Mary Elizabeth Wyllie enrolled on one of the Centre for Lifelong Learning creative writing classes back in 2009. She's now 88 years old and has just recently had a book published, “The Travels of Mary Elizabeth”. What an exceptional achievement!
Here is a little bit about Mary (in her own words)…
“My friend was in the art class I went to, and she persuaded me to come to the Centre for Lifelong Learning.
At 75 years old it was a challenge and because of my interest in photography the 1st class I chose was photoshop. I enjoyed it so much that I enrolled for many classes over 10 years. This included Picasa, family history, the internet and more, moviemaker, creative writing and many more.
I thought the range of classes were fantastic and aIways wanted to keep learning. I would say to anyone don't be scared at coming to the university because there's always a helping tutor there. I think studying on zoom would be good as I use it for our church group.
Now about my book. That was another challenge, I had travelled widely over many decades and decided to create a travelogue. I sent one story to my son, and he liked it so sent the rest. It was published and the title is “THE TRAVELS OF MARY ELIZABETH” available on Amazon as a book or kindle.”
The Travels of Mary Elizabeth eBook : Wyllie, Betty: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Mary fondly recalls her time in David Pettigrew’s Creative Writing class at the CLL. Saying that David was such an inspiration, and she really enjoyed his class.
David was delighted to hear of “Bettys” achievements and shared some kind words…
“I'm delighted Betty has kept at her writing and the course has continued to inspire her long after she completed it. My courses are always intended to be useful to writers long into the future, and not just while they are attending, and Betty's achievement in completing and publishing her book is exactly what I always hope for. Congratulations Betty!”
If you’ve been inspired by Mary Elizabeth’s story, and would like to learn something new, it’s not too late to sign up for a class in our January 2022 programme. We have a wide range of classes both on campus and live and online via Zoom. Visit MyCLL for more information.
