?
• The printing press: how did people react to it when it first came in?
• Compare the Black Death to the corona virus
• The Spencer and Crawford collections. Who were these people? Why did they own these books? Find out something about them and put them in a story, poem, script or article.  
• What it was like building the library?
• Look at the gifts for writers in the gift shop and create your own gift for a writer
• Why did Queen Victoria refuse to visit?

•  The Victoria / Piccadilly connection; why was it abandoned.  How did people feel about that?   Building the library    

Group members are already signing up for this event. Let’s hope that nasty virus doesn’t scupper us.