Clare P Best
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cbestphd.bsky.social
Clare P Best
@cbestphd.bsky.social
Writer, postgrad researcher at the Open University – looking into family archives, inherited stories, fragmented forms.

clarebest.co.uk

Also @clarebest.bsky.social

#memoir #lifewriting #OUPGR #materialculture #griefstudies #fragmentedforms #hauntings
Pinned
this is my mother’s cloth tape measure, and the embroidered felt case (complete with tiny button and button loop!) that she made as a schoolgirl in the mid-1930s… a wonderful small reminder of an age of handmade detail in everyday objects – bringing so much pleasure still 😌
My mother's diary entries for 7th, 8th and 9th of May 1945. She was 20 years old and living in London.

May 7: Stand by for news all day. Very excited.

May 8: VE day. Terrific day – All go mad all night. See all sights.

May 9: VE+1. Dead tired but keep up pace – even better day.
May 8, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Clare P Best
Strandlines and storytelling…
@louisekenward.bsky.social with lessons from psychotherapy, chronic illness, and beachcombing.
Moving Mountains: Writing Nature Through Illness and Disability' is published in paperback today.
www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...
March 6, 2025 at 9:07 AM
a few early Polyfotos of my mother and my grandmother, probably dating from 1931/2 - wonderful spontaneity
March 2, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I'm still not sure if this length of hair was my grandmother's or my mother's (my grandmother's hair was grey by the time I was born) but it's as shiny as the last time it was washed and set in waves.

#humanhair #familyarchive #keratin
February 22, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Clare P Best
This extraordinary cameo glass amphora is from the Tomb of the Blue Vase in Pompeii. It depicts Cupids harvesting grapes while another decadently reclines on a couch and listens to a lyre playing. It is incredibly beautiful.

🕰️C1st AD.
🏛️📷 National Archaeological Museum, Naples
🏺 #AncientBlueSky
February 22, 2025 at 9:13 AM
this is my mother’s cloth tape measure, and the embroidered felt case (complete with tiny button and button loop!) that she made as a schoolgirl in the mid-1930s… a wonderful small reminder of an age of handmade detail in everyday objects – bringing so much pleasure still 😌
February 13, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Clare P Best
Interested in gaining research experience at the Library?

Our PhD placement scheme for 2025 is now open, offering doctoral researchers the chance to develop skills and expertise outside the university sector.

View the full list of projects and apply by 21 February: bit.ly/BLPhD2025
February 11, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Clare P Best
OPPORTUNITY - COURSE! Reposts welcome!

Study for a Creative Writing MA at the
@OpenUniversity for free, if you earn under £25k & from a Black/Mixed Black heritage:

Creative Writing Scholarship | Fees and Funding | Open University
The Open University
If you identify as being from a Black background, you could study our MA in Creative Writing for free.
www.open.ac.uk
July 10, 2023 at 6:05 PM
I found this silver and pearl clip in a little red leather case, in my mother's sewing box – I think she met Joe when my grandmother sent her away from London in 1939-40 (she was 15 when WW2 broke out).
February 13, 2025 at 2:43 PM