The final 2011 meeting report.

This will be the final meeting report of 2011 and I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a productive New Year.

Members present at the meeting were Dave, Dick, Caz, Tony, Cathy, Liliane, Sally, Sandy, Jack, Sarah, Jane, Ray, Martin and finally the old men Les and myself.

Apologies from Carolyn with her son from the States on a visit and Beryl feeling unwell. Get well soon Beryl and I hope Carolyn has a good visit with her son.

The meeting was a short version of our four word exercise to accommodate the best part of the meeting with our festive get together, mince pies and the like. Apologies to the Library for any crumbs that were left behind.

We started the words with four picked by SANDY which were PANIC, PROTEGE, XMAS AND HORSE. Entitled The stand in reindeer, we had a humorous tale of Prancer the reindeer being too ill to help with the sleigh and the offer of a horse to stand in for him.

Next came JACK who just about almost finished his piece containing the words LOVE, ORIGIN, HOLLY AND ICE.
We had just a few words from Jack with his usual flair for excellent writing until we reached the ending which found us chuckling at 'B....., run out of time!'

SARAH picked LETHAL, STUFFING, SNOW AND EPHEMERAL. A strange combination of words but giving us a short piece concerning Bambi and her fawn Mindy and the fright imposed by some human hunters in the forest.

JANE had LIGHT, ANGEL, BLIZZARD AND SPARKLE. Unusually free of murder and mayhem Jane gave us a very funny account of a local Amdram production or words that could equally apply to a school panto.

RAY had the words DOSSIER, VINTAGE, BARKING AND RACIST. This was a few words of mainly vocabulary from four local skinheads talking the talk over a pint or three at the pub.

MARTIN was on form again with COCKEREL, INCONCEIVABLE, COURAGEOUS AND SURRENDER. Comedy seemed the main theme on the night and this was no exception with Martins rendition of someone being given the mundane task of checking all the Christmas deliveries at the North Pole from Amazon, Argos et al.

LES had us chuckling again with his short coming out party piece containing the words
CORRUPT, DISTASTEFUL, CHRISTMAS AND SOCIALITE. I have included Les's touching and very clever poetic tribute to the Scribblers and what the group means to him.

My piece had the words 1996, 200 (which turned out to be Zoo really. I should have gone to Specsavers) PROLIFIC AND DEPRAVITY. My attempt at humour was trumped by the comical knowledge that I had misread one of my words.

DAVE had PEST, BRAVE, FABLE AND AGE. Another funny contribution based around trains (what else) and the groom's imprisonment in the guards van.

DICKS words tested yours truly when writing (scribbling) notes for this account. SERENDIPITY, DRAGON, QUINTESSENTIAL AND GLUE. (Thank goodness for spellchecker) His was a tale of Merlin and his attempt to concoct a lethal mixture for the dragon. A very informative chemistry lesson.

CAZ gave new meaning to the panto cry of 'he's behind you!' with her piece containing the words REASON, HEEBEJEEBIES, (???) a tale of a poor unfortunate being chosen for the back end of the donkey in the Nativity. Caz also gave us a tribute from herself to us all of how much the group mean to her.

TONY had the words APOLOGY, CHARITABLE, MOTORBIKE AND TOWN woven into a comic tale which included nearly all those present at the meeting and involving many motorbikes.

CATHY had VACUUM, GALACTIC, CRACKERS AND MEETING. An incredulous passenger listening in to two old ladies and their spectacular Christmas lists.

LILIANE's words were KINGDOM, PRODUCTION, PROVOKE AND PROTEST. A neat and quite topical story of Royalty letting the hoi polloi know the cost of heating the palace as how taxes had to be raised to pay for keeping it warm.

Last but not least we had SALLY and her words LEFTOVERS, JUGGLE, INCREDIBLE AND INTEREST. Another comical look at the way Christmas dinner is cooked and the use of the eventual leftovers.

Personally I thought the scant time allowed to write (fifteen minutes) produced the usual high quality pieces from a group that blends well together. If I have made any slight mistakes in translation of your work, then I hope I am forgiven.

From Les.

Christmas Wishes

May you write your dreams this coming year
may your pen be bold, may your ming be clear,
Have faith in yourself and the courage you need,
so that all you write is a pleasure to read,
you all make me proud to be a part,
for which I thank you with all my heart,
I hope it is clear for all to see,
The Scribblers bring joy to an old man like me.
I wish you all a very Happy Christmas
and a peaceful New Year.
Les Smith

It just remains for me to wish all present and all unable to attend an extremely Happy Christmas, and to thank Les for his touching poem, a fitting ending to the year 2011.
See you all in 2012
Regards
Barry.