The Custodian
David L. Barnard

Drama

When I was fourteen
Jefh Davies

Creative Writing

Song of Songs: Rhapsody for Strings and Harp
Frederick Paul Naftel

Music

Diverse Bluebells
Cesca Diebschlag

Art

A Smaller Splash
Robert Crowther

Art

Seven Ages of a Bathroom Cabinet
Sue du Feu

Creative Writing

The Lithopaedion
Gaye Jee

Short Story

Martin Ansell - Weather Man

Paul Balmer - Corby Royal Charter And Pole Fair 1585 - 2002

Colin Billyard - Stardust

Sue Blundell - The Bridgetower Sonata

Patricia Cunningham - A La Carte

Cesca Diebschlag - Pale Bluebell

Cesca Diebschlag - Classic Bluebell

Alan Dixon - Through The Eyes Of A Child (Song)

Alan Grant - "Buyabittabob"

Julia Green - Fortune Made His Sword

John Hawson - Camuscoille Farewell

Andrew Hodges - "Stream" For String Orchestra By Andrew Hodges

John Homer - Boundaries

Joan Jackson - The Dragon Therapy

Malcolm Jones  - House In Forest 

Igor Kennaway - Thoughts Stirred By The Cambridge Mist

Eddie Lawler - Caedmon's Song

Lesley Mackwell - A Short Swift Tale

Kenneth Mason - A Day Out

Barbara Munro - A Buddha In Bubion - A Radio Play

Gareth Phillips - A55 Carol

Maggie Piran - Nothing Personal

Guy Richardson - Impromptu: Uneasy Lies The Head

Neville Tobin - Spring '23 (With Apologies To Messiane)

Anthony J Travis - Mary

Steve Urwin - Manhattan

Sherry Wilson - Rehearsal

David L. Barnard

Tell us a bit about where you live?

I currently live in Great Bookham, Surrey with my wife Sue. I enjoy walking in the Surrey Hills and find that themes and ideas that I can use in my writing often come to mind whilst l am walking in the countryside.

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

Ideally I would like to see the work  on stage, and I entered the King Lear Prizes in the hope that if it was published someone with a theatrical background might read it and be prompted to stage it

What inspired your work?

There are some large wooded areas near my home where I have become lost at times. It was on one of these occasions that I had the idea for the 'The Custodian' - imagining a couple who, like me, get lost in the woods and have to seek refuge at a crumbling Manor House which is inhabited by a sinister butler figure. However, I wanted it to be a bit more than a straightforward ghost/horror story, and so I gave the tale an environmental dimension so that it became an allegory on the theme of climate change. I've always been concerned about the destruction that humankind has inflicted on the environment, and writing 'The Custodian' was a way of expressing my concerns.

Jefh Davies

Tell us a bit about where you live?

For the last nine years I have lived in the quiet little seaside town of Seaford in East Sussex.  I retired here after twenty-five years in and around Redhill in Surrey, and before that in too many places to mention.  For me, this is the perfect place for the peaceful life I now enjoy: plenty of opportunities for walking by the sea, writing, spending time with friends, and all with family nearby.

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

I first entered the King Lear Prizes because, with more time to spend writing after I retired, I was producing more work than I had in a long time and was wondering if other people might like what I was writing.  I had joined a couple of writers’ groups and tried a few open mic poetry readings which went down well, and when I heard about the King Lear Prizes I thought: what better way to get an informed, professional opinion of my work than to enter a competition?   

What inspired your work?

I get inspiration from various sources:  memories, spontaneous ideas while walking the dog, whatever I’m reading at the time, overheard remarks, radio programmes, and on and on.  Recently, I’ve been caught up with the notion of moments in a life: pivotal ones, sad ones, silly ones, romantic ones, exciting ones.  So I’ve taken to writing about them, sometimes turning them into poems or very short “mini-stories”.   “When I was fourteen” is very loosely based on a combination of two such moments: an unsuccessful romantic encounter in my early teens and a much more successful first date with my wife.

Frederick Paul Naftel

Tell us a bit about where you live?

I live in Whitefield, North Manchester, a busy town with plenty of shopping facilities, cafés, bistros and restaurants, as well as being the gateway to the Lancashire hills.

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

It enables artists of my age and generation to promote our work, where normally we would have little chance of being seen and heard, due to a certain level of ageism in the arts world. We can therefore show people that we continue to develop our interests in our "senior" years.

What inspired your work?

The music was inspired by my Jewish heritage and some of the psalms and songs I remember hearing throughout my youth. Some of the melodies are taken from Hebaric chants and melodies while other melodic lines echo the style and intonation of Jewish music. A friend of mine once suggested the music could be described as "Yiddish Bartok". The music would also be suitable for a TV or film soundtrack featuring Middle Eastern locations.

Cesca Diebschlag

Tell us a bit about where you live?

After growing up in smoggy urban Los Angeles, I have lived for the past fifty years in Sussex, on the edge of the Ashdown Forest.  It is still a thrill to walk through the woodland on my doorstep, and to welcome the wildflowers and wildlife who wander through my garden.

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

Most cultures honour their elders, who are the repository of wisdom gained through lived experience.   Our society suffers from the devaluing of age and ageing.  I wanted to participate in an endeavour that celebrates our collective wisdom.

What inspired your work?

My life practice is to take daily opportunities to be carried away by beauty, to be astounded and delighted by the unimaginably complex creativity of the natural world.  My camera allows me to look more closely than my naked eyes can ever see, and to share these miracles with others.

Gaye Jee

Tell us a bit about where you live?

I live in Rotherfield in rural East Sussex where I am co-chair of Crowborough Arts, a not-for-profit organisation that exists to promote the arts in the area. I also run a community folk choir with two musician friends from the village. 

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

I entered the King Lear Prize having heard of them through an artist friend who was shortlisted for one of her paintings in a previous year. I have also entered a poem via my poetry group, which is also part of Crowborough Arts.

What inspired your work?

The inspiration for my story came from my grandmother, who, when the family was still living in the East End of London, used to be called upon to lay out the dead. It was she who told me about how she would open the window the let the soul out and that she would see owls on the roofs of people who were about to die. Who knows if it was true or not! 

I’m very interested in stories of the supernatural; in writing them, the challenge is to find some degree of originality in a genre which is so overwhelmingly cliche-ridden. I hope my story has gone some way to achieving this. 

Sue du Feu

Tell us a bit about where you live?

I’m lucky to split my time between two beautiful, but entirely different locations - Jersey, surrounded by sea, and deep in the French countryside where I run a gite in the summer. Spending time with family is important so I can quite often be found in Essex or Liverpool. Wherever I am I write. 

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

I entered a couple of years ago but wasn’t placed so thought I’d try again.

What inspired your work?

I can’t remember what the original spark was, but I do remember wanting to tell the story of a woman’s life in an everyday object.

Robert Crowther

Tell us a bit about where you live?

I live in a small village in Cornwall just outside Launceston. My wife and I moved here 10 years ago from Norfolk - we kept coming to Cornwall on holiday, in all seasons, and subsequently decided we’d like to live here permanently. The river valley and woods nearby are perfect too for walking our border collie Max.

Why did you enter the King Lear Prizes?

I have had a long career as a freelancer in publishing, creating and illustrating my own pop-up books for children. My first book, The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Alphabet, started out as a college project at the Royal College of Art and was eventually published by Penguin Books in 1978. I decided earlier this year that I would like to try doing more painting for myself and then the King Lear Prizes caught my eye, so I thought I’d like to enter the competition. It is great to have a competition that gives mature people a chance to be creative!

What inspired your work?

My work was inspired by the re-opening of the Launceston Leisure Centre earlier this year. The whole community stepped in with offers of assistance and one of the employees, Mark Letheren, was looking to have some big artwork in the entrance lobby to make it look more attractive. I enjoyed being able to help our community in a creative way. I am inspired by the work of David Hockney and when I had completed the pool painting it seemed appropriate to call it ‘A Smaller Splash’. I also completed a large painting of ‘The Nearly Home Trees’, an iconic landmark just outside Cornwall on the A30, for the Centre too.