Another Book Festival

Dear Friends,

Wigtown in Spring is a busy place. The daffodils are still bursting with colour and the cherry blossom is in full bloom. There's a lot coming up and we hope you'll pay us a visit at some time during May.

Wigtown Writers' Gathering
Friday 2 May
9.30am - 4.30pm
County Buildings, Wigtown
£12 (including a sandwich lunch)

After a hugely successful inaugural event in 2013, the Writers' Gathering is back with a day of workshops, one-to-one sessions and seminars from internationally renowned authors and writers. Join Cynthia Rogerson, Debbie Williams, Helen Bleck, Robert Twigger, Helena Nelson and Zoe Strachan for sessions on topics including writing for children, creating characters and having poems published. For more details and booking information see the website or call 01988 403222. You can also find us on Facebook. 

Spring Kist and Tearoom
Saturday 3 May & Sunday 4 May
10am - 4pm
County Buildings, Wigtown

Free entry

Local and national producers and artisans will showcase the best of Scotland's art,

 craft, food and drink. With more than 20 stands and a variety of goods to browse and indulge in, the Spring Tearoom offers a relaxing space to examine your purchases and enjoy morning coffee, a light lunch or afternoon tea. There will also be a floral exhibition by Wigtown Flower Circle Class. More information on each of the exhibitors can be found on our Facebook page.

Wigtown Spring Festival
Friday 2 May - Sunday 25 May
Wigtown & Bladnoch

Organised by the Association of Wigtown Booksellers, the Spring Festival has events throughout May celebrating Scotland's food and drink together with food for the soul - music, poetry, art, nature, history and mystery. In the year of Homecoming 2014, there are speakers and performers galore in the intimate setting of many of the town's book shops. There's everything from whisky tasting, archaeology, tartan tales for children and a ceilidh on the last Saturday. For more information and booking information, go to the Spring Festival website. Wigtown Spring Festival tickets are also available from the Box Office, County Buildings, Wigtown, tel: 01988 403222.

Spring Fling
24-26 May 

Across Dumfries and Galloway

Free entry

This year's Spring Fling is set to be the biggest and most ambitious yet with 95 artists and makers across the region opening their studios to the public over the Bank Holiday weekend. One such artist is Astrid Jaekel whose paper cuttings were on show in the windows of the County Buildings during last year's Book Festival. 

Astrid will be holding a paper cutting workshop on Sunday 18 May as part of WTF 2014. No experience is necessary for this silhouette workshop. Tickets are £3 and can be booked online or by telephoning the box office on 01988 403222.

Applications are now open for the 2014/15 artist-in-residence. It is open to visual artists and makers worldwide and the deadline for entries is Friday 9 May. More details can be found on the Spring Fling website.

Wigtown Poetry Competition
Closing date: Friday 30 May

There is still plenty of time to enter the Wigtown Poetry Competition, which is run in association with the Scottish Poetry Library, The Gaelic Books Council and the Saltire Society. The main prize is £2,000 and there are prizes of £250 each in the Gaelic and Scots categories. More information, including details of how to enter online can be found on the website.
 

Support the Festival
There are many ways you can support the Book Festival, a registered charity, and a range of benefits for doing so:

• Become a Festival Friend.  For an annual fee of £20 (renewable 1 July), you will benefit from 10% discount on Festival events, receive an invitation to the Festival Launch party and receive advance notice of special Festival offers and events.
• Become a Friend for Life.  For £200, this includes all of the above benefits plus a pair of free tickets to an event of your choice every year and two pairs in the first year.
• Become a Benefactor.  For £250, your donation will go towards strengthening and developing the Festival eg. by expanding the children's and community programmes as well as purchasing the technical equipment needed to run a rapidly growing event.  It will not be used for salaries or core costs.  Benefactors will have their names included in a handcrafted Benefactors' Book, as well as in the Festival brochure and on an honour board on public display in Wigtown during the festival, be invited to a dedicated reception with the Festival Trustees, Director and visiting authors.
• Make a Donation.  Donations of any amount are welcomed and it just takes a minute to donate online at www.wigtownbookfestival.com. Please click on the Donate box at the top right of the screen where you will be directed to our Paypal page.

Keep in Touch
We're always delighted to hear from old friends and new so do forward this email to others who would be interested in hearing about what's happening in Wigtown.

You can keep up-to-date with all things related to the Book Festival by liking our Facebook page or following us on Twitter @WigtownBookFest

Wigtown Festival Company is limited by guarantee with charitable status.  Charity number SC037984
Wigtown Festival Company, County Buildings, Wigtown, DG8 9JH.  01988 402036.

Our next meeting...

Just a quick reminder that there is no meeting this week - you'll just have to wait another week for our next gathering! It will take place on Tuesday 6th May at 7.30pm in The Room at the Top, when the homework assignment is to write no more than 1,000 true or creative words on "parent or parents".

Until then, plenty of time to...

Keep Scribbling!!!

Meeting Report for 15th April 2014.

Felixstowe Scribblers Meeting Report for 15th April 2014.

In attendance: Les, Suzy G, Dick, Beryl, Derek, Liliane, Cathy Richard, Aidan, Barry, Linda, Tom, Jane, Tony, Caz and Dave

Apologies were received from Katy and Carolyn.

Full House?

How lovely to see a near full house this evening, our best attendance for a long time. There were things we had to discuss at the start of the evening which delayed the opening reading by approximately twenty minutes. This compacted on the meeting and meant that after the short break we had to skimp a little on the short allotted feedback time. In the end we finished the meeting a few minutes after ten pm so we didn’t do badly.

Now comes a thought... how can we manage the readings when we have large attendances? Should we limit the word count or would some of us opt for listening and not reading? Your thoughts will be invaluable for the smooth and efficient (!!!) running of our group.

Celebrations.

We have to thank Derek from bringing along cakes he had baked just for the Scribblers and to celebrate his birthday on Thursday of this week. Jane also celebrates her birthday on the same day. The third celebration is Susie (H)’s house warming party the same evening. Her invite was relayed to the group.

The Anthology.

Caz has worked hard in the background to ensure we can cover the costs of publishing – which is great news. We should also have some left over for some display boards that can go on exhibit in various places in the future.

We are arranging a meeting with the printers to finalise details of the anthology but we expect your short stories or poems will be required in the very near future – please! Invites are going to recently attending members or those who have moved away from Felixstowe.

Please remember, short stories or poetry please, preferably around the 1,000 word mark or just above and please can you email it to me at scribblers@btinternet.com as soon as possible.

The Bill Budner Trophy.

A new trophy has been ordered from our good friend Scott and should be here in the next few days. We still have to confirm with Bill’s widow Maureen if she can attend the next competition meeting. If so we will present her with the original trophy which will be a nice gesture and pleasant reminder of Bill.

More stories please.

Can you help Tony with a story or two for the radio slots on Felixstowe and ICR radio stations?  The Scribblers work is broadcast on ICR Tuesdays at 15.30 on 105.7FM and Felixstowe Radio Wednesdays at 21.00 on 107.5FM.

Now the homework!

It is always appreciated when copies of your homework assignments can be loaned to enable a legible précis of content to be included in the notes so thank you all.

Derek: The Flower of Flanders: A driver took a wrong turning in the narrow streets and a young Serb did his deadly deed. Within 37 days of that assassination in 1914, the world had slid into war. Men, mere boys had their lives snatched away in the killing fields, Flanders in particular. Afterwards, the Royal British Legion was formed using the vivid red Flanders flower as its symbol. Dave sat in the cafe after the service drinking coffee. The angry man opposite asked why Dave was wearing a poppy and he explained. The man said his family had been decimated by war, grandad in Belgium. His dad at Dunkirk. His son in Stanley. He cursed the bloody wars, remembered his dead every day, not just one day a year and didn’t need a bloody poppy.

Caz: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie: The infamous Woody Guthrie was born on 14 July 1912 in Oklahoma and named after democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson. Woody’s sister died in a fire and later her father was injured in another fire started by his mother who was later institutionalised. Woody befriended a blues harmonica player and soon showed musical flair on both this and the fiddle. He spent his time busking before moving into dance halls and extending his talents to song writing and singing. Woody’s gift influenced singers like Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton whilst he mentored Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan. Woody passed away in 1967.

Cathy: A Bargee’s Lament: As we sailed up the Orwell and docked at Ipswich I saw you standing on the quayside, winked at you and how you blushed!  The cargo had to be unloaded; it took three days before I could go ashore. I glimpsed you as you entered the home of Nathaniel Lord the wealthy merchant. You smiled mischievously at me and my heart was lost to you. We sailed to London and returned, the docks empty of barges. A docker said two merchants houses had been burned to the ground; all in Lord’s household killed. I was in despair. You were lost to me forever.

Tom: Memories of Tenements: I remember, I remember the days were long, the sun was strong, the times were hard. The friends were close, strife lost in youth’s cry at timeless Monoliths. Summers seemed endless on our imaginary steeds of prowess. The Oasis of the back courts was no man’s land. The games of skill hurling plastic quoits with brand names Brylcream and Oxo. I remember flying on chariots down vehicle free highways, machines sporting logo’s from foreign lands, Outspan, Fyffes, Geest. Great grey tombstones saw all and smiled on the Gorbals youth. Times were hard; the Tenements watched and still do.  

Tony: Bath A Loner: The sun rose waking Barth on his street corner of old Carthaginian City. Traders filled the plaza, their prices too high for him. He had but one coin, not enough for food so he’d grab his breakfast as traders assembled their stalls. Today was not his day they were alert. He sought work without success. He would target the traders’ customers, his first a young woman with a basket of fish, fruit and bread. He grabbed a loaf but she clasped his wrist and called “Guards!” In a prison room she confronted him, gave him food. She asked him to assist in catching thieves in exchange for regular food. If he agreed he’d be truly alone.

Dave: Regression: My past life regression took me back to my childhood, then further back than that. The date: 25 October 1415: My name Richard de Court. I was amid King Henry V’s army facing the French at Agincourt. Though outnumbered 6-1, our longbows won the day though the battle was long and bloody. I was wounded in the arm and head. Back to the present, research could not trace Richard de Court so was this just a hypnotic dream?

Beryl: An Unlearned Woman: I should like you to hear my last confession Father. I am 81, and one of the weaker sex. I was born in 1098 to a family of the lower nobility. At three I began to see divine luminous objects and later was sent to a convent in the care of Jutta who also had visions. She died in 1136 and I was made ‘magistra’ by the nuns. I was stricken with paralysis but after recovery established two convents. On God’s instruction I wrote visionary and natural history books and even the pleasure derived from sexual relations from a woman’s viewpoint. I also wrote the words and music for ‘Play of Virtues.’ My name? Hildegard of Bingen.

Richard: The Wall is Gone: The morning of 10^th November 1989. The Berliner Zeitung headline: The Wall has gone. The Berlin wall had been there so long, seen the atrocities of escaping East Germans shot in their bid for freedom in the West. Present at a huge event in history, pure excitement and good will to everyone. At the Brandenburg Gate no standing room was left on the wall. Chipping away the concrete had already begun. Cheering, noise, euphoria. Sleep was impossible. A man with a big Mercedes handed parcels to each of the Trabants and Skodas. To me he gave a loaf of German ‘Grey Bread’.  The fall of the wall, the triumph of optimism.

Jane: Long Shadows: She found the photo when she was fifteen but would never have opened the box if she hadn’t felt so angry. Her father said they were moving again. She hadn’t minded before, but not now. Not when Eddie Taylor had kissed her. Mother said father had another job but he didn’t want to move either. Upstairs Alice saw it, the box on mother’s dressing table, the one she’d been told contained evil. After her mother was found hanging, Alice started cutting herself. In that box had been a locket and photo of a young man in an SS uniform. Alice’s mother had been German, the daughter of an SS Officer Tomas Weimar, not the Tommy Webber she’d been told died fighting as a British soldier in the war.

Linda: The Closure of Davies’s Canteen 1959: Davies’s canteen was located in Alexandra Dock, Bootle, Liverpool. Christina Lake was born in 1881 married Robert (Bob) Davies at 17. Bob worked all his life on the railway but heard about an available retail site and together with his wife they obtained a bank loan and opened a canteen for dock workers and sailors. Christina’s hard work and loyal staff built it into a thriving business. When she retired her son Frank took on the canteen with his wife Beryl. They overcame the lack of heating during the harsh weather but the smell of cooking had customers flocking in. Rumours that the dock was to be closed proved correct and the canteen closed on 31^st June 1959.

Aidan: Untitled: This was, perhaps, the best work of the evening. Written so well and read with such powerful meaning about the haunting subject of dementia. It opens with Derrick’s letter to Eileen asking her not to read on until she takes three deep breaths. “Remember. Remember me. I’ll be in the past soon but if you remember me I can still be alive for you. Just let the memories look after you.” Mrs Simpson stood on the doorstep, the letter in her hand, she took deep breaths. A tennis ball thudded in the court across the street. Tennis she thought. Something about tennis. Some memory. No. Gone again. Her eyes slipped down to Derrick’s letter.

Suzy G: History of Food (poem): Consider the apple – it was there when eating began. It was an innocent bite, But if Eve had known it was the beginning, would she? If she had known about pain would she have spawned it with one crunchy bite? Consider the seed, the egg, the leaf, the taste in the mouth for something we’ve lost. The apple, it was there when this eating began. Innocent too.

Barry: The Kingdom: You ask if you are worthy to enter the kingdom. Your karma must be balanced. At three you escaped from you playpen and woke in hospital. At seven on Christmas Eve you sneaked downstairs and opened your presents. At seventeen you saved a man from a runaway lorry, picked up his wallet, ‘borrowed’ some of the contents before returning his wallet. He died five years later, left you his house and you gave to charity more than you borrowed. You stood by your wife for 50 years. Your twins are waiting for you to die for your estate. Your karma is balanced so you can enter the kingdom.

Dick: The Question of Honour: Robert Sedgewick, branch manager of Holland’s Bank turned down my request for a loan despite my good financial history and credit worthiness. Rumours spread that my mill was in financial plight which was untrue. I complained to Head Office who disciplined an aggrieved Sedgewick, the man later assaulting me in the street. My friend Wallace suggested a duel but I wasn’t a fighter though he persuaded me to reluctantly agree. He helped me with duelling and fed Sedgewick a pack of lies about my prowess with a blade. This instigated a grovelling letter of apology from the man who pleaded forgiveness. With a sigh of relief, I forgave him.

Liliane: The Battle of the Golden Spurs: Liliane provided a history of Flanders and the Battle of the Golden Spurs at Groeningen in 1302. When the English and French were at war the Count of Flanders sided with the English. In 1302 the two warring nations had signed a peace treaty so when France invaded Flanders the English failed to help. The French captured the Count. Two factions arose, before the Flemish and the French battled the day, the Flemish taking no prisoners. The golden spurs of the French knights were taken as trophies.  

You really should have been there to enjoy the quality of the work – everyone a winner!

Our next meeting is in THREE WEEKS time on Tuesday 6^th May when your homework assignments is for no more than 1,000 words on “PARENT or PARENTS”. True life stories, creative work, fact or fiction. The choice is yours...

Hope to see you there next time, so

Keep Scribbling!

Another good evening

A well attended meeting with a really diverse selection of historical work from the fifteen who penned their factual and fictional stories for our enjoyment. The meeting overran  by several minutes due to the quantity and quality of the work. It was a shame that we had to skimp on feedback to allow everyone their chance to read.

A superlative evening that began with some good news from Caz regarding the cost of our forthcoming anthology. A number of items were discussed and will be taken forward. Meantime we are arranging to meet the publishers to finalise deadline dates etc.

Happy birthday wishes go to Derek who supplied his home baked cake, and Jane, both on Thursday. Also good wishes for Susie's house warming party also on Thursday.

Our next meeting is in THREE weeks time on 6th May when the homework theme will be 'Parent/parents'

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Historical meeting

Our next meeting is approaching fast  - doesn't time seem to slip past at an alarming rate when you're having fun? 

The homework assignment this time is historical and allows you to write up to 1,000 words on any period of your choice.

Looking forward to another good meeting in The Room at the Top, this Tuesday, 15th April at 7.30pm.

Until then...

 

Keep Scribbling!!!

A competition you might like...

For the first time since its resurgence, The London Magazine will be hosting a worldwide poetry competition which will be open for all ages.

This will be a chance to get published in the most prestigious literary journal in the UK which has been home to Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Christopher Reid and many more, along with winning a cash prize. 

Opening date: 1^st May 2014              Deadline: 30^th June 2014

Prizes:

• 1st Prize: £200 (and published in a future issue of The London Magazine)
• 2nd Prize: £150 (and published on The London Magazine website)
• 3rd Prize: £100 (and published on The London Magazine website)

Entry fee: £5 per poem.

Judges: Hugh Dunkerley and Michael O’Neill.

We would be grateful if you could please let anyone in your group or anyone who you think would be interested know about this competition. We also have leaflets if you would like some. You can also find out about this competition here: 

thelondonmagazine.org/tlm-competition/the-london-magazines-poetry-competition-2014

Furthermore, we will also be launching our third short story competition in September. If you could like more details regarding this competition, please let me know and I can provide more information closer to the time.

Many thanks,

Jessica Reid

Marketing Assistant

www.thelondonmagazine.org 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelondonmagazine1732 
Twitter: @TheLondonMag
 Download The London Magazine's App for free

Felixstowe Scribblers Meeting Report for 1st April 2014.

In attendance: Caz, Carolyn, Liliane, Tom, Barry, Dick, Beryl, Richard, Tony, Derek, Les, Dave and a new member, Aidan.

Apologies were received from Jane, Linda, Cathy, Katy and Suzy G.

Welcome.

We were privileged to welcome Aidan along to our meeting and sit in to get a flavour of the scribblers in flow. He has moved to Felixstowe for a year to be a volunteer helping to support people with learning difficulties. He wants to be part of a creative writing group to help improve the writing he loves.  Hopefully he will have enjoyed the meeting and will feel inspired to carry on his own creative writing.

News of Angela and a competition.

As you know our friend Angela Petch has moved to the south coast where she has found a new writing group which she enjoys. From them has come the news of a new writing competition that you may be interested in. The competition certainly hits home with something we could all be guilty of. Go to http://shar.es/BcB2c for details.

Angela would also enjoy having a ‘writing buddy’ from Felixstowe. A writing buddy is somebody to read over any writing that might need feedback - a reciprocal arrangement....with a bit of constructive critique included. Any offers?

Fees.

Tonight was the first meeting with increased meeting fees but also means that our membership fees are terrific value for money. For eight months from April to November the cost is £20, whilst six month’s membership from June to November is £15. The annual November to November fee was £25 this year but the cost will be re-evaluated later in the year. The fees are necessary to cover the cost of our room rental.

Tony again requests more stories to be provided for the radio spots, ICR broadcast the Scribblers work on Tuesdays at 15.30 on 105.7FM and Felixstowe Radio Wednesdays at 21.00 on 107.5FM. A number have already been passed to him so we will wait to listen to the results!

The Anthology.

Tonight we took a step closer to our proposed anthology. As you know we have been collecting some quotes for the pricing of an anthology – A5 size, properly bound and with 75 pages. Currently Caz is investigating some funding, and some artwork for the cover. We also have some artwork sent in by our friend Jan who used to organise the online scribblers a number of years ago.

With Ruth having agreed to provide a foreword, it is now down to our members to provide the content, stories or poems that will showcase the obvious talent within our group. That is what this evening’s homework was all about.

Now the homework!

Richard: Good Morning What Can I Do For You? : Richard was so impressed with Suzy’s open verse that he tried it for the first time himself and came up with a gem of an effort. Based on an experience about the smiling girl in the Bank, he wonders what she is thinking as she takes his cheque, perhaps waiting for her payday. And what of the man in the queue, and the girl on the door who was new last Tuesday and doesn’t stop laughing? What will she think if they close her branch, make her redundant then read of the fortunes the bank has amassed?

Liliane: The Cold Wind Blowing: The winter of ’39-’40 was severe. Heavy snow and hordes of hungry blackbirds fighting for crumbs in the back garden. Mother Rosa said they were a bad omen but daughter Mitje tried to ignore it. Mitje was a schoolteacher and though she had mobilisation papers she stayed at the school. Her brother Jan came home from the Congo with his ‘little mistake’, a young son who Mitje took under her wings. As war clouds darkened, Jan decided to take the boy away for safety. Being mixed race would put him in danger when the Germans invaded, Mitje was very upset.

Tom: Time: An interesting and realistic portrayal of a police interview, located in Hillhead. Time 2.15 am Friday 2^nd November 2000. Interviewer turned on the tape, recorded those present as himself, D.S. Sam Dennis, Interviewee Robert Peters and D.C. Don Mcullum. In the exchanges between questioning and the sneering responses from Peters, some idea of his character and profile emerged. Initially refusing a brief, after a break for a smoke at 2.55am, Peters then asked for his brief, John Samuels, who always brought expensive tailor made fags earned from washed up plonkers like himself...

Carolyn: Fathers and Sons at the Transport Museum: A moving story with Carolyn taking a picture of her partner, Clive, and his 89 year old father, Jack, beside the tram tracks at the East Anglia Transport Museum. It reminded her of the hundreds of hours she’d spent at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, on the US Atlantic coast when her son, GR, was growing up. She took scores of pictures of husband Gary and GR beside the collections or riding to the end of the line. Then that September day in East Anglia, Clive and Jack and Carolyn rode trams until late afternoon. Gary lost his battle with cancer before Clive entered her life. Now a double picture frame stands on her desk and chose a picture both fathers and sons from the US and England.

Dick: Game for a Laugh: Seven year old Dick’s childhood adventures with his mates. What was Operation Sealion they wondered? British or German? Was the navy strapping explosives to the creatures to attack U-Boats? Or a German plot to flood the English Channel with sealions?  As the children watched the Home Guard’s weekly training in full kit trying to crawl over a suspended rope between island and shore. Virtually every one of the old codgers dropped into the muddy waters creasing the boys with laughter. If the Germans could use sealions against us, we could use laughter against them!  

Derek: For Better Life: Prague 2012. I am walking along the Charles Bridge along with the Tourists. He sits slumped against the 15^th century stonework eyes heavy, unshaven and unkempt hair. Stained shirt, torn jeans. An old coffee cup between his legs catching a few odd coins. She is elegant, well dressed and crossing the bridge but stops and opens her purse, places two coins in his cup which he acknowledges by lifting his head. She asks where he is from and he replies, ‘Chechnya.’ Why are you here she continues. ‘I come for better life...’

Caz: Man’s Best Friend: Always in fear of owning a dog, the day came after Jack’s eight courses of radiotherapy and before major surgery, that he needed something to focus on and that something was a dog. A lady on a farm had three golden Labrador puppies, and Jack fell in love with the male which he named Kai. When they collected Kai there was not a dry eye in the place and at home they enjoyed all the playfulness of the puppy.  Kai helped with so many things, mainly giving Jack so much happiness.

Dave: The Happening: An eerie arrival at Alice’s family home that is in complete and unusual darkness. Nothing seems right. Spooky owls hooting, a kamikaze cat tripping her up, and then the open front door. The missing light switch, the wrongly textured wallpaper. Scared witless Alice slips to the floor in absolute blackness before a tiny prick of light appears and grows into an enveloping brightness. She sees her welcoming parents appear...

Beryl: Over My Dead Body: “Over my dead body!” It was the old man's instant response to the doctor's tentative suggestion that he might consider going into a home once he was discharged from hospital. Philip looked down at the frail figure of Denis with pity. “And I'm not going into any bloody home! Frank would never have agreed.” Frank was Denis's only child and Philip's partner for 27 years but had died suddenly, shortly after his wife had died. In spite of everything Philip had cared for the feisty Denis. Only now did he admit that helping Denis back on to his feet had to some extent assuaged his own grief. Denis was discharged, a care package in place. But it was some time before Denis conceded that Philip was his son-in-law.

Tony: A Walk in the Green Forest: Hunions goes off in search of Blind Eye MacPherson. He managed to survive an unsuccessful attack on his life by Lieto and Uriah. Eventually he met Knott and told him he was looking for Blind Eye MacPherson who had a female companion. Knott gave directions in strides, left turns and right that eventually took him to his quest but after discussion, Blind Eye MacPherson shut the door in his face.

Les: The Evacuee: A true story from Les, at nine, in wartime England. Bombs falling on London where his father continued singing, unaffected by the nearby explosion. Life carried on despite the war. Les was home from evacuation in March, Cambs.for his sister’s wedding and party in the Queen Victoria – Victoria Crescent not Albert Square. Then down to Cornwall where Les’s brothers and sister were billeted at The Lizard and Coverack for two week’s holiday away from the war. Then it was back to March and his loving and sympathetic evacuation landlady.   

Barry and Aidan did not read.

It is always appreciated when copies of your homework assignments can be loaned to enable a précis of content to be included in the notes so thank you all.

Thanks to Liliane for collecting the key and thanks to Caz for providing the biscuits for the meeting.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 15th April, usual time, usual place with our annual historical themed homework assignment. Up to a maximum 1,000 words on any event, either fact or fiction, from past times. Should be interesting!

Hope to see you next time,

Keep Scribbling!

Poet and Storyteller at the Wolsey

I started scribbling amusing poems in 2000 having had to give up my work due to pain of Spondylosis. I became a W.I. Speaker and have since entertained many audiences with my tales.

 

If you would like to hear a selection of my scribbling you may like to know that I am performing 2 Shows at the Wolsey Studio Theatre in Ipswich, Saturday June 14th 2.30pm ‘Facts, Fibs and a Pinch of Salt’ and 7.45pm ‘A Storyteller and the LSC’ These shows are part of the New Wolsey Theatre Open Season

If you would like a chuckle, it would be nice to see you there.

http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/

You may like to do something similar as part of the Wolsey theatre 2015 open season, you may have already of course.

Doreen Reed

Poet and Storyteller
Norfolk
www.doreenreedpoet.com
dh.reed@btopenworld.com

Last Chance

We like to give free logline submissions to all our connections. This is your last chance to send in your story logline. The WILDsound network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.

Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

You can bypass the fee and send your logline with the requested info to  info@wildsound.ca - Just mention Mailing List Submission in the subject email.

Writing Festival Deadlines for April. FULL FEEDBACK on all entries. Submit your story or script and get it performed at the monthly festival.

GO to http://www.wildsound.ca

April 5th - First Scene, Stageplay, Essay Contest

April 10th - Genre Screenplay Contests - Horror, Comic Book, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Classic TV

April 15th - Feature Screenplay, TV PILOT or Spec, Film Festival

April 20th - Video Pitch, Short Script, Logline

April 25th - Poetry, Short Story, 1st Chapter and Full Novel

April 30th - Feature Screenplay, TV PILOT or Spec, Film Festival

V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize,

The Royal Society of Literature is delighted to announce that we are now accepting entries for the sixteenth V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize, awarded for the best unpublished short story of the year.

The winner will receive a prize of £1000 and their work will be published in Prospect online and in the RSL Review. In addition to this, there will be an opportunity to appear at a RSL event with established short story writers in autumn 2014. The judges for this year are Margaret Drabble, Tibor Fischer and Helen Oyeyemi.

In order to be eligible for the competition, stories must be 2000- 4000 words and must not have been published previously or broadcast in any other medium. Entrants must be citizens of the UK, the Republic of Ireland or Commonwealth countries or have been resident in one of the aforementioned countries for the past three years.

Please find further instructions on how to enter online at: www.theroyalsocietyofliterature.submittable.com/submit. The closing date for the competition is Monday 16 June 2014.

Would it be possible to pass on the above information regarding the prize to your members, please?

Also if you are able to post this suggested tweet, I would be most grateful: “Entries open for @RSLiterature V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for unpublished short stories. £1000 prize. D/L 16 June http://www.rslit.org/v-s-pritchett”.

Many thanks,

Adam

The Royal Society of Literature

Somerset House

London

WC2R 1LA

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Another top class meeting

Tonight's meeting attracted a healthy attendance including one new member. It was a lively meeting with plenty of tremendous stories that may be included in our proposed anthology. There was not a single damp squib and, as has been suggested many times before, a Felixstowe Scribblers meeting ought to be recorded live for radio. Now that really would be something!

It will be a long two weeks to our next meeting when, on 15th April, the homework assignment is another historical theme. Writers can choose any period of past history and provide up to a 1,000 words on the subject.

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!!!