Let’s do this together MY AMAZING ARTWORK

Apart from a last-minute hitch when pumpkins ran out in our local store and I was almost forced to resort to turnip-carving, the Halloweennight-in stage has been set in our house.

Luckily, I found the very last sorry-looking pumpkin in town before I had to apply myself to whittling a traditional jack-o’-lantern from a rock-hard root, and possibly losing a lot of blood in the process.

The spooky movie has been chosen for the evening’s entertainment – 80s classic

Poltergeist – and The Dark Lord’s friends will be coming round to devour their own body weight in boxes of Celebrations.

Sadly, the years of dressing up as a spooky green mermaid or witchy fairy lady are gone and the tweenagers are coming as Purgers with masks and bats. They didn’t even want me to make my dead lady fingers made from hotdogs and ketchup, or my cauldron of lime-green jelly with pickled onion as eyes.

“Er, no thanks, Mum,” said The Dark Lord. “We’re not kids any more – can we get a takeaway instead?” “Fine,” I huffed. “Because nothing says Halloween quite like aluminium baseball bats and sweet and sour pork balls!”

At 5pm I’m going to leave the glowing pumpkin on the front doorstep to ward off the evil spirits. And a huge box of sweets and “help yourself sign”. I expect they’ll all be gone by 5.05pm.

Please keep your stories, memories and photos coming to siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

This quintessential market town scene by Roy Osmond from Cwmbran, South Wales, is a delightful hark back to a time when the simple pleasures in life were a pint and a baked potato on a Saturday afternoon.

The 78-year-old says, “When I was at school, some 63 years ago, I used to enjoy art. All through my working life I wondered if I could wind back the clock and produce artwork of a reasonable standard.

“When I retired in 2004, my director asked if there was anything I would like as a parting gift, and I mentioned my interest in art and also golf. I was not only given a golf bag, but a full set of oil paints, an artist’s easel, brushes and canvas. The rest, as they say, is history.

“My inspiration comes from sights I have visited and my imagination.”

If you would like to see your artwork hung in our gallery, send a photo of yourself and your work, your age and address and tell us what inspires you to siobhan.mcnally@ mirror.co.uk

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