Our Next Meeting

Our next meeting and news...

It's another Bank Holiday arriving and currently the sun is shining brightly so let's keep our fingers crossed for a lovely long weekend break.

Our next meeting follows rapidly on its heels and will take place on Tuesday 1st June at 7.30pm in the Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library. As always the meeting is due to commence at 7.30pm. The theme for the homework assignment is 'Rainbow' so there could be some colourful writing involved with that.

As we approach a committee meeting to discuss a replacement for the secretary's post you are invited to suggest what you would like at our meetings and ways in which we can improve them. Please respond by Saturday 5th June.

I understand that Geraldine Rose is to launch her book 'Feeding Strawberries to Pigs'at Cretingham golf club on Saturday 3rd July. You are invited to attend the fund raising event for the Meningitis Research Foundation but tickets must be booked in advance. Visit the website www.meningitis.org to find out why she is raising funds for this charity.

There are 12 shortlisted writers from over 80 entries for the IpArt Short Story Competition. They are Gemma Anderson, Barry Baddock, Jane Bailey, Jenny Barnett, Ed Broom, Ruth Fitzgerald, Angela Lawrence, Rebecca Moore, Angela Petch, Sheila Preston, Hannah Rowe, Kate Thurlow. Nice to see our own Jane and Angela featured in the list so how lovely it would be for them to achieve the top two places. Good luck ladies!

The standard of writing, we are told, was very high leaving the Finalist judge, Kate Pullinger a difficult task of selecting a winner and runner-up. She will announce the winner and present the prizes on Monday 28 June, 6pm at University Campus Suffolk. It is understood that during the Ipswich Arts Festival there will be the opportunity to read the shortlisted stories online!

From the Young African Writers Cooperative comes a new collection of poetry by Stephen Derwent Partington entitled 'How to Euthanise a Cactus'. Published by the Cinnamon Press the book costs £7.99.

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend and remember,

Keep Scribbling!

We all have our problems!

From the Riverside Writers diagonally located on the Wirral comes news of their Anthology. The long-awaited antho project is currently being re-printed. Having been collected from the printers to avoid handling and delivery charges) they discovered a major error had occurred in production - namely, the cover didn't fit! A re-print was negotiated as it was the printer's error, and it is hoped it will be available this weekend.

However, Riverside Writers will most likely be arranging an official launch event to be held June/July (date TBC) at West Kirby Library. This has already been mentioned with library staff, as there is a possibility that our anticipated group contribution to this year's Bookfest won't be part of the festival week. This is because they're apparently heavily booked with big names, and we'd be competing for their audience - a problem we have experienced with previous Bookfests.

From the Felixstowe Scribblers - good luck!

http://community.livejournal.com/riversidewriter/profile

BBC WRITERSROOM NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the BBC writersroom newsletter.

Five Days in May
----------------
Deadline: 1 June 2010
The BBC are looking for rapid response scripts about the five days between the general election and the formation of the new government.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/five_days_in_may.shtml

Television Drama - The Writers' Festival 2010
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A two day exploration of new writing in Leeds for writers with a television broadcast credit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/television_drama_writers_debate.shtml

Tony Basgallop
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The writer of Worried About The Boy talks about his work
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/tony_basgallop.shtml

Stephen Butchard
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The writer of Five Daughters and House of Saddam talks about his career
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/stephen_butchard.shtml

New Scripts
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Our scripts are in PDF format - if you can't read them, download Adobe Reader from http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/categories/plug/acrobat/acrobat.shtml?intro

People Snogging in Public Places by Jack Thorne
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/downloads/scripts/people_snogging_in_public_places.pdf

Don't forget you can browse through all of the scripts in our script archive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/script_archive.shtml

Submitting your script to BBC writersroom
-----------------------------------------
Want to write for the BBC? Find out what to send us on our script submissions page.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/submissions_writersroom.shtml

Blog
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Wherein Joy talks about writing for Doctors, and Ceri about this year's Drama Writers Academy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/

Opportunities
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Old Vic New Voices
Deadline: 24 May 2010
The Old Vic are looking for writers aged 18-25 to create new theatre in just 24 hours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/old_vic_new_voices1.shtml

Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award
Deadline: 1 July 2010
$2.500 award and readthrough at the International Emmy Awards for a half-hour or hour drama
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/sir_peter_ustinov_award.shtml

The winner...

Tony becomes the first Felixstowe Scribbler to win The Bill Budner Trophy twice. Here he is being presented with the cup by Linda.

Report of Meeting

FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET

Incorporating
the

REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 18th MAY 2010

Apologies: Ruth, Jane, Trish, Sue, Les and Connie.

Present: Dick, Liliane, Tony, Linda, Barry, Peter, and Dave (chair)

SCRIBBLERS NEWS

It was quite a disappointing turnout for the anonymous competition which has been so popular in the past and with Peter unable to arrive before the readings he was unfortunately ineligible to take part. With only six competing writers the odds were just in favour of one of the former holders winning the trophy again.

Needless to say that despite the valiant efforts of the other writers our first ever winner, Tony, came out on top again! Well done Tony! This was the first time in ten competitions that a writer has won it for the second time. Tony was presented with the cup by Linda in lieu of previous holder Angela who is currently abroad. A picture appears on our weblog.

Once again the stories were fascinating and the ability to hear one’s own work read out by someone else makes it just that bit special. Tony now holds the trophy for four months until it is held again in September.

The Committee meeting planned for 25th May has been cancelled and put back to Tuesday 8th June.

For those who enjoy the amateur dramatic scene Rushmere Players are performing Under Milk Ward on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st May at the Rushmere Hall Primary School in Ipswich. Tickets are £7.50.

Also, an excellent evening’s entertainment was produced by Springfield Follies with their Variety Show last weekend and they have two further performances coming up on Saturday 22nd May.

Due to some unforeseen circumstances the deadline for The 4th annual Ted Walters international writing competition has been extended until the 30th of June, to give our competition the justice it thoroughly deserves.

THE PLATFORM

Barry read Tragic Yellow which was written by Linda.
Linda read Why Did I do it? Written by Tony
Tony read Facebook written by Barry
Liliane read Hotel Mayhem written by Dick
Dick read Mr Plod written by Dave
Dave read Food for the Birds written by Liliane.

The winner was Tony with joint runners-up Barry and Liliane.

Our Next Meeting will be on Tuesday 1st June at 7.30pm in the Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library when Barry and Liliane will produce the 1,500 word open themed work and the assignment for everyone else is 500 or so words on “Rainbow.”
Until then,

Keep Scribbling!


********

Under Milk Wood

The Bill Budner Trophy

Who won the tenth staging of the competition? All will be revealed soon....

The Bill Budner Trophy and the Ip-art competition

The defending holder of the cup, Angela P, is away in Italy for a while so that guarantees another name on the trophy. Angela, who won the Ip-Art Short Story Competition two years ago and was short-listed last year has been short-listed again this year. Can she win the competition again? Or will that other Felixstowe Scribbler, Jane, beat her to the title. Jane has also been short-listed and is quite excited about it.

Whatever the outcome of the competition it really is great to see two of our very talented writers up there with the best and having an equal chance of winning.

Good luck to them both!

Meanwhile the Bill Budner Anonymous competition for attending writers takes place again this coming Tuesday so here's hoping for a good entry for what is always an exciting competition.

Our Next Meeting - The Bill Budner Trophy

Tuesday 18th May 2010, the date of our next meeting when we will hold the tenth ANONYMOUS COMPETITION for attending writers to try and become the tenth different winner of THE BILL BUDNER TROPHY.

The work should be no longer than 1,000 words maximum - of course it can be shorter in length - but it is important that your name does not appear on your work. This competition always produces a wonderful evening of eclectic writing. With nine separate winners so far, could you be the tenth to add their name to the predigious trophy?

The meeting starts at 7.30pm and will be held in the usual place, The Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library.

You will have heard about the EACH Treehouse Appeal that is being supported by Radio Suffolk did you know that Georgina Wroe and Nigel Lungley have teamed up to do a once in a lifetime ride from the most westerly point in Britain - St. David's Bay in Wales to Lowestoft? And did you know that Georgina attended a number of Scribblers meetings a few years ago or that Nigel Lungley played that dastardly character Percy in "The Lost Sock"? Check below on our weblog for the background to the appeal.

Coming up is a Springfield Follies Variety Show at St Augustine's Church Hall, Ipswich on Saturday 15th May at 7.30pm and Saturday 22nd May 2010 at 2.30 and 7.30pm. Tickets are just £5 for what promises to be very enjoyable entertainment.

Keep Scribbling!

Springield Follies presents a ....

EACH Treehouse Appeal

EACH Treehouse Appeal

BBC Suffolk is helping East Anglia's Children's Hospices raise the £3million needed to fund a purpose built hospice in Ipswich. Going for a mammoth bike ride will be presenter Georgina Wroe who attended a number of Scribblers meetings a few years ago. Joining her on this epic journey will be Nigel Lungley aka Percy in the (in)famous "The Lost Sock".

EACH’s hospice in Ipswich was opened in 1999 and as a pilot project and demand has increased so much over this time that they have simply outgrown it. EACH were very generously donated a four acre plot of land on which they have obtained planning permission for a new 6 bed roomed hospice. They have just launched The Treehouse Appeal to raise the £3million required to be able to build it and need everybody’s help to make this much needed project come to life. This exciting project will enable EACH to provide more care to more families throughout Suffolk and North Essex so please help us to make the new hospice a reality.’

Georgina Wroe presenter of Sunday Lunch with Georgina on BBC Radio Suffolk and her assistant Nigel Lungley are undertaking a mammoth journey - they are getting on their bikes for this charitable cause and doing the Side to Side ride from St Davids Bay in Wales to Lowestoft in Suffolk - in effect travelling from the most Westerly Point to the most Easterly - a journey of some 420 miles. They are going to have to dig deep physically and mentally and ask for your support in this venture to raise as much as they can.

They will set off to Wales after Georgina's show on Sunday 20th June 2010 and be back in time for her show the following Sunday 27th having completed 420 miles on their bikes. The big finish will be in Lowestoft on 26th June.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

It's a tremendous cause so please dig deep and support the Treehouse Appeal.

Gift to the UEA

Unpublished poetry, notebooks and letters by the environmentalist and nature writer Roger Deakin have been donated to the University of East Anglia. Roger died of brain cancer in 2006 aged 63. His archive was stored in a dozen crates at his Mellis, Suffolk, home.

One wonders where and how unpublished work is stored by writers throughout the world? What will happen when the sad demise comes? Will your work be saved, perhaps published or donated to a university? Or will it just be one of the many items that will be destroyed?

Where do you keep your unpublished work? On a computer? In hardback? At the bottom of a wardrobe? Sometimes it might be saved by a loving family member, or given away to another writer.

Perhaps the time is right to decide what you wish done with the hundreds of hours of lifetime work when the inevitable happens. Could it be used to help others? It really is food for thought!

Riverside Writers

Diagonally across the country it may be but it is always pleasing to see news of other groups and Riverside Writers is no different. Open to all genres of writers they are a friendly and informal group - some, like the Felixstowe Scribblers, write purely for fun or are new to writing, others are published authors. They hold monthly meetings in Wirral, and have monthly writing projects and additionally hold public performances and have guest speakers. Currently they are putting together their own anthology so we hope they have as much success with theirs as we have ours in Felixstowe! If you are ever in the Wirral then remember that visitors are always welcome.

For more information on them visit http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters and http://community.livejournal.com/riversidewriter/profile

Meeting Report

For all your research and information
visit your local Felixstowe Library
and the Suffolk Record Office.

FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET

Incorporating
the

REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 4th MAY 2010

Apologies: Ally, Ruth.

Present: Dave, Barry, Liliane, Peter, Tony, Jane, Linda, Trish, Les and Dick (chair)

SCRIBBLERS NEWS

It was good to see Barry back ‘home’ after an elongated holiday in the USA thanks to the cloud of Icelandic Volcanic Ash.

Another Tuesday following a Bank Holiday and our low attendance level is becoming a little concerning. With Dave now taking a back seat on the committee after ten years as secretary, there is a need for new blood in the chair to revitalise the group.

As Dave points out there always has been the opportunity to increase attendances, alter the way our meetings are run, and for the past two AGM’s this matter has been raised. The current format suits most people but there is always room for diversity and improvement.

As such a committee meeting has been called and will take place provisionally on Tuesday 25th May. It is hoped that the agenda will cover the falling attendances and offer the suggestions Angela P put forward prior to moving to Italy for the next six months. Additionally with no secretary named to replace Dave yet, this will be discussed and hopefully resolved at committee level.

The smaller numbers tend to provide more discussion time in the meetings and helps make the evening more relaxed.

Out next meeting will feature The Bill Budner Trophy so see below for details.

THE PLATFORM

The 1,500 word assignments were produced by Jane and Les.

Jane: A Moving Experience
Les: The Minutes

The 500 word assignments on “Dust”

Liliane:Red Haze
Tony: Snakes on the Plain
Peter: Do You Sit Tight Boy?
Linda: Once Again
Dave: Once the Dust Settles
Barry: What Dust?

Our Next Meeting will be on Tuesday 18th May at 7.30pm in the Room at the Top, Felixstowe Library when we once again feature the anonymous competition for The Bill Budner Trophy.

It will be another special meeting for attending writers only. The prestigious Bill Budner Trophy will be awarded for the tenth time to the winner and held for four months until the next competition.

This is an open themed competition with a maximum of 1,000 words on any subject you like! Your entry should be typed but must not contain your name or any clue to your identity. On arrival please place your work face down on the table provided. A little later all attendees will be asked to select a story, have a few minutes to acquaint themselves with the content before being asked to read it out. Everyone present will be able to choose their top three choices and selected members will count the marks and declare the winner. The cup will then be awarded and be engraved by Scott at Mr Cobbler in Felixstowe.

Let’s hope for a healthy attendance and an eclectic evening of competition.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!

Safe!

Brilliant news came out of Felixstowe yesterday after the Centre had been earmarked for closure. It has been saved, doubtless through the marvellous support of Suffolk residents and, indeed, by personalities like Brian Blessed.

It feels so good to say that there is still "A lifeline for animals" in Felixstowe.

Visit their website at http://www.bluecross.org.uk/web/site/home/home.asp

Latest issue of Writing Raw

The May 1 issue of WritingRaw.com is NOW online: Writing Raw - the Cabaret of the literary world – is a FREE literary ezine dedicated to new and emerging writers. Our goal at Writing Raw is simple - to serve the literary community with the opportunity to have their work online and out in the world. In this world of disappearing literary magazines, Writing Raw is providing the blank pages for writers to fill.

We also support other sites that help writers: www.WritingRaw.com believes in reaching out to other sites, writing groups, forums, and organizations. Contact us on how you can place a FREE banner, announcement or link on our site!

Or, use the Writing Raw Book Store to promote your novel or poetry collection: If you have a novel or collection that you would like to place in our store, we would be more than happy to do so – for FREE. Just send us a copy of the cover of the book, a brief synopsis, and a link as to where the material can be purchased.

Also, be sure to check out the NEW announcements on WritingRaw.com’s Home page from writer’s group and organizations worldwide. Discover meeting places, organizations offering fellowships, contests, and a variety of other useful websites all dedicated to writers of every level.

NEW this month

NEW FICTION AND NONFICTION BOOK REVIEWS: By Rib and www.allbookreviews.com

CHECK OUT THE NEW “RIB'S JOINT” PAGE: Who knows what will come out of her head next!

BETWEEN THE SHEETS - AN EMAIL BOOK CHAT/REVIEW WITH DITCH AND WEEB: Waiting for Autumn by Scott Blum

5 SUGGESTED BOOKS TO READ FOR THE MONTH BY DITCH

NEW WRITING EXERCISES and BOOKS IN THE WRITINGRAW STORE

FOR THE NEXT 3 ISSUES OF WRITINGRAW, we will be profiling sections from Shawn Inmon's upcoming book, A Perfect Fit… in this issue an excerpt of A Perfect Fit: Chapter 8.