ACW's Autumn Gathering 2025

Every year, we love to gather to invest in ourselves, in our own writing and to seek God for his wisdom, guidance, inspiration and creativity for the next step. We do this together because writing can be a lonely business and we need one another's support and encouragement to keep going through the winter months.

Our Autumn Gathering will be a time to glean from our speakers and each other, to store up words like wheat at harvest, ready to sow them generously when the time comes.

Theme: The Space Between

Have you ever experienced the euphoria of completing a first draft? It's so exhilarating!

Do you envision the dazzling lights of book launches, red carpets and five star reviews? Can you almost smell the newly printed ink as your first draft magically materialises into a finished product?

Or do you see a vast and empty sea of the unknown between the first draft and the final product? Do you get crippled with writer's block? Or perhaps you know exactly how much hard work there is in this 'space between' so you procrastinate and procrastinate...?

This autumn we want to encourage, equip and inspire you to navigate this space with resilience, hope and community.

We will hear from our experienced Chair, Jane Walters, and the former Chair of ACW, Angela Hobday, who will share their insights and give us the tools we need to get from first draft to an excellent end - not a sloppy, half-finished, unvarnished end, nor one that is 'stuffed-in-a-drawer-and-forgotten-all-about'.

Together, we will get there!

Friday Night (optional), Dessert evening with Adrian Plass

7:00pm-10:00pm

At: The Easter Centre, St John's Church, Egham

Special Guests: Adrian and Bridget Plass

Food: A dessert buffet and soft drinks are included.

Activities: Readings from Adrian and Bridget Plass, a literary-themed team quiz and book prizes from our members. Plus time to mix, mingle and network.

(NB: Accommodation is not included. We recommend booking a room at the nearby Travelodge, only 3 minutes walk away. We can all walk there together at the end of the evening.)

Saturday's Gathering

Doors open at 9am

10am-4pm

At The Easter Centre, St John's Church, Manor Farm Lane, Egham, TW20 9HR

With over 40 years' writing experience and 11 years' supporting Christian writers between them, our speakers, Jane Walters and Angela Hobday, will each address the theme of perseverance for the Christian writer. Angela is skilled in teaching on 'writer's block' which formed part of her studies for an MA in Creative Writing. Jane is skilled at encouraging emerging writers, having led retreats and writing groups for several years.

Lunch is included in the ticket price. You may bring your own reusable cup to save on disposable cups.

Our long-lunch will include a bookshop. If you have a printed book(s) for sale, you may bring it/them with you to sell on the bookshop for no extra fee. Instructions for this will be sent shortly before the event.

After lunch, members will gather for the 45-minute AGM.

Afternoon 1-1s with Jane Walters, Angela Hobday or Ben Hughes from Ingram Spark (tbc).

Nearer to the time, you'll be emailed to book a 10 minute 1-1 with one of our three special guests for prayer, advice or information.

The afternoon will finish with the chance for the ACW-affiliated groups to gather and share their feedback from the morning. If you're not in a group, you can find a nearby or genre group to join for the day. There will also be opportunity to pray together in our groups, as you feel comfortable.

Please see the agenda and FAQs for more details.

Here are some memories from the incredible time we had last October:

Accommodation

We recommend booking a room at the nearby Egham Travelodge

As you can see, it's 3 minute walk (0.2 miles) between the two.

**NB This ticket does not include accommodation. This must be booked separately.**

Parking at Travelodge Egham

If you are staying overnight, parking is available at the Britannia underground car park at Waitrose. Car park address: Britannia Egham, Church Street, Egham, TW20 9HZ. Height restriction of 2.2m.

Travelodge customers are entitled to a discounted rate of £7.50 between 6pm and 8am. It is £13.90 for 24 hours. Please note that parking is free for Blue Badge holders but customers must follow the instructions located next to the pay machine to qualify for free parking.

There are 8 accessible spaces available outside the hotel entrance and a drop-off area at the entrance to the hotel. There is also a further drop-off area underneath the hotel in the downstairs entrance.

The car park entrance is locked between 11pm and 6am every night; customers can use the intercom located by each door to ask Reception to open the doors for them, or their key cards can be used to unlock the doors.

Parking at St John's Church

You may use the St John's car park to drop off your books in the morning and pick up any books or luggage at the end of the event. The Church Street Car Park is then available for the rest of the day (or any other city-centre car park).

See here for prices: https://www.parkme.com/en-gb/lot/377879/church-road-london-uk

Angela has an MA in creative writing for which she studied while practising as a clinical psychologist. Five of her Christian novels have been published under her pen-name Annie Try, including Trying to Fly (Instant Apostle) and for young adults The Dangerous Dance of Emma JJ (Kevin Mayhew). She was chair of ACW from 2015-2020 and still enjoys encouraging other writers, speaking at events and running workshops. Living in rural West Norfolk she writes from a converted potting shed attached to her house and loves spending time laughing with her husband, adult children and their delightful families.