Image Credits:-
Most of the images were taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images were created in Book Brush using my images or ones from Pixabay. Many thanks to Paula Readman for taking the images of Rosemary Johnson and me with some of our respective works. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for the selfie of both of us.
On Saturday 6th December 2025, I had the great joy of being back at the wonderfully named Theodore Bullfrog in Charing Cross, London, for the annual Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event. This, along with The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick, is a major highlight of my writing year.
It was a lovely day for my trip out. I had a good train journey up. I overheard some conversation on the train journey up which may inspire a future story or two. No people watching opportunity, naturally done discreetly, knowingly missed by me! I managed to get into London early so managed to have some time having a good walk around the Victoria Embankment Gardens before heading to the Theodore Bullfrog. The weather held off for just long enough too.
It was nice to see some of the London decorations for Christmas but I was more impressed with the Christmas tree at Charing Cross than I was with the one at Waterloo. Each to their own, I guess. The pub venue is easy to find, literally not far from Charing Cross Tube Station, and is always decorated beautifully. The food they serve is wonderful too. I went for the pan roasted sea bass again this year. Delicious!
Catching Up In Person With Fellow Authors
One thing I always do at the Bridge House event is to have a good browse at the Book Table. I knew before heading out there would be a couple of books I would want to bring home, having got them signed for me. I see that as a pre-Christmas treat to myself and it means the shelves where I keep the work by writer friends has additions to it. I always smile as I pass these shelves as I remember where I met the writers.
For both of my special writing events, one of the most important things about them is I get to catch up in person with writing friends and I usually make some new ones too. Given writers spend so much time working alone at their desks, in most cases, getting together like this is something to be cherished.
Naturally the first part of the Bridge House event is to catch up with each others’ news before we enjoy a splendid lunch together and then catch up with the latest news from our publisher. We’re also given the theme for the next year’s anthology so we can make an early start on our first drafts for our story submissions for that, should we so wish.
I also get to meet up with friends from The Writers’ Summer School, Swanwick and the Association of Christian Writers here and I see that as a great bonus. It was lovely to catch up with fellow ACW member, Rosemary Johnson, whom I’ve interviewed for Chandler’s Ford Today. It was also lovely to catch up with June Webber, fellow Swanwicker. I often see both ladies on various Zoom events but you cannot beat meeting up in person.
It was also great to catch up with Lynn Clement, whose collection, The City of Stories, I edited, and with Debz Hobbs-Wyatt and Hannah Ruth Retallick whom I’ve also interviewed for Chandler’s Ford Today. It was also fantastic to see the wide range of books available at the Book Tables. Gill James, publisher and founder, confirmed Bridge House has now published over 200 books. That’s pretty good going for a small independent press.
Celebrations
The celebrations included celebrating the publication of The Best of CafeLit 14 earlier this year and, more recently, Magi, this year’s annual anthology with a set theme. My story, The Family Legend, is in the latter. I look at the story of the wise men going home and telling their amazing story with one of their children going back to find out if this Jewish preacher they’ve heard about doing all the miracles could be the Babe of Bethlehem.
To find out more about The Best of CafeLit 14 and/or Magi, do check out the links at the Bridgetown Cafe Bookshop, which is the online bookshop for Bridge House Publishing and its imprints. Links given below.
What is lovely here is anyone who has had a story published on CafeLit (even if they don’t make it into the printed books) is welcome at this event, as are those who will shortly be published by Bridge House or any of its imprints.
CafeLit
But returning to the wonderful CafeLit, if you check the site out, you will see a wide range of stories in terms of length and genre. CafeLit take flash fiction and stories up to about 3000 words. They publish a story every day at about 4 pm (the idea being you get to have a beverage of your choice while reading the latest story though naturally you have to supply your own beverages!). Why not try them out, if only for a good read on a regular basis?
They are also very welcoming to new writers. It is thanks to them I discovered flash fiction in the first place. They set a 100 words challenge for a story and my first thought here was you have to be kidding me. How can you write a proper story with a proper beginning, middle and end in that tight word count? My second thought was it must be do-able for them to issue the challenge. I am so glad I went with my second thought – two books later with another due next year confirms I went the right route here!
Events at the Event
The time speeds by at this annual event. Everyone appreciates the chance to network with fellow writers and to catch up with our news. That can take some time! We are also encouraged to move around and chat to other writers whom we weren’t sat with at lunch (and the lunch is splendid too). Then there is the latest news from Bridge House and last, but not least, is the chance to sit back and listen to some fantastic stories from a talented bunch of writers. I must admit I am hoping to be able to read from my third flash fiction collection, Seeing The Other Side, at the Bridge House event next year (and we do already have the date for that one).
Readers at The Event
As mentioned, the range of stories was fantastic. The list of readers were:-
1. Dianne Powell
2. Paula Readman
3. Sarah Hegarty
4. Clare Martin
5. Georgina Wright
6. Henry Lewi
7. June Webber
8. Lynn Clement
9. Madeleine McDonald
10. Debz Hobbs-Wyatt
11. Colin Wyatt (though Henry Lewi read his piece)
12. Paris Walker
Conclusion
Before we knew it, the time just vanished and we had to head home again, having had a wonderful day. Stories and books are truly celebrated at the Bridge House event. No wonder then so many of us make sure we get to this year on year!
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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