The AGM

FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY 6th JANUARY 2015

  

Apologies for absence: Les, Liliane, Derek, Katy.

In Attendance: Beryl, Dick, Gerry, Carolyn, Barry, Richard, Jane, Tom, Suzy, Cathy, Tony, Caz and Dave.

The meeting commenced with thoughts for Les who is confined to home at present. There were emails from Liliane’s daughter Rani who was hoping to attend but has accommodation problems in London. From Katy who hopes to return to the fold soon and to Susan F whose work commitments have stopped her attending for some time. All are, of course, very welcome to attend whenever they can.

Secretary's Report by Caz: Our Group has continued on an even keel, with some new members coming along and then the regulars continuing to support our happy band of writers.

Our meetings have been varied with some homework being written from a word or sentence and other meetings we have used four words, jumbled up and picked out and then spent 30 minutes or so writing using those words. This is always a very interesting exercise and produces some great stores, in such a short time and is enjoyed by all concerned. It scares some initially but gets those created juices flowing and fast rate. Wonderful. 

We have had another year of fabulous writing with members old and new coming up with funny, serious, spooky, weird and evocative writing highlighted with our decision to produce an anthology specifically for launch at the Book Festival. For this I managed to secure funding from local Councillor John Goodwin which also went towards, rental, display boards (yet to be purchased) together with a personal donation in memory of Jack.

After a number of concerns over ticketing for our event at the Book Festival, we had a very successful Meet the Scribblers event along with our film The Lost Sock.

The Bill Budner Trophy The Jack Wilkinson Trophy continue to produce some wonderful creative stories that continue to show the enthusiasm within the group.

A special 'thank you' to everyone who donated coffee, sugar, tea, biscuits, cakes, chocolates etc., for our breaks and our Christmas party.

Also a 'bless you' to those who keep in touch, sometimes long distance who, although unable to attend, keep us 'in the loop' as to where they are and what they are up to. Finally  I make a special note of the work put in over the year by Beryl our Treasurer, Dick and Les (when able). Not forgetting our lovely member who collects the key each time, Liliane.  Last but by no means Dave, who never stops doing what he does best. Thank you all so very much. Our group would not survive without all the above but finally but not least of all, our fantastic members, who give us such wonderful, interesting and entertaining scribbles.

We have had a year with several members suffering with varying degrees of illness. Some of whom have ended up as hospital admissions, or just needing to have a good rest at home. I hope that the New Year will find us all fit and healthier and all able to 'bounce back' to enjoy the 
marvellous meetings we all share.

Chairman’s Report for 2014 by Dave. Personally 2014 was a year of highs and lows. Healthwise it has been abysmal with my wife at times doubled up with arthritis and with my own spells of illness I have to consider my future with Scribblers.

First things first, and I really don’t know what item should take the top spot. Maybe the success of our involvement with the Felixstowe Book Festival and the public showing of The Lost Sock stand out despite all the initial ticketing concerns. Maybe it was the efforts of our Secretary Caz who obtained substantial funding from SCC for items including our anthology and donated an amount in memory of Jack. Still outstanding is the purchase of display boards to provide informative data about our group at various local events including the Book Festival. So thanks Caz. Of course there were many members who contributed to our anthology – and many who helped check and edit the work before publication. It would have been an impossible task without you all!  As an aside... after each of our last two anthologies I had a heart attack... so count me out of any future issues!

Over the past we have produced summaries of stories read out at our meetings in the meeting reports but, regretfully I can no longer do this but thank everyone for giving me their support in the past.

Membership always appears to be healthy and yet towards the end of the year attendances dropped dangerously low. As with similar groups to ours, new faces appear and then fall by the wayside. A writing group such as ours serves a purpose in helping writers with creativity and perhaps move them on to the next level. For some, our meetings don’t include enough in depth information about publication, finding agents or being the font of all knowledge nor being professional enough. Whilst it would be good to add these things to our itinery I don’t think any of us are sufficiently qualified to provide the answers to so many needs.

We are blessed with some excellent writers in our midst and two younger talents who both came to the fore in their short stays should have a very healthy future in writing. Sadly these two, Aidan and Hattie have moved to pastures new so we wish them every success in their chosen careers.

Of course I must end by saying thank you to everyone who has helped make the Scribblers what it is, that is you, the members, our committee, everyone who helped us along the way. To Maureen Budner for providing a new trophy in memory of her husband Bill, to Caz for providing a trophy in memory of her son Jack. To everyone who helped with the anthology, Book Festival and, importantly not forgetting Liliane for collecting the key on a regular basis. Then there are those who have brought along ‘refreshments and goodies’ which are always well received! Thankyou to everyone.

I must wish all those who are suffering from poor health and other problems every good wish for a recovery in this New Year.

Finally 2014 generally shows us an ageing group and we must be prepared to see some loyal members drop by the wayside in the future. We need to plan to overcome this even if it means ‘advertising’. Few youngsters seem interested in coming along so the conundrum is, how do we plan for the future?

Treasurer’s Reports on 2014 by Beryl. It is nice to be able to report a healthier financial position than the previous year. The anthology was successful and – with the help afforded by Caz in providing funding and her personal donation – it did remarkably well.  The annual subscriptions now increased to £30 should meet the cost of our accommodation this year, subject to any increase in rental.

Ratification of existing committee. We have two resignations from the Committee, Dick and Caz who steps down from the post of Secretary, whilst Les is sadly not in a position to continue. Beryl remains as Treasurer and Dave continues as Chairman.

First and foremost we would like to thank each and every one stepping down from their posts, for their great support and hard work they have put in, often behind the scenes. Their places on the committee will be sorely missed. Having said that the offer to take on the position of Secretary by Cathy, nominated by Caz, seconded by Dick, was unanimously accepted, so a warm welcome to Cathy! Additionally, since the AGM was completed, Caz has agreed to stay on the committee but with no current responsibilities. There were no other additions to the Committee although promises were given by others to assist as necessary. This means our new committee is:

Dave Feakes Chairman

Cathy Stafford Secretary

Beryl Sabel Treasurer

Caz Wilkinson.

      Weblog Report by Dave A generally successful year with overall views up 6,000 on last year reaching an overall total of 65,618 since we began in July 2010. We have seen a year on year increase but 2014 showing the biggest increase of all. The top three nations to visit our site are, obviously, the UK then the USA and Germany.

Facebook Report by Barry There are small numbers following the Felixstowe Scribblers Facebook page but, as the content is usually a quick cut and paste job, I am happy to continue running it.

Felixstowe and ICRadio Broadcast Report by Tony

What was expected to be a short term venture has moved on and Tony has just recorded the 50^th programme since he began in September 2013. From ICR figures, some 375,000 listened to the broadcasts on both ICR and Felixstowe Radio in 2014. It is possible to hear old broadcasts via the Internet by going to www.Mixcloud.com and typing Suffolk Reading Festival into the search box.

Structure of Meetings

      The general consensus of opinion is that we achieved all we planned to in 2014 and that everyone felt happy with the structure of the meetings with a balance in variety of subjects.

Items that we adopted from the last AGM were to draw names out of a hat to select the next reader of homework and then to allow a maximum 2 minute feedback whenever possible.

      On the subject of feedback/critiquing, sometimes it is difficult to hear a story and give valid comments in such a short time – for a number of years we have said that some members would be willing to give comments providing they have either a hard or email copy of the work that can be read at home.

      We still have the short story section on the weblog where your stories can be posted if you wish.    

      Homework for future meetings could include a ‘Genres’ theme and possibly ‘consequences’ in building a character and writing about them.

      In view of the fact that précised work will no longer be done due to time constraints, it was agreed that all writers can provide by email a 50 word summary of their work by midday on Thursday following the meeting. Only those summaries will be included in the meeting reports.

     

Felixstowe Book Festival 2015 Saturday Dave is to clarify the position over the Scribblers involvement in this year’s festival. We are ‘programmed’ on Saturday 28^th June from 5-7pm but the organiser, Meg Reid wants to have some other activities next year involving our group. She has a cafe/ bookshop space dedicated to the Festival at the Orwell. The AGM suggested that if we had a table and provided display boards and publicity etc at the Orwell then this could be the Meet The Scribblers event. It has also been suggested that one of our members could read one story say on the hour every hour for a limited period of time during the day. We could also provide a ‘four word’ creative writing session for visitors to join in. The Scribblers unanimously declined the Saturday evening at the Library.  

Planning for the future We have to be aware that attendances fluctuate and that some ‘senior’ members will not always be able to attend. In an effort to increase a younger membership we can do this by advertising on our display boards, placing them for agreed periods of time in local libraries, business premises, (Co-op was mentioned) at The  Book Festival and other such events. We could also advertise a ‘New Members (or talent)’ evening. These items will be further discussed at Committee level in due course.  

Jane says she will ask Ruth (Dugdall) if she can would give a talk to Scribblers to coincide with Ruth’s booklaunch.

      It was decided that in future our AGM will be held on the first meeting of November when all membership fees will be due. This means a slight alteration to our programme and an amended copy is appended below. The full programme is also available on our weblog.

Social Events In view of the low turnout for the last two social events held at this time of year, it was decided to wait until later in the year. Barry also mentioned that he offered to organise a

barbeque at his but unfortunately no arrangements were made by our group.

Any Other Business. There being no other business the AGM was closed.

Our Next Meeting: Taking place on 20^th January in our usual ‘home’ in The Room at the Top, is the first of the 2015 competitions for The Bill Budner Trophy. The same rules will apply as usual, that is, up to 1,000 words on any subject. Your entry should be typed and should not contain any reference to the author of the work. Full details are available at the head of the weblog.

	2015
January
6	AGM then short 4 word creative writing exercise
20	Bill Budner Trophy
February
3	1,000 word homework
17	Children’s story for the Jack Wilkinson Trophy
March
3	1,000 word homework
17	4 word creative writing exercise
April
7	1,000 word homework
21	1,000 word historical homework
May
5	1,000 word homework
19	Bill Budner Trophy
June
2	1,000 word homework
16	Photographic writing exercise
27	Felixstowe Book Festival
28	Felixstowe Book Festival
July
7	1,000 word homework
21	1,000 word geographical homework
August
4	1,000 word homework
18	Children’s story for the Jack Wilkinson Trophy
September
1	1,000 word homework
15	Bill Budner Trophy
October
6	1,000 word homework
20	Four word creative writing exercise
November
3	2015 Annual General Meeting
17	1,000 word Ghost homework
December
1	1,000 word homework
15	Creative writing exercise followed by Xmas party