WHEN Sandra Booth's children went off to school out came the pen and paper. The budding writer could not contain her passion for the written word and, two decades later, she is winning awards for her art - in particular her play about Worcester.

"I've brought my children up and this is what I've always wanted to do," she said. When her sons Christopher, aged 29, and Ian, 26, left home, Sandra went to the University of Birmingham to study creative writing.

The 56-year-old, from Stourbridge, said: "I didn't do a great deal when the children were young. As soon as they were at school I started writing more.

"It was something I had always wanted to do but never really got any further with. With my first grandchild on the way, I feel now it is time I do my own thing."

Sandra soon completed a masters in philosophy in playwriting and the hard work must have paid off because she has just been named a winner of the Swan Playwright's Worcestershire Wise competition.

Her short drama Worcester Past Ties follows three women who cannot escape their past. The play sees them visit Worcester Cathedral as well as take a walk on the Malvern Hills.

It will be performed at the Worcester Arts Workshop, in Sansome Street, on Saturday, October 21.

Sandra said: "It has been quite scary. When you're studying you're always busy, then when it's over it's just you writing your plays and trying to get them out there.

"The Swan Playwrights was a great start."