Writing the History of the Association of Christian Writers

Once upon a time, a long time ago (I was at university), in a land far away (Manchester, in fact) I wanted to become a career historian.  Oh, so very tentatively, I suggested to my tutor, an authority on the Catholic resistance to the Reformation in Lancashire, that I might stay on and do a Masters degree and he replied, “Mm.”  I didn’t want it that much, because I didn’t pursue the matter.  Eventually, I took the secretarial course my father had already planned for me and from there, by stages, I became an IT teacher.

Move forward several decades and I’m asked by the ACW Committee to write up the Association’s history for our website.  I supposed finding the relevant information would be easy, seeing as I would be looking back no further than 1971.  After all I'd researched the Polish Solidarity trade union for my novel, but then many journalists and activists have written contemporary accounts of those heady days in the early 1980s and Solidarity itself has compiled a journal of the Shipyard Strikes in 1980 (‘The Daily Liberty’).  ACW has no ‘Daily Liberty’.  Some of the movers and shakers in the early years have died, and others have ceased to be active. To be frank, dear readers, we are losing our collective memory and we mustn’t.  

I am now honing my rusty historical skills.  I’m on the scrounge for any information you may have.  ACW Facebook Group members will have seen all this before (I apologise), and so will other people whom I have made a personal approach.   I am very grateful for the support given by Jane Brocklehurst (who provided this amazing scan of a magazine article about the first Christian writers' meeting), Merrilyn Williams (pen-name Mel Menzies), Penny Young, Marion Osgood, Simon Baynes and, of course, our chair, Fiona Lloyd, who is always the go-to person for anything ACW.  Below is my list of what I need, please.

Magazine - For many years, the Fellowship’s (and later the Association’s) magazine was called Candle and Keyboard.  I have several photos of Candle and Keyboard covers, but anyone know in what year the name changed to Christian Writer?

Events – I have found many reminiscences of ACW events in Write Well, our Jubilee compendium, which I don't want to plagiarise - but has anyone got anything to add, please? 

Competitions - Any competition entrants reading this, please?

MAI (Media Associates International) – Pretty well covered.

Website - We have a website and social media platforms, including our blog More Than Writers.  Any past webmasters out there?  Also, anyone recall when (1) ACW website was first put online and (2) when the ACW Facebook Group began?

Jubilees – of course, we are holding our fiftieth (Golden) Jubilee right now, in 2021-22, but we have also celebrated a silver jubilee (1996) and a 40^th jubilee (2011).  Anyone got any memorabilia?  Please send me a photo. 

The more I work on this, the more I believe that writing the ACW history is important.  With your help, I can get it right.  Classical historians spent much of their time looking at shards of pottery and guessing dates (‘…possibly 5^th century Athens or maybe 4^th…’)  We can't have someone in the next century attempting to fathom our history via our WOWIG mugs.

I am looking forward to hearing from you, via email please, on webmaster@christianwriters.co.uk