Our next meeting

Hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday...!

This is really to remind you that there is no meeting this week - our next gathering is on Tuesday 5th September when the homework theme is 'Tales of Places' - this could be anywhere, locally, nationally or internationally although I guess there are no real boundaries. It can also be either a story or factual. The choice is yours. So good luck everyone.

Next as another reminder, we have Caroline Foster with an author talk on 19th September so I hope we will give her a lot of support. I know her knowledge is excellent as will be able to help and guide us through short story writing and publication too.

So our next meeting is on 5th September for the Tales of Places theme.

See you there!

Three recent publications:

 As many of you will know, there are now two writing groups in Felixstowe.They are of course, our own Felixstowe Scribblers and the Orwell Writers' League.

Both groups released their anthologies in time for the recent Felixstowe Book Festival. Each contains a selection of short stories and some verse by current, and in the case of the Scribblers, many past members of the group.  Locally these are available from Stillwater Books or direct from the writing groups themselves. Each costs a very reasonable £5 for hours of enjoyment.

There was also the recent release of Reflections, a book of short stories from former Scribbler and good friend Ray Foster. This is available on Amazon and is a really good read.

If you enjoy short stories but haven't got your copies of any of these collections, then I suggest you do so... you won't regret it!

Alteration to programme - Caroline Foster author talk.

Our meeting on Tuesday 15th September, originally listed as a Flash Fiction evening, has now been replaced with an author talk by a former member of Scribblers, Caroline Foster.

Caroline comes along to inspire and help us with our literary ambitions. Her talk will begin at 7.30.

Meeting report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 15 August 2017

Present:  Liliane, Beryl, Dave, Ross, Jim, Mairead, Bridget, Anne, Cathy

Apologies:  Dick, Di, Rani, Steve, Tony

Business: 

Rani let us know that despite being unable to attend tonight’s Jack Wilkinson Memorial trophy session, she was thinking of Jack and Caz.

Dave gave the sad news that Dick may not be joining us for many meetings in the future, if any, as he has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. We all signed the ‘good wishes’ card that Dave had purchased. For those of us who’ve known Dick for a long time it was especially painful to hear of his situation. He’s been a stalwart of Scribblers, and his imagination, good humour and exceptional talent for reading aloud have provided us with much joy over the years. I’m sure he’ll miss us as much as we’ll miss him; let’s hope he’ll occasionally feel well enough to join us.

Ruth Dugdall will remain as our Honorary President, despite having recently moved to the USA for two years, where her husband has taken up a work placement. All the group wish her well – no doubt she’ll use her time there to work on ideas for a future novel!

A new doorbell is finally on order for the back door at the library – good news for those of us who’ve recently had to bang and shout to get let in!

Thanks as usual to Mairead for providing delicious treats for us again.

Readings:

A good turn out for the competition in Jack’s memory – eight entries.

Beryl and Cathy (in Dick’s absence) did the readings, and the stories were immensely varied – some entertaining, others thought provoking, all interesting. Judging was difficult – and seems to get more so every time this competition is held. However, the results were as follows:

First place to Anne, with School Sports Day

Second place to Bridget, with Brothers

Third place to Jim with Old Greedy Guts

Other stories were:-

Mairead – The Rescue

Cathy – Mind the cracks

Dave – What could I do?

Liliane – The blue house

Ross – Legacy

The obligatory photograph was taken with Jim, our previous winner, presenting the trophy to Anne.

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable night.

Next meeting: This will be on 5 September (THREE weeks away). The homework theme is ‘Tales of places’ – will we write about a Greek Island, next door’s garden, or maybe the Alps? The choice is ours!

New winner

This evening's competition for The Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy was a really close run thing. Every story gained votes, but the one that came out top was School Sports Day written by Anne Thompson who specializes in children's stories. Congratulations Anne, it was a well deserved victory!

Anne receiving the trophy from previous winner Jim

Sadly our friend Dick was unable to attend having just had a worrying diagnosis. Hopefully he will be along in the not too distant future but he will be assured that we are all thinking of him.

Our next meeting is in three weeks time  on 5th September when we hold our 1,000 word  'Tales of Places' homework assignment.

Looking forward to that already!

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling.

In Memory of Jack.

How time flies by. Already we are approaching Jack's memorial meeting. Our thoughts are with Caz and Karl at this time. 

For those who don't know about Jack, then you find some information on our weblog, and also the rules of the in house competition for those of us who attend. The competition is for stories of a maximum of 1,000 words for or about children. The meeting takes place on Tuesday 15th August here in The Room at the Top. It's a 7.30 start time so hopefully we'll all be there in good time.

 It was eleven years ago yesterday that Jack passed away so I am certain we will all have a special reason to honour his memory. 

Some of you may know that our Hon. President, Ruth has departed across the pond to the San Francisco area so we wish her well on her stay there. We all wish her and her family every best wish for her coming adventures Stateside and doubtless a Californian based thriller will follow! Good luck Ruth.

Until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Report of meeting

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 1 August 2017

Present:  Liliane, Thalia, Beryl, Dave, Tony, Kay, Bridget, Tom, Anne, Cathy

Apologies:  Jim, Ross, Dick, Mairead, Steve

Business: 

There was no business to discuss, so after a slightly late start we moved straight on to the reading of homework. Commendably, six of the group had actually braved the topic ‘virtual reality’ – though they all agreed that it hadn’t been the easiest writing experience!

Notes from Dave after the meeting:

I am glad to say I have managed to access our weblog after nearly a month of frustration. Hopefully it will behave itself now and I don’t have to tear any more hair out as I haven’t got a lot left!

I will be emailing the library about the disappearance of the bell from the rear door which has caused some concern about getting into the building for our meetings. Hopefully there can be a quick fix.

It was good to see Tom at the meeting for a short while. We send him good wishes and hope he makes it back on a more regular basis soon.

We also welcomed Liliane’s granddaughter Thalia for the first time. As the evening developed, it became clear that she has the same talent for vivid description as the other writers in her family!

Author Caroline Foster and one time member of the Scribblers has offered to come along and give a talk and possibly combine this with an author’s question time when she would be happy to answer our questions on all aspects of writing and being published. This is something I hope we can arrange in the not too distant future.

Readings of homework:

Beryl – The dome society

Liliane – Is this real?

Bridget – Girls

Thalia – Untitled

Kay – A brush with virtual reality

Dave – Befuddled musings of a nightmare

Tony – The Watari affair

The variety in the stories above was tremendous – so much thought had gone into interpreting the theme. Beryl deserves special mention for her tale ‘The dome society’ – it had us enthralled from the very first word, and we all felt that it would be a worthy competition entry – let’s hope she agrees with us!

Since there was plenty of time remaining after the readings, we indulged in a spot of flash fiction, using the theme ‘telephone kiosk’. What a trip down memory lane that inspired! It was clear that all of the group (except Thalia, who had to endure our ‘do you remember?’ moments!), had affectionate memories of red phone boxes for many reasons – and those memories made for some really good stories.

Next meeting: This will be on 15 August, when it is the Jack Wilkinson Memorial trophy night. Same competition rules as always – a piece of work up to 1000 words long – printed with nothing on it to identify the writer – placed face down on the table, ready for two group members to read out for the rest of the group to judge. Jim won this trophy last time – let’s see who can have it for the next few months! The story is to be either about or for children. Advance apologies for this meeting were given by Kay and Tony.

Last night...

A fairly good turnout for what appeared to be a difficult homework theme...'Virtual Reality'. As always, those who managed to overcome the despair of such a subject, came up trumps with some brilliant words. 

With time on our hands we held an impromptu flash fiction session - another success for an evening of great entertainment.

It was also nice to see a third member of the Sivaraj family with us - this time Lilian'es granddaughter who showed an amazing talent in descriptions of her stories.  

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 15th August 2017 when we hold the Jack Wilkinson Memorial Trophy. As you know this is on competition lines, the full details are published at the top of this weblog. Basically you can write up to 1,000 words on any story that is for, or about, children. Please ensure your work is typed and without any indication of your name. Your story will be read by an independent reader.  Other work that is not entered in the competition can be read after the interval - time permitting of course.

So, get scribbling!

Back on line at last!

After what seems like an age, I have finally overcome the problems relating to accessing our weblog. Shall we just call it a symptom of our times when the Internet has a damning hold on some things and just a simple click of the keyboard creates havoc. Fingers crossed that this won't happen again but in the grips of our wondrous technology who knows? Will have to employ a school student to keep us safe...

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 18 July 2017

Present:  Liliane, Rani, Beryl, Mairead, Dick, Dave, Ross, Steve, Gerry, Tony, Cathy
Apologies:  Jim, Di, Kay, Bridget (by email after meeting)

Business: 
All welcomed Rani on one of her rare visits!

Dave reported that the group’s weblog is currently down – hoping to resolve a.s.a.p

Anthology selling well

Ex Scribbler Caroline Foster has a book launch – Dave will be sending details out

Ex Scribblers Angela Petch and Ray Foster are each having books published by Endeavour Press

Thanks to Mairead for providing treats.

Readings of homework:
Not everyone had worked to their genre, but almost everyone had work to read out, and some excellent tales were heard and enjoyed.

Rani. Genre ‘adventure’. Title ‘Adventure and Horses’

Dick. Genre ‘war’. Title ‘Not much fun’

Ross. His short story ‘Arrival’

Dave. Genre ‘transport’. Title ‘Greta’s journey’

Steve. Genre ‘murder mystery’. Title ‘Mystery on the river Dart’

Tony. Genre ‘romance’. Title ‘Torrents of Desire’

Liliane. Genre ‘adventure’. Title ‘Down in the jungle’

Mairead. Genre ‘a country tale’. Title ‘The old house – a country tale’

Beryl. Genre ‘westerns’. Title ‘Stampede’

Cathy. Untitled short story

Next meeting: This will be on Tuesday 1 August, when the 1000 word homework theme is ‘Virtual Reality’. Both Steve and Dick gave apologies, as they will not be able to come along.