Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on
Tuesday 19 April 2016
Present: Mairead,
Beryl, Liliane, Dick and Dave
Apologies: Jim, Jeanette,
Caz, Richard, Hayley, Jane, Caroline, Tony and Cathy.
Business:
What a terribly
disappointing night with the lowest attendance since I joined the Scribblers
way back at the end of the 1990s. Just five of us attended which was especially
upsetting for Dick who has masterminded the historical and geographical
homework meetings for quite some time.
With changing membership, lack of time and perhaps interest in research, we may need to look at the structure of future meetings. There have always been opportunities to voice opinions about our programme content and if they need to be altered or changed then it can easily be arranged.
Obviously personal circumstances affect attendances and tonight I learned from Cathy that her husband Nigel has been admitted to hospital with pneumonia so I am certain that we all send them our very best wishes and hope he has a speedy recovery.
Our newest member Jim is
on holiday whilst Tony is acting once again with the Rushmere Players.
Sadly I have learned that
two of our members are now unable to attend regularly which is a shame and I am
certain their absences will be missed.
Caz is busy with her dog
walking and house sitting business and has been asked to be more involved with
her grandchildren’s childcare meaning that she won’t be ‘coming back to
Scribblers any time soon’. Behind the scenes Caz has always been a great help
with various things and her decision could not have come at a worse time with
the Felixstowe Book Festival looming up. We will eventually need to look at the
committee of which she has been a stalwart.
Jeanette has also been in contact to say she was sorry she’d miss this
week’s meeting. ‘Things are going a bit mad this end, since Exclusion Zone has
come out I’ve been asked to do a lot of promo related things which I really
need to do to keep my name ‘out there’. I’ve also arranged to Beta read for
Ruth, and she’s doing the same for me for our respective next novels, so that’s
another evening out! I hope you understand that my visits might become a bit
sparse, but I do ask that you don’t forget me! I’m really working towards going
part time at work and if this turns out to be possible I’ll have a lot more
time! Do ensure that all of the Scribblers know they are very welcome to the
launch next Tuesday! All my best, Jeanette.’
As a reminder, Jeanette’s book launch of
her novel, ‘Exclusion Zone’ is on Tuesday 26 April at Stillwater Books,
Hamilton Road, Felixstowe, from 6.30pm. It’s a ruddy good read!
Rushmere Players presentation of The Ladykillers
is now running until Sat 23 April at the Sir John Mills Theatre in Ipswich.
Details are shown on the weblog.
I recently spent an enjoyable morning
with one time secretary Barry Darnell who sends on his best wishes. Barry was
writing another novel before he resigned, and got to a complete stumbling
block. He has revisited the story and has basically ended up in the same
situation! I think many of us share that feeling of frustration!
We’ve had a note from Deborah (Wargate)
who also wishes to be remembered to the group whilst we hear from Ally that she
hopes to return to Scribblers soon. Fingers crossed!
Meanwhile, Ruth who is back in Felixstowe, has asked
me to remind everyone about the Felixstowe Book Festival Short Story
competition that has just a few weeks to go. The subject is ‘Gateways’ and
should be up to a maximum of 1,000 words. The winner will be published in
Suffolk Magazine. Cost of entry is £5 and details can be found on their website
at http://felixstowebookfestival.co.uk/story-comp.
It would be nice to see a strong Scribblers presence in the competition.
Meeting:
Just five historical
entries:
Mairead:
Ancient Greece: Socrates and the Acropolis.
Beryl: Tudor:
The Coat of Arms.
Dick: The Stuarts:
A Nocturnal Visitor.
Liliane: The
Victorians: Victoria and Albert.
Dave: World
War Two: Ipswich in War Time.
Later, Dave
also read an extract from his railway ‘history’ which has been written for the
Orwell Writers.
Not many of
us but still a good meeting with plenty of discussion.
Next meeting: Our
next meeting is on Tuesday 3rd May starting at 7.30pm. The homework
theme is FELIXSTOWE and is in preparation for the Book Festival as work may
possibly be read out and/or posted on our display boards.
