Brightlingsea Lido and its recently-appointed writer in residence are on the lookout for writers to help the pool celebrate its 90th birthday next year.

For the birthday project, the call has gone out for 52 pieces of flash fiction or poetry celebrating the Lido, the Lido Café, or simply the joy of swimming outdoors. Each piece must be exactly 90 words or 90 characters long – excluding the title – and the chosen pieces will be featured on the Lido’s website and social media throughout 2022.

And in its first community writing project, the Lido is looking to produce an anthology of contributions – short stories or poems – from individuals or groups set at the pool or the café, or real-life stories about experiences there.  Budding writers can find out more and get hints and tips from Ruth Loten, the Lido’s writer in residence, in the Lido Café on term-time Fridays between  9:30am and 2pm. If you have a story, but don’t think you can write it, you can tell it to Ruth and she’ll write it up for you.

Ruth is also available to visit community group to discuss the Lido projects. She can be contacted at [email protected] – and this also the address to which  contributions can be sent.