Meeting of 15th November 2011.

Those of you who didn't attend missed another really entertaining meeting.

Members present were; DAVE DICK CAROLYN, RAY, LILIANE, TONY, MARTIN, BERYL, SARAH, LES, SANDY, SALLY, CATHY BARRY.

Angela e mailed and said she was back in the country but unfortunately could not attend. There will be further news on a writing course being held by Maureen Blundell at Angela's Villa in Tuscany when I have the details.

The homework subject was a story with a connection to the place or the word 'ARIZONA.'

RAY suggested the word Arizona last meeting so we heard his rendition of NOBODY COULD MAKE IT UP first. This began with a writers convention in Phoenix and a blonde called Sherry asking a writer if he could handle a gun, then going on to recount a meeting with aliens who sucked up zombie like creatures from Phoenix then sent them back as unsuitable thus saving the earth from colonisation.

DICK gave us an insight into the Apache nation with THE MAIL MUST GET THROUGH and how the man in charge of the Pony Express convinced Cochise to allow the mail riders free and unhindered passage through their territory.

CAROLYN gave us a poignant story of A ROAD TRIP TO ARIZONA when she really wanted to be in Paris. Told of her friend Monique who she never met until recently, having corresponded for many, many years. This was when Carolyn finally made it to Paris.

LILIANE told of THE FLAGSTAFF STONE. This was a story of a young girl selected by a Hopi Indian ghost to be the one who steals the stone from Flagstaff and return it to the Back Mesa.

TONY entertained us with DARK STAR, the story of a low budget film by that name and its connection to a garage in Benson Arizona. Not forgetting his own rendition in song!!!!

MARTIN had a piece called ARIZONA IS THE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. This was a section of a play he is at present writing. Very well written and we wait for some more.

BERYL told us about VISITING HER BROTHER, a trip she will always remember when she traversed many states and National Parks while visiting her brother in Boise, Idaho.

SARAH read us her moving story, written in a novel way with the first person narrator being the battleship ARIZONA. We had the story told in her unique fashion of the life and eventual death of the ship in Pearl Harbour at the time of America's entrance to the second world war. Moving stuff!

LES was a true entertainer with his extremely funny piece SUNG, yes, he sang the piece to the tune of 'Rang time cowboy Joe. Everyone loved it and for me was the highlight of the evening.

SANDY was troubled, having to follow Les and his song but her piece proved to be another very funny story called COWBOY HUNT. A story of Di going to Arizona intent on finding a true life cowboy to woo her off her feet. Unfortunately she discovered the cowboys were all intent and in love with themselves and their mounts so she decamped to Los Angeles where things were six time the cost and decided she was better off back home in England.

SALLY told of a young girl deciding to go against her father's wishes and row a boat to THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE where she met and fell in love with a tall, handsome Indian warrior.

CATHY. Her story, PUBLIC LAW 503 told us of the hardship and injustice meted out to a mainly innocent part of the public in America during the war, when people of Japanese descent were interned in what turned out to be nothing but prison camps during WW2.

BARRY. My own part in the meeting was through a story called RICHARD PAXTON McCULLOCH, an entrepreneur who bought the old London Bridge in the 1960's and transported it to Arizona, and Lake Havasu, brick by numbered brick.

Finally DAVE gave us TAKEN, the story of Geronimo, Yet another example of a minority people being oppressed and transported from their homes onto reservations where the American military were surprised to find that the Native Indians were less than happy with their lot.

Please excuse the brevity of the comments to some of the stories and if small details are reported wrongly then put it down to old age.

The evening was a resounding success once more and was peppered with fact, fiction, faction and prose then a song by Les. All in all a brilliant evening.

Thank you all for coming and as I asked before, could all those not already booked, please contact me by the 19th if you wish to come to the evening meal. At £9.50 a head for a really good carvery it is well worth it.

The next meeting will be on the 6th of DECEMBER when the subject word is REBEL or REBELS.
Good scribbling and see you at 7.30 at the Brook on the 29th of this month.

Barry.