In the weeks leading up to December, the Harrogate Advertiser and the Friends of Harrogate Library (FOHL) ran a
Happy to be selected by FOHL
ghost story competition. The brief was to write a ghostly tale, preferably set in Yorkshire, with an 800 word limit.
Two members of the Savages writers’ group submitted entries, and both made it into the top ten – Greg Webster with ‘Undesirable Patron‘ and Peter Etherington with ‘Cold as Ice‘. The competition was judged by Harrogate authors Bernie Crosthwaite and Ruth Elwin Harris, FOHL’s Gill Callaghan and the Advertiser‘s chief reporter, Vicky Carr.
Both writers were invited to the Friends’ Christmas social on Thursday 8th December in Harrogate Library, where all ten shortlisted stories were read out to an audience. The variety of submissions was fantastic, ranging from a Roman soldier perpetually looking for his olive grove, to ghostly children returning to help loved ones. Some were funny, some were genuinely chilling, and all were read out superbly by the library staff.
Peter’s ‘Cold as Ice’ was printed in the 9th December edition of the Advertiser as one of the top three stories.
