Art on the Prom 2011 ...

... takes place on Sunday September 4th from 10am to 4pm and is free to the public. Official Opening by the Mayor of Felixstowe, Cllr Doreen Savage, is at 11am at the Art on the Prom tent at the bottom of Bent Hill. Admission to Art on the prom is free.

ART
This year will see 86 stalls from the Pier towards the Spa Theatre and beyond. Over 100 artists will be displaying and selling a wide range of original art, including painting, photography, ceramics, glass, wood, sculpture, fibre, textiles, jewellery and graphics. Artists come from all over Suffolk as well as from Beds, Birmingham, Essex, Norfolk, Northampton, Wales and Yorkshire.
Look out for the art installations. "Beached Bodies" (featuring work by local artists and students from Orwell High School) and "You've Been Framed" (an installation by students from University College, Suffolk) are on the beach near the Spa Theatre. "Lost and Found in Felixstowe" is in the Gardens just beyond the Spa Theatre car park.
Art workshops, open and free to all, will be in the marquees in the Gardens. You can drop in at any time between 10 am and 3pm to try your hand at monoprinting, willow sculpting, sea theme stone painting, a decorative rocking boat or Crazy Clay Faces. All workshops are led by qualified and experienced artists and there are facilities to support those with disabilities.
Display of schools' work - Portray a Piece of the Sky
Don't miss this stunning display near the art workshops . Art on the Prom artists held workshops with children from Grange, Trimley St Mary and Trimley St Martin Primary Schools and Beacon Hill and Thomas Wolsey Schools.

ENTERTAINMENT will be provided by The Ipswich Hospital Band, Tutti Frutti Voices, the Portable Barrel Organ, Angie the Hula Hooper and Jay the Magician. Contemporary Bands, featuring Songs from thr Blue House, Hohum, Anita Maj, Adam Moss and Alex Body, will be playing in the gardens near The Hut from 1pm onwards.

REFRESHMENTS
Check out the News Page to see more about the Fairtrade Stall, David Barnard's Hog Roast, and Food From Around The World provided by The International Women's Club.

Next meeting

I hope you are all enjoying the three week break before next Tuesday's meeting.

Don't forget, 6th September with the subject being 'Motorcycling'. (Thanks for that Caz)

Here is a website forwarded from our good friend in Oz, Chris Shaw. It's worth a good look by all you busy writers.

<www.bookcreatorscircle.com.au>

Remember to go along to Ruth's book signings in Felixstowe later in September.

Barry

Christmas is coming!!!

They always say 'buy early for Christmas' so here is your opportunity to purchase all those cards you will need from East Anglia's Children's Hospices. Each purchase will go towards supporting this deserving charity.

Don't be caught out in December, buy your cards now!
To order on line go to www.each.org.uk

Don't miss this opportunity to support a local author

This coming Saturday, 3rd September, our local author Ruth Dugdall, seen here being presented with the Bill Budner Trophy, will be doing a book signing of her newest novel, "The Sacrifical Man" at Magpie Books, Hamilton Road, Felixstowe. She will be there from 11am until 1pm and everyone is welcome to pop in for a chat and a browse. Why not go along as Ruth will be signing copies of her novel for anyone who would like to buy one!

If you can't be there then Ruth will also be at W H Smith, Hamilton Road Felixstowe on Saturday 24th September from 11am until 1pm.

The New Writer magazine

Prose and Poetry Prizes 2011 Closing date 30 November
Now in its 15th year, one of the major annual international competitions for short stories, microfiction, single poems, poetry collections, essays and articles; offers cash prizes as well as publication for the prize-winning writers in The Collection, special edition of The New Writer magazine each July.

Back copies are available at the TNW website: http://www.thenewwriter.com/subscribe.htm

Further information including guidelines and entry fees at: http://www.thenewwriter.com/prizes.htm

Writers can enter online at our secure credit card server at: http://www.thenewwriter.com/entryform.htm

Or, the entry form can be downloaded from that page on the website and sent in the post with your entry. Also, we can supply this year's printed entry forms on request to writers' groups and organizations in the UK – just let us know, no SAE required.

The 2010 Prose & Poetry Prizes winners are announced on this webpage:
http://www.thenewwriter.com/prizewinners.htm

*SUBSCRIBE to The New Writer magazine6 issues of TNW over an 18 month period, plus, as part of the subscription package, and at no extra cost, we include current information for writers in a focussed monthly eNews bulletin. http://www.thenewwriter.com/subscribe.htm TNW 107 (Summer 2011)
The annual Collection contains last year’s winning competition entries; fiction from Jo Campbell, Nemone Thornes, Melanie Whipman, Hana Sklenkova + prizewinning poetry from Sharon Black, Louisa Tomlinson, Louise Wilford, Jennifer Olds, and winning non-fiction from Jackie Winter, David McVey, Julia Anderson - copies available for purchase online at http://www.thenewwriter.com/prizes.htm

You can also now follow The New Writer on Twitter and Facebook. TNW - over 100 issues since 1997 * over 1,000 contributors * full listing at:
http://www.thenewwriter.com/RollOfHonour.htm
Website: www.thenewwriter.com
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/6eh8q8p
Twitter: www.twitter.com/thenewwritermag

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulate the winners of the 2011 Unbound Press
Flash Fiction Award Results

We'd like to offer a special thanks to our wonderful guest judge: Laura Marney
1st Place
Vivien Jones
Sorting Office
2nd Place
Steven Levery
Inspiration
3rd Place
Chris Sharratt
Big Society
Shortlist:
Amy Ralston - Spring CleaningErika Byrnes - Getting MexicoPatrick Sung - Nighttime in Tobita-Shinchi
Honorable Mention:
Rachael Claye - FamilyRoss Stewart - Let Good Digestion Wait on AppetiteHeather Reid - Crow BabyDorothy Fryd - Fine ArtSeif El Rashidi - AbsenceSarah Wright - SquabCaroline Greene - Trompe l'oeilAlan Gillespie - Rab's Pub

The winning and shortlisted entries will appear in our annual print anthology due for publication November, 2011. Honorable Mentions will appear inSpilling Ink Review: Issue 6 (pending author agreement).

Thanks to all who participated in the Short Fiction Award.
Follow these links if you'd like to know more about future Unbound Press Awards and Spilling Ink Prizes (including our upcoming Best Novel Prize , closing September 1st and Fiction Prize, closing October 1st - our high 'purse' yet - £875 in prizes).

A CALL FOR STORIES

9/11: 10 Years Later + How Do You Remember?

PenTales is collecting 119 original perspectives on 9/11.

10 years later we want to know: How do you remember it? Do you remember? Where were you when it happened? Does the day matter, then or now? Does remembering do any good? What does the day say about America and Americans? How has it shaped the first decade of the new millennium? How has it shaped you?

We're accepting: -video (max. 1 minute) -photography (max. 2 images with short caption) -text (max. 500 words)

Send in your submission to writepentales@gmail.com with the following in the subject line: "9/11, your name and location".

We're accepting works until September 11, 2011 midnight.

We'll present works in numerical order as they come in. Each featured piece will be introduced by our editors and the most original submissions compiled into a larger collection.

PenTales was created in New York City by two childhood friends who've always loved to swap tales. We're now a community of thousands around the world who share our perspectives in person and online in photography, writing, and video on topics that unite us all.

©2011 PenTales New York NY

A tall story?

We hear on the grapevine that someone has a pet lobster in their aquarium...

We also hear that it escaped and nearly caught a certain author in her hallway...

The lobster is pictured in its tank...

Doubtless the experience will trigger a new novel which could be made into a series of films...

'Claws'

'Claws 1'

'Claws 2'

and finally 'On the Menu'

the East Anglia Motorcycle Run formerly the Treehouse Appeal Motorcycle Run

The East Anglia Motorcycle Run for 2011 will be taking place on Sunday 4th September 2011, starting and finishing at the Orwell Crossing Lorry Park, A14 Nacton.

One of the pillion riders on the run will be our own Caz...brave lady!

The Treehouse Appeal Motorcycle Run on 5th Sept 2010 was a huge success, so much so, that we were asked by so many people to organise another for 2011. Having given the matter some serious thought, it was decided that we would organise an annual event going forward. 2011’s run will have a slightly different route and we will aim to keep it within 70-90 miles from start to finish.

Given the success of the last run, we hope the next one will be even better, with more people participating helping us to raise money for two very deserving charities.

Check their website at http://www.eastangliamotorcyclerun.co.uk/ You will find links to the photos & feedback from the last run.

BBC Radio Suffolk Presenter - James Hazell was with us last time round. You can listen to his radio broadcast by clicking on the appropriate tab on the website.

A new season of writing and poetry courses in southern France

To enlarge simply click on the image.





Chateau Ventenac in southern France has announced a new season of writing courses, poetry courses, retreats and tailor made B&B holidays.

Please see the offer for 10% reduction on all courses if booked by the end of August 2011.

To get your 10% reduction just quote AUGOFFER when paying online.

We are also offering a 10% reduction on all writing retreats and tailor made mini breaks. How about getting away for some autumn sunshine. Or maybe book ahead for next spring when the temperatures in southern France are on average 10 degrees higher than than the UK. These breaks have been designed to give writers peace and quiet in an inspiring and supportive environment. It is the opportunity to get on with work in progress whilst we look after you.

Felixstowe Scribblers Meeting Report

Felixstowe Scribblers Meeting Report for 16th August 2010 held at The Room at the Top Felixstowe Library.

Apologies from; Debbie,Beryl, Trish, Sally and Robyn.

Members attending; Tony, Dick, Caz, Dave, Barry, Les, Martin, Sandy, Cathy, Carolyn, Ray and Liliane.

Four little words, just four little words and out of the hat we all had our pick.
Once again, it is incredible how such professional pieces appear from just thirty minutes spontaneous writing. Even the few doubters of this evening’s format had to comment on the quality and diversity of the work. Some written using the full thirty minutes and some completed before that.

TONY’s four words were; COUSIN, RICOCHET, TWISTED and ABSOLUTE.
WHO’S NEXT . . . A short story about a young girl, wanting to play a central character in a play but disliking her name.

DICK . . .COLLECTED, TEMPLE, PZAZZ and WIRE.
A DANGEROUS TASK FOR BILL . . . A rather scaly tale of snake catcher Bill.

CAZ; ESSENTIAL, DESPAIR, HELPLESS and CONTEST.
A teary tale of a young girl involved in an accident.

DAVE; BOSSY, CONCERTO, RELUCTANT and SNOWDRIFT.
OUT OF SEASON . . . A chilling rendition of a May time heavy snowfall in Felixstowe.

BARRY; TERRIFYING, BESOTTED, CRIMINAL and EXPRESSION.
MEASURED RESPONSE . . . A sobering PC’s view on a night at the Riots.

LES; BEWITCHED, BEWILDERED, VINTAGE and BROADCAST.
NOT TO BE TRUSTED . . . True to les’s humorous style we met Maisie, the cross eyed lady in the green coat.

MARTIN; RAGE, MANUSCRIPT, SCUPLT and FOREMOST.
WHAT I DID ON SATURDAY . . . An entertaining day shopping, with the wife.

SANDY; STILETTO, UNDERGROUND, SMOKESCREEN and CRAYON.
ART ATTACK! Took us on a tour of and underground art show.

CATHY; LAUGHTER,SHOULDER,CANDY and INVESTIGATION.
LADY BOSS . . . Candy was enticed to spy on her boss with unexpected results.

CAROLYN; INCAPACITY, UNSCRUPULOUS, BEFUDDLED and SCARECROW.
TOLD YOU SO . . . a tale of Joanna’s father suffering with a loss of memory and a burglary.

RAY; SHOE, LENGTH, FOOT and SHADOW.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST . . . The blacksmith making a lucky horseshoe for the bride to be.

LILIANE; MURDER, REDEMPTION, BUTTOCK and PERNICKITY.
SCHOOL DRAMA . . . We laughed at the bare faced cheek of the schoolboy glueing his teacher to a chair.

There is not space and my memory cannot recall every aspect of each story, but suffice to say if I noted every word throughout the meeting I would not have the pleasure of enjoying each one. Also my shorthand skills disappeared years ago.

A pleasant and amusing meeting, proving that talent is available on tap at these meetings.
Four little words is becoming a favourite with all members, I think.

Caz reminded us of the Jack Wilkinson Sponsored walk on Sunday the 25th September. All details should be available on this site, courtesy of our own Scribe, Dave.

The next meeting will be in three weeks time on the 6th September with a homework subject of MOTORBIKING.

Once more, a very good meeting.

Cheers everybody.

Barry.

FINAL REMINDER: AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION

There are now just two weeks left until the deadline for the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition and it would be really great if you could just send one final reminder round to the Scribblers and contacts to let them know that the deadline is impending!

It is a fantastic opportunity for writers to showcase their work to an international audience and we have a brilliant selection of prizes including a collection of books from leading publishers (Vintage Books and Bloodaxe) as well as publication in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual and £500 prize money!

More information can be found at www.aestheticamagazine.com/creativeworks and even just a quick tweet would be super, many thanks! You can find us at www.twitter.com/aestheticamag.

Many thanks for your time and I hope that your members and writers will be interested in taking part in the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition this year!

Please do get in touch if you would like any further information about the competition at all.

Bethany

Tonight was the night for...

... an evening of sheer enjoyment with everyone managing admirably honing their creative writing skills to produce inspiring stories from four completely unconnected words.

Felixstowe Scribblers you really are excellent at your work - real wordsmiths.

Thanks for another rivetting evening!

Your chance to win £1,000

We are delighted to announce the 2012 Harry Bowling Prize for New Writing, and thought that this would be of interest to the Felixstowe Scribblers.

We are inviting writers who have not yet had a novel published for adults to submit a synopsis and first chapter of a novel with an urban setting for the 2012 prize. The prize was originally launched in 2000 in memory of Harry Bowling, who was and remains a bestselling author of Cockney sagas. Harry’s novels were all published by Headline who sponsor the prize, and who have recently reissued all his novels.

The first prize is £1,000 and the runner-up prize is £100.

The judges will be impressed by writers who are genuine storytellers, and who entertain them with drama, romance and great characters, just as Harry Bowling did. Although all Harry’s novels were set in London, entrants are free to choose any urban setting for their novels.

The deadline for entries is 30 September 2011 and the winner will be announced in March 2012. The rules and entry form, more information about the prize, and comments from past winners (many of whom are now successfully published) are available online at http://www.harrybowlingprize.co.uk/

We look forward to reading your work!

Louise Davies, The Harry Bowling Prize for New Writers
http://www.harrybowlingprize.co.uk/

Tonight's the Night

No! Not TV's John Barrowman but our own creative writing exercise evening at Felixstowe.

When you arrive you'll be asked to put four words (related or otherwise - it matters not) into a hat and, at the opportune moment will draw out four words from the same hat then write a story around them...

It's good fun and helps the old brain box too!

If you would like to join in then please come along armed with paper and pencil or some other writing implement...

It all starts at 7.30pm in The Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library.

THE CONNECTED CONTEST

Calling all writers, techies, socialites, bloggers, and anyone who has a cellphone, laptop, twitter account or facebook profile: The European and PenTales are on a quest for the most creative works inspired by the word “CONNECTED”. We will be accepting a maximum of 5000 characters in either English or German on the topic until August 31, 2011.

The five winning submissions will be reviewed by both Liesl Schillinger of The New York Times Book Review and in tweet format by blogging mogul Debbie Weil. Winning submissions will also be featured alongside author interviews on The European and PenTales.

200 million Twitter users, 500 million on Facebook, Planes, Trains and Automobiles… Everyone keeps talking about how we’re more connected than ever. But what does being “connected” in 2011 even mean? Sure we’re more connected to our phones, but what about all the other stuff: being connected to each other emotionally, physically, culturally…

Michael Dorris said: “Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with each other, against all odds.” Are our tech gadgets really connecting us in meaningful ways? When we talk about being connected, are we really just talking about technology?

CONTEST GUIDELINES

Submissions should be sent to loewenstein@theeuropean.de. Please write “Connected Contest” in the title of your email. In the body of the email, please include your name, title of your submission and your location (city, country).

Winners will be chosen in September 2011, and notified by email. Decisions of the judges are final and binding.

The European is an online magazine with a strong focus on opinion journalism. Founded in 2009 and based in Berlin, the magazine is a novelty in the German media landscape: Innovative, independent, and with a strong commitment to answering the challenges of digital journalism. Our authors – among them José Manuel Barroso, Martti Ahtisaari, Christian Wulff, Tim Jackson, Paul Romer, and Dan Ariely – comment on big questions and background issues in less than 3500 characters. We embrace a culture of analysis and controversy and value the interplay of debate and reflection.

Created in New York City by two childhood friends who've always loved to swap tales, PenTales empowers people to share stories (in photography, illustration, writing, audio, and video) on the topics that unite us all. We aim to create nothing short of a Global Encyclopedia of Stories – a true catalogue of the human experience, one perspective at a time.

©2011 PenTales New York NY

Publishers...

The following may be of interest to some of you scribes out there:

www.austinmacauley.com
www.januspublishing.co.uk
www.ashstockwell.co.uk
www.olympiapublishers.com

View their wensites for information.

Creative Writing Week at Letton Hall

Come and join professional authors Nick and Claire Page on our taster programme in Creative Writing. This three night retreat is designed to give you the skills, space and inspiration to get creative! Letton Hall is an ideal place, set-apart from the busyness of life to explore your imaginative side and enjoy God's creation. Nick is also a Bible Historian and will be sharing with us some of his fascinating insights. Whether you are an absolute beginner or an experienced writer, we would love to welcome you for this brand new event for 2011 at Letton Hall.

Start: Mon 19 Sep 2011 Finish: Thu 22 Sep 2011
Location: Letton Hall, Shipdham, Thetford, Norfolk, IP25 7SA
Cost: £150
Phone: 01362 820717
Email: info@lettonhall.org
Contact: Jen Wells

Felixstowe Carnival TODAY

Hope you all get to see the procession at this year's carnival....
Have a great time!

Tuesday 16th August - The Room at the Top

Hi Scribes

Just a gentle reminder that you only need four little words on four separate pieces of paper for Tuesday's meeting.

Different words of course and a sheet or two of paper and a writing implement.

We shall see what wonders we produce on the evening.

Barry.

Spotted on a social networking site

THE RIOTERS PRAYER

Our father, who art in prison,
my mum knows not his name,
thy Riots come,
read it in the sun,
in Birmingham, as it is in London,
give us this day our Welfare bread
& forgive us our looting,
as we're happy to loot those who defend stuff against us,
lead us not into employment
but deliver us free housing,
for thine is the tellys, the Burberry & the Barcardi,
forever and ever...
Innit !!!!

The Sacrificial Man: A review

There has always been something exceptional about the words written by author Ruth Dugdall.

The first time I met her, was at our local Felixstowe Scribblers writers group several years ago as she planned her first novel, ’The James Version’ testing the waters with selected parts of her manuscript. The resultant novel was a very good and highly recommended read.

Ruth’s style changed with her second novel when she introduced character, Cate Austin in ‘The Woman Before Me’, which showed a growing maturity in her style of writing. The story is still fresh in the mind and has become a memorable addition to her first work.

I’d like to think that I was one of the first to purchase Ruth’s latest novel ‘The Sacrificial Man’. This brought out a darker side to her writing prowess dealing so admirably with the traumas of its highly controversial theme of assisted suicide.

It highlights the emotions so well that one must keep turning the pages and reading just another chapter, then another chapter before putting it down. Despite the contentious subject matter, it really is a compelling read providing much well researched information into its story line.

If that is not enough, surprisingly one name and a single word conjured up personal memories for me. The mention of Jason Mitchell – who murdered my work colleague and friend, Arthur Wilson and his wife Shirley in their Bramford bungalow, and speedway, the sport that holds my lifelong interest .

I would like to congratulate Ruth on her ability to create such gripping storylines and wish her well with her next novel whenever that comes along. If you haven’t read ‘The Sacrificial Man’, or either of her first two novels then it is time you did!

Dave Feakes.

RBA Short Story Competition

We thought you and your Writers' Group might be interested in our short story competition:

First Prize £500
Second Prize £150
Third Prize £50

Winners and shortlisted authors will be published in an anthology. The judge is author and creative writing teacher, Paul McDonald.

Short stories can be on any subject but must be no longer than 3500 words.

The entry fee is £7.50 (9€, 12.50$)
Closing date is 30th September 2011.

The entry form can be found online

For more information please visit our website http://www.ruberybookaward.com/
submissions@ruberybookaward.com

Prole, Poetry and Prose

Prole is a literary journal publishing fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry. Based in the UK, we have published writers from around the world and sell in many countries. We receive no funding but pay our writers royalties based on a share of profit. For our last three issues we have paid all our writers.

Prole, Poetry and Prose is open for submissions for issues 6 and 7. Details regarding the submissions process can be found on our website.

Here is a summary of our current competition:

The Prolitzer Prize:
A prose competition for fiction and creative nonfiction of less than 1500 words.
Entry fee £4
Prizes: 1st £130 and publication, two runners up £30 each and possible publication.
Closing date: October 1st 2011
Winners announced: December 3rd 2011
Full details here: http://www.prolebooks.co.uk/page8.html

Issue 5 has just been launched. A fantastic collection of fiction and poetry.

We have been very lucky to continue to receive excellent submissions. In part, that is due to writing groups sharing our information with their members. For this, we are very grateful.

Best wishes,
Brett and Phil
Editors, Prole
Website: www.prolebooks.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prole/236155444300?v=wall
News blog at: http://prolebooks.blogspot.com/
Reader/writer blog: http://readwriteblog.prolebooks.co.uk/

ONE MONTH LEFT: AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION

There is just one month left for Felixstowe Scribblers writers to submit to the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition. It's a really great opportunity for established and aspiring writers to showcase their work to a wider, international audience!

We've also secured additional prizes from Vintage Books and Bloodaxe and the Poetry and Short Fiction winners will each receive a selection of recent publications from these leading publishers, in addition to publication of their own work in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual and £500 prize money.

It would be brilliant if you could pass the details of the Creative Works Competition on to your writers and mailing lists - even just a quick tweet would be fantastic!

Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
One winner from each of the competition's three categories (Artwork, Poetry and Short Fiction) will receive £500 prize money.
Entry to the Creative Works Competition is £10 and this allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2 short stories.
The deadline for submissions is the 31st August 2011.
More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm

Many thanks for your time and I hope that your members and writers will be interested in taking part in the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition this year!

Please do get in touch if you would like any further information about the competition at all.

Bryony Byrne
Marketing Officer
Aesthetica Magazine
PO Box 371York
YO23 1WL
bryony@aestheticamagazine.com
http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/

Connect with Aesthetica on Facebook MySpace Twitter

Keep up to date with arts and culture news on the Aesthetica blog at aestheticamagazine.blogspot.com

Paragraph Planet

July was a busy month on Paragraph Planet so lots to tell you about in this newsletter.

July Archive

Firstly, all the July paragraphs are online - http://www.paragraphplanet.com/jul11archive.htm - Featuring Robin Hood lookalikes, supermarket nudity, misplaced wishes and the end of the News of the World...and many more

Flash-Lit Fiction

Paragraph Planet is proud to be invited as a guest judge for 'Flash-Lit Fiction' - "An evening of short shorts, flash writing and digital technologies" - a joint production between Grit lit and Story Studio in Brighton on 11th September 2011 as part of the Brighton Digital Festival. More details here: http://flashlitfiction.eventbrite.com/

Author Interviews

A recent new feature on the website is the inclusion of 'Author Interviews.' These are accessible via the Authors page - http://www.paragraphplanet.com/authors.htm - The first 3 interviewees have been Judy Astley (whose book "The Look of Love" came out in July), Kate Morris ("Seven days one summer") and Julie Corbin ("Where the truth lies").

Writing Group Map

A writing group map has recently been added to the site. http://www.paragraphplanet.com/writing-groups.htm More groups will be added shortly, so take a look, and if you're a member of a group which would like to be added, there's a link on the same page.

Richard Hearn
Paragraph Planet
http://www.paragraphplanet.com
http://www.paragraphplanet.com/ihome2.htm - iphone version
You can also follow the site on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/paragraphplanet

Meeting report for 2nd August

First of all apologies came from Beryl (on her hols) Carolyn same again with Clive in Gay Paree and Ruth; though apologising for being so successful doesn’t seem correct.

We had a large number of members attending (which we do not complain about).

These are the brave ones that withstood the heat of the day and the rather steamy atmosphere of the meeting. With subject matter being ‘The train journey’ you can imagine the flights of fancy, golden memories and interesting history lessons we were treated to, even though the train whistles and diesel fumes were sometimes overpowering the variety of contributions had something for everyone.

We were even surprised with one thousand words from Jack in the form of a short play, set on his train. This made a change from his frantic finishing of homework on the night!

Okay then, the members present were as follows, with their own particular slant on;

THE TRAIN JOURNEY.

Les began with his story, full of humour that us old ones remember from past train journeys when we were slightly younger.
TRAIN JOURNEY

Ray rather cheekily incorporated the actual words ‘the train journey from . . .’ in one sentence then gave us another very interesting story.
THE GUARD BLEW HIS WHISTLE

Liliane had us amazed at the amount of research she had done, in the past, and recently, on the history of the railways.
RAIL TRAVEL AS IT USED TO BE

Dick thought his two days on the Canadian Rocky Mountaineer was the holiday to beat all. From his description we all thought he was not far wrong.
A DAY ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAINEER

Caz had us reaching for hankies again with a story of a chance meeting (twice, indeed) with a young lad, obviously off to hospital and more treatment, with his mother and Caz’s involvement with yet another charity.
THE TRAIN JOURNEY

Robyn gave us her slant on Russian royalty and the Orient express.
WINTER HALT

Dave A spooky tale of dark deeds, rail crashes and premonitions.
FINAL DESTINATION

Barry My story was an economy version on an intercontinental train from Utah to California. THE DESERT WIND

Tony had us laughing again with his humourous story called
A DAY IN THE LIFE

Martin’s early memories of flowers, tidy stations and people clamouring for the train during school holidays.
DERBY ROAD STATION

Sandy took us on a journey to Kendal for two weeks recreation.
UNSETTLED IN SETTLE

Cathy had a sad tale of a young boy struggling to remember his father in a good light.
A GOOD MAN

Jane brought the tear ducts into operation again with the story of a young soldier and his mothers, and his comrades memories of him before his death in Afghanistan.
THE LOVE TRAIN

Finally I must congratulate Jack, Jane’s son, on his efforts to bring us a short play of suspects on a train, read by five other meeting members. Good job Jack.
THE TRAIN

All in all a really engrossing and interesting meeting. Thanks to all members braving the rarified air of The Room at The Top for two and a half hours.

Trish attended but did not bring any writing as her life has been even more full of trials and tribulations, but it was great to see her.

Sally was anther non writing member as she has just started a new job with an Electrical company and needed every spare minute to prepare. Good luck, Sally, on the new job, we only need four words next meeting. Socket, wire, plug and switch, perhaps?

For the next meeting on the 16th August there will be NO SET HOMEWORK just bring along four words on individual pieces of paper and we have our twenty or thirty minute writing exercise where we pick four different word from Dicks hat, if he remembers it.

Sorry for the extended minutes.

I get carried away sometimes.

Barry.

Great meeting...

Our little group of sixteen members this evening, provided some memorable work on the homework theme 'Train Journey'. Work covered the history of the railway, American railways, local journeys past and present and even a mini-play presented by Jack which involved a number of members reading various characters.

Great night of writing...

LAST CHANCE SALOON

Unbound Press
Flash FictionAward
www.unboundpress.com
Last Day to Enter

Today, August 1, 2011

Just a reminder: today is the last day to enter the Unbound Press Flash Fiction Award or www.unboundpress.com/competitions

Guest Judge: Laura Marney
500 word max / £5 entry fee
Postal entries must be post marked today - Aug 1, 2011
1st Prize - £250, Print Publication, Free Anthology
2nd Prize - £125, Print Publication, Free Anthology
3rd Prize - £50, Print Publication, Free Anthology
Short listed - Print Publication, Free Anthology