Meeting report for the 1st November 2011

As 'Ghost stories' was the subject of our homework for tonight I suppose one could say it was a horror of a meeting. In truth the meeting was full of what I expect with our group. Packed with pieces that show how talented everyone is. As a group we all seem to gel perfectly now, we have writers with a talent for humour, some for stranger than fiction, some for true life and others for dramatic content. All these were present last night and it was a privilege to take notes and in some small way take part in a brilliant meeting.

So now for the nitty gritty.

Members present were: DAVE, DICK, BERYL, TONY, CAROLYN, LILIANE, RHANI, RAY, MARTIN, SALLY, SANDY, CATHY, LES AND YOURS TRULY.

Welcome back from Oz to Carolyn, from sickness to Cathy and adios to Robyn, away to Turkey. We wish you and Turkey the best for the future.

Apologies from Pamela who will not be attending for a while and from Caz.

Now for the important stuff.

RHANI began with her story entitled 'PRINCE OF DENMARK. EARL OF MARCH.' This was a piece concerning battle field mapping in the present day and a horse called Hamlet, and the appearance of a ghostly rider in the yard.

RAY gave us a trip down 'ROUTE 66' in the mind of an old biker. Thinking of his dear departed friend and the ghostly ambulance of Wrotham Hill in Kent.

BERYL with 'A FITTING REVENGE' related a very clever spoof rendition of Hamlet by Will Shakespeare and the ghostly presence of Hamlet's father tormenting Gertrude for marrying Claudius.

MARTIN and 'THE LEGEND OF HONESTY ISLAND' was all at sea with a tale of the disappearance of the good ship Majestic in piratical times and its eventual discovery.

SALLY had us on tenterhooks with 'THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT.' Her story was so gripping with Jimmy and his sleepless night alone.

SANDY had some 'UNINVITED GUESTS' and told of how the party with old friends descended into dark revelations resulting from a seance with an upturned glass.

CATHY'S title was a simple 'ECHOES', Jakes solitary holiday in a cramped holiday let and his foray to the local pub and videos of a mysterious old man and a melodeon.

LES regaled us with his customary humour in 'TIGOR, THE TRANSPARENT, TRANSYLVANIAN TRANSVESTITE' a ghost with a bent for silk underwear and his seduction lessons for Ben.

BARRY. My modest piece was a story of young men bullied and murdered then exacting a terrifying revenge entitled 'THIN ICE'

DAVE kept us in a ghostly atmosphere with 'FOOTSTEPS' the story of Sophie and her windswept journey home and eventual ghostly evening indoors.

DICK held our attention with 'TIMESLIDE' a story of the ghostly appearance of a train driver and fireman which halted a train and stopped a calamitous collision with a landslide..

TONY's 'A LOCKED ROOM' was a quirky story of a young offenders Academy and the school for lockpickers where the instructor gets locked in with a vampire.

CAROLYN was back from a trip to Australia but due to fatigue and her husband's sudden illness (not serious, thankfully) she had been unable to present a story tonight.

LILIANE was the final reader and by no means least we had a story of girls and 'THE GHOST OF THE OLD QUARANTINE STATION' where ghostly presences from the days of early settlement in Sydney made for a memorable journey back in time.

Finally I would say that we all had a memorable journey on the night and my thanks to all who attended. It would be great for all those that cannot attend to sometimes see the quality of literature produced here and a half page synopsis of each story at each meeting would be challenging for me and would still only tell part so I apologise to our writers from all the meetings if my report does not seem to do them justice.

The next meeting will be on the 15th of November when we should all have done our homework and produced another memorable piece on 'ARIZONA' picked by RAY.

Until the next time
Your hon. sec.
Barry.