Born just before the war in rural Hertfordshire. Was lucky enough to pass to go to the grammar school in Watford and then started work at the Building Research Station in nearby Garston. Worked there for nearly forty years doing a variety of jobs before getting early retirement and moving up to Old Buckenham in Norfolk.

Have tried to make full use of my retirement, playing short mat bowls, painting and drawing, gardening, going to the theatre and taking part in many village activities. Write the village blog and produce the monthly Old Buckenham village newsletter to keep everyone informed on what is going on locally. Seeing whether I have any aptitude for creative writing has been a new challenge to keep my mind active as I grow older.

Jo Carr

I have fairly recently moved to Norfolk from Hertfordshire with my husband - a sort of 'escape to the country'! We have bought a house with a holiday let so it's business as well as pleasure. I love writing and find it intensely rewarding and am delighted to be joining AWG. Travel is also a passion and I am currently learning Italian which I hope to be able to use in the future. We have one son who has just graduated and will shortly be working in London.

Sheila Charles

Writing and drawing are second nature. It fascinates me that I wake up - often in the middle of the night - with words oozing out of me that can be bolstered with humour, fact and word play to colour my writing.

I grew up in sunny, wet, Devon, accounting for my affection for wildlife and the coast. Since moving to sunny, windy Norfolk in 1971, skies can be added to the list.

My three children, seven grandchildren, one sister, hundreds of in-laws, some very good long standing friends, a large garden and a long suffering husband, help me to see life in every shade there is.

I have always worked - alongside children and adults - writing observational reports. Starting a course in Creative Writing in 2009 and joining Attleborough Writers' Group has been very enriching, contributing to the yearly anthologies since 2010 and doing the art work for the covers of 'Highlights' 2011 and 'Fourth Write' 2012. Long may it continue.

I moved to Kenninghall, Norfolk 13 years ago from Hertfordshire with my musician partner and we absolutely love living in this friendly, vibrant little village. I spent over 20 years as a magazine editor on a variety of business to business titles and a stint in PR. I have done very little creative writing since then although remember writing fairy stories as a child! I am a voracious reader and love gardening and growing flowers, fruit and vegetables.  I am delighted to be joining AWG and hope that this will give me the discipline and support to write more fluently. 

I watched the World Cup final in 1966 propped up in my cot in Islington, North London.  I've been a football fan ever since.  I started writing at school and produced many poems tinged with teenage angst, at which I now shudder.   Having moved from Essex to Suffolk to Norfolk, I decided to join a local creative writing class in order to meet people and get back into writing.  I'm so glad I did as now I'm a member of the wonderful Attleborough Writers' Group.

I'm married with three young sons, two dogs and four hens.  There is never a dull moment in our house!

Rosemary Ford

I can claim to be a Norfolk girl as I was born and went to school in Thetford.  I had a happy childhood, free to roam the countryside with my friends.  I always loved to read, and admired characters like Jo in Little Women who aspired to being a writer.

 I qualified as a teacher and worked mostly in the West Country.  I married Brian and we had a son and daughter, who have each gone on to have a son and daughter. It must be in the genes...

We moved to Attleborough to be near my parents in their declining years.  It has proved to be a happy  move.  I  joined Sandra Davis's creative writing class from which AWG. has developed.  It keeps the brain cells active, and is a lovely social group of like-minded people.

Hazel Gooderson

I love life.

Born in Surrey and happily married since 1973, we moved with our three children to Norfolk in 1989.

We were blessed with two gorgeous grandsons in 2010.

We now live in a converted barn and enjoy spending a quarter of the year in our second home in Cyprus.

I have various hobbies of which the most challenging is the writing.

Alan Hewison was born in North Yorkshire. He was an Officer in the Merchant Navy who continued working in the shipping industry throughout his career. Always a keen sportsman, and is presently retired.

My life has been enriched by working with children. Having taught primary school children for 30 years I am now retired but work as a supply teacher.

Happily married since 1972, I have enjoyed being a mum to my son and daughter, and now spend happy times with my grandchildren.

My hobbies include drawing and painting, and I completed an arts degree when my children were young. I find all aspects of history fascinating, particularly when combined with travel. An avid reader, I now aim to improve my writing skills.

My glass has always been half full and I hope the best is yet to come!

'Always look on the bright side of life' to quote Monty Python.  I think that's a good idea.

I have travelled more than a girl born in London would ever have dreamed, due mainly to my husband's occupation - north, south, east and west of  England, Wales, Germany, France and very strange places such as Belize in Central America. I settled in Attleborough two years ago to be near my mother-in-law and other family members.

I have two married sons and three grandchildren aged eighteen, fifteen and a one-year-old.

My younger son and his family live in Japan and I have been to visit them several times.

I first wrote while at school and had a poem published in the annual magazine!

In my travels I wrote long letters before the days of email and used to keep a diary.

Belonging to Attleborough Writers' Group has been a means of stretching my experience and I have found it provoking and challenging.

I look forward to seeing our next book and being able to show my sons what their 'old mum' can do.

Iris Welford

I've been an avid reader since childhood when my Friday night treat was going to the library to change my books, coming home and reading by the fire with supplies of sweets and 'Corona' (fizzy drink) to hand.  I suspect my story writing interest stemmed from that time and the reason why I joined a creative writing course later in life.

In between time of raising my family and work, I've enjoyed a broad variety of hobbies from yoga to frustrated water colourist – if only I could paint – to keen gardener and radio amateur sending Morse code globally, but have never tried to play the piano, something I always wanted to learn.

It would be nice to write that 'best seller' or even a book and treat the family with the proceeds, but then writers are inventors.