Barbara
02/06/2025
I am 72 this year. I have been accepted to do an MA at Westminster University in September in creative writing. The theme is London.
I run the Richmond Riverside Poetry group and creative writing for adults. I am giving back to London what London gives to me.
I am a London Ambassador, I help with reading and writing in a school for the last 10 years and teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) whose first language isn’t English. I also provide a quiet reading and writing space for young people at a local school. Previously I was a London 2012 gamesmaker and Commonwealth Games volunteer and have been a Heathrow Ambassador volunteer for 13 years. I have also volunteered at John Soanes museum for 8 years.
I have had traumas and loss but have found that writing and meeting people has helped me cope. I love London and I am committed to volunteering as though it was a job. It gives me a purpose in life to wake up every morning to go somewhere and do something positive.
London is where my grandparents came as refugees from Russia. I came out of an abusive marriage with low self esteem, but when I go to London my mood lifts and I feel better.
