Story Starter: Close The Gate


This gate has stood the tests of time, hasn’t it? It guards the driveway of a modernised cottage on a country lane near where I live, but I wonder who lived there before? Who was the farmer? Who passed through this gate? Did anyone ever fail to close it and incur both wrath and forty-shilling fine? What prompted its installation? And what about the blacksmith who wrought it? I think there are so many stories in this one image….I hope you do, too! The usual: 2000 or 3000 words, please.

Shirley Blair

Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.