Les' Writing

 Les was famous for reports and recounts of experiences, especially his travels but in his later years, he was part of a writing project conducted by the University of Western Sydney which was designed to see if a concentrated writing course would change the ability of participants to recall memories. It was a course Les loved and his writing grew as a result. When the course finished, he and others decided to create a writer's group at Carrington Village, which he took part in until close to his death. As a result, he learned to experiment with his writing and even tried his hand at poetry.

Twice in four years during these latter years, he won awards at the annual Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association writing competitions, including being named Grand Champion. He was also one of a hundred writers chosen to be included in the NSW Seniors Card annual anthology of 2017. Above and beyond these proud moments, he was thrilled to finally finish and publish, in limited release, a research project which took ten years to complete, into the Brown Family and descendents, who included June and opus, his autobiography, "Lango 1 - His Life and Times"..

Here are some links to his writing. Trip and Holiday journals can be found on the TRIPS link.

This Is Why I Like To Write (2016) - its a delicious irony that Les, the master of the dot point document, who joined a writing group to explore creative writing, should reply to the task of explaining why you like to write with ... a dot point list! You will also notice that he adopted the nom de plum "Skipper" when writing in the Carrington group, for a reason that was never clear. Skipper was the name of the family dog at Miranda.

The Great Depression (1996) - written for son Peter's children in the 1990's so that they would have an understaning of how different life was for him and June when they were in their formative years. It is particularly poignant in his personal anecdotal recollections.

I Have, For Want Of Better Knowledge (2017)- a piece selected for inclusion in "Senior's Stories - Volume 3", published in 2017 by the NSW Government under the banner of Seniors Card, to celebrate writers above the age of 60. This piece was one of only 100 chosen for inclusion. Les was 92 when this piece was published.

The Child (2015)- this piece was part of an anthology that rose out of the Un iversity of Western Sydney aging project. It was written in response to the birth of his great grandson Theodore and the opportunity to see photos and a short video of the baby within hours of his birth. Its both touch and poignant given the contemplative conclusion to the piece.

Poems (2016) - three untitled poems from the UWS Anthology.