Our first meeting of the New Year

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and enjoyed everything this special time had to offer.

Now it is time to start focussing on the New Year which is just over a day away. Incredible as it seems, 2016 is virtually with us already. As a writing group, each of us will have our own aspirations for the coming year... will we manage personal publication? Maybe even make a shekel or two in the process? Whatever your hopes, may they be richly fulfilled...

Which brings me to remind you that our first meeting of the New Year will be held on Tuesday next, 5th January in our usual abode. The meeting will start at 7.30pm. Please note there has been an alteration from our original programme listing so our homework assignment has been set for you to produce up to 1,000 words on 'RESOLUTIONS' a rather appropriate theme for this time of year! 

Hope to see you all there so, until then,                                                                                                                                                                               

and remember...

Keep Scribbling!

Dave

SUFFOLK READING FESTIVAL BROADCASTS THIS WEEK

Wednesday 30th December 1900-1930
Felixstowe Radio 107.5 fm or via the internet

The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearman
Martin Jarvis is The Book
Becci Clarke The Brackets
David Miller is Sam Wunnells
Peter Guilder is Ron Wright
Robin Saunders is Roger Okeigh

The Candles Getting Shorter by Tony Shearman
Ruth Dugdall is Margaret
Robin Saunders is Edward
Brian England is Bert
Stella Day is Alice
Becci Clarke is Sarah

Fly by Day by Tony Shearman
Read by Alan Dix

There should also be a show on ICR 105.7 fm or via internet on Friday 1st Jan 2016.
content not yet confirmed.

Happy New Year all.
Tony

Merry Christmas!!!

It's just about time to say Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year...

and then 

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave

Belated minutes of 15 December meeting and party

My apologies for lateness of these - please blame Christmas preparations and two December family birthdays!

Present: Hayley, Liliane, Caz, Mairead, Dave, Richard, Dick, Jane, Tony, Cathy

Apologies: Beryl and Jeanette

Business: Dave thanked the committee and all group members for their support during 2015, and voiced his hopes that Scribblers will continue in the same successful and enjoyable vein in 2016. All present echoed his sentiments, and thanked him for all the work he does for the group.

Beryl was in our thoughts, and we all hope that the New Year will bring some improvement to the painful leg she is suffering from.

Our thoughts also go to Suzy - she sent her best wishes to us - I think she misses the group!

Before enjoying the festive food and drinks brought in for the evening, we listened to the reading of short stories of 250 words which members had brought with them. Well, most members - one of our company thought the limit was a miserly 50 words, but managed an interesting piece of work all the same - Well Done, Caz! And Dick thought we were going to write 'on the night', so nipped out of the room and wrote a very good 250 word story 'instantly' - what talent!

Readings: - a tremendous variety of work, as ever.

Hayley - The Puzzle Box
Liliane - Fireside
Richard - Janice's Secret
Tony - two very personal and poignant poems
Jane - This year it will be different
Mairead - Christmas Eve at the workshop
Caz - Alphabetical shades of you
Dick - Burglar's luck
Dave - Circumstances, part 2

For the second half of the evening we all settled down for a pleasant hour of socialising and eating - what a good way to end the year!

First meeting in 2016 - Tuesday 5 January, when the 1000 word homework will be on the topic 'Resolutions', as suggested by Caz.

Merry Christmas everyone,


Cathy

It's almost goodbye to 2015...

This evening saw a nice gathering for the final meeting of the year. Maybe some will be sad that it ends now but everyone has their own commitments over the coming days. It will be very hectic for us all I'm sure!

There were a number of very good 250 word stories - a word limit that seemed difficult to manage and yet there were complete stories wrapped up in those limited and telling words.

Just to complete the evening we celebrated with a little party and many stories and memories of days gone by. Now it is time to look forward to next year, to 5th January to be exact, when we will hold our first meeting of the year - a slight change to our programme as this will be a 1,000 word assignment on 'Resolutions'.

The meeting closed with fond farewells and Christmas and New Year wishes to all those present and to those who were unable to attend.

So... ENJOY your festivities and see you all in the New Year!

SUFFOLK READING FESTIVAL BROADCASTS THIS WEEK

Wednesday 16th December 1900-1930

Felixstowe Radio 107.5 fm or via the internet
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearman
Martin Jarvis is The Book
Becci Clarke The Brackets
Sheila Martin is Eimer Deville
David Miller is Sam Wunnells

The Candles Getting Shorter by Tony Shearman
Ruth Dugdall is Margaret 
Robin Saunders is Edward

We're All Going on a........ by Tony Shearman
Read by Brian England

Friday 18th December 1230-1300
Ipswich Community Radio ICR 105.7 fm or via the internet

The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearmann
Tony Shearman is The Book
Ryan Guilder The Brackets
Debbi Coveney is Deepli Konserned
David Miller is Sam Wunnells
Sheila Martin is Eimer Deville
Stella Day is The Voice of the Door
Alan Dix is Ffup the Garish Nogard

The Road Hill House Murder by David Morrison
Martin Jarvis is Williamson
Brian England is Whicher
Alan Dix is Samuel Kent
Su Stedman is Katherine Gream
Alison Miller is Constance Kent

Rallying Cry by Tony Shearman
Read by Alan Dix

Our final 2015 meeting.

Well it's that time... the year rapidly coming to a close with just the Christmas festivities in between! Except for one thing... it's our final meeting of the year next Tuesday, 15th December. Usual time and place. This time there's a slight alteration to our usual gatherings. We will start by reading out our homework assignments - remember? Just 250 words on any subject. Once completed we will be able to get on with the main event... our Christmas party.

Yes, it's party time, so hopefully you'll all come along and bring a few nibbles or something festive so we can bid farewell to 2015 and look forward to a productive and rewarding 2016.

Look forward to seeing you there!

I've just found this item which explains exactly what's happened to it... The Lost Sock I mean!

 

Just one other thing to tell you about. I attended the Orwell Writers' group this week and entered their first competition and was lucky enough to have won it - which is a bit embarrassing as it was only my second appearance at the Orwell. There were some excellent and fascinating stories proving that Suffolk really does have a wealth of talent around. So thank you OWL for loaning me your lovely trophy!

Being presented with the
trophy by Cathy

Hope to see you on Tuesday evening... if you can't be there then please have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a  HAPPY AND REWARDING NEW YEAR.

Dave 

So that's where it is...

SUFFOLK READING FESTIVAL BROADCASTS THIS WEEK

Wednesday 9th December 1900-1930
Felixstowe Radio 107.5 fm or via the internet
Program 92
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearman
The Road Hill House Murder by David Morrison
All the time in the World by Richard Payne

Performers: Debbie Coveney, Sheila Martin, David Miller, Ryan Guilder,Tony Shearman, Alan Dix, Alison Miller, Martin Jarvis, Brian England, Richard Payne.

Friday 11th December 1230-1300
Ipswich Community Radio ICR 105.7 fm or via the internet
Program 90
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearmann
The Road Hill House Murder by David Morrison
The Trouble with Scruff by Beryl Sabel

Performers: Sheila Martin, David Miller, Debbie Coveney, Ryan Guilder,Tony Shearman, Alan Dix, Alison Miller, Beryl Sabel, Robin Saunders.

Tony

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on Tuesday 01 December 2015

Present: Dave, Richard, Mairead, Jeanette, Liliane, Tony, Hayley, Dick, Jane, Cathy.

Apologies: Caz, Carolyn, Beryl and Gerry.

Business items:

The group approved Dave’s suggestion not to give each other Christmas cards. Jane suggested that at the next meeting, any of us who would like to do so could donate our ‘card cash’ to Cancer Research UK, the donation to be sent in the group’s name. All agreed.

Jeanette reported that she has a post on the Crime Writers Association website. Dave will be sending out the link to this. Also, she is 30,000 words into the necessary 40,000 that her publishers want by the end of December – well done, Jeanette!

Mairead has been commissioned to write an article for the UK online journal, ‘One Big Society’, which covers a large amount of issues. The article she and Professor Robert Hamlin will be writing will be for the HRD section. Should be published online around January sometime.

Dave reported that he has had an email from Chris, an ex-Scribbler, which he will be forwarding to the group.

Caz has the menu for 26 January meal – hope to have it at next meeting, when deposit will be required by all those booking

Homework readings on the topic ‘phone’

Not everyone had brought work on this topic, but as usual there was a great deal of interesting writing to listen to. For those who read out elements of novels they have in the pipeline – we want to hear more, please!

Hayley – An autistic’s view of phones (no synopsis)

Richard – I used to fancy Eleanor Bron (no synopsis)

Dick – Cold Calling. Snowy weather, mothers-in-law who get locked out in the snow in only their night attire, frantic phone calls and rearrangement of Christmas visits. A cautionary tale re the importance of keeping spare keys somewhere accessible!

Mairead – Images (no synopsis)

Tony – Poor – Hard Luck- - - - - (no synopsis)

Cathy – To call or not to call. The return of a young married man’s past love causes ripples in the family circle. Will he stay faithful to his wife, or will he and his previous love get together again?

Liliane – The summer we took up sport (no synopsis)

Jeanette – read out part of her current novel

Jane – Read out part of an early chapter of the novel she is working on

Dave – Circumstances. Enjoying the tranquillity of the countryside a mobile phone desecrates my peace. Eventually finding the phone and then answering the incoming call from ‘Dad’. His daughter is missing he says. Later finding discarded clothes and a girl’s body I inform the police who promptly arrest me as the prime suspect... 

Next meeting: 15 December. Reading of short work (250 words) on any theme, then we'll enjoy Christmas nibbles and drinks.

Still Missing You...

TRIBUTE TO A TEXAN LEGEND

It's many years on and many years gone,

Since December six, eighty-eight,

And his final song had echoed out

Within his homeland Texas State.

The voice that passed away that day,

Was more than desperate and sad -

He'd never sing alive again

And that, my friends, was all so bad.

Yet in our minds, our hearts, our homes,

Melodies linger on and long,

Down the volume, he'll still be heard

So high above his mourning song.

A man whose life was full of grief,

His wife hit by a killer truck

Claudette died on her motorbike.

Then another tragedy struck.

Two sons died in the burning flames -

Gone were Tony and Roy DeWayne -

At his Hendersonville homestead.

Just how could he survive the pain?

Deathly anguish and bitter thoughts,

Replaced with professional calm

He rose again above his grief,

His loyal fans were in his palm.

Each song he sung, a masterpiece

The Texan sang so beautiful,

Etched on the world's eternal disc

Voice unquavering, powerful.

Listen to his ballad "Claudette",

His "Crying" and his "Blue Bayou".

Then "It's Too Soon to Know" and yet

If "Only the Lonely" weren't true.

"In Dreams" of his "Pretty Woman",

Was he "Running Scared" from "The Crowd",

Way down to his "Sleepy Hollow"

To write and sing, vibrant, aloud.

Record, perform, on stage his act,

Immense applause that will not end.

As the world pays great homage to

“’Roy Orbison“’ - Texan legend.

© Dave Feakes

From the Library

We still have a couple of tickets left for the filmed live ballet Cinderella on Friday 11th December. For a taster watch this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N43SIkK-we4

 Also, we are now taking bookings for The Comedy of Errorsby William Shakespeare on Friday 29th January 2016. This is another digital recording of a live performance. First performed at Shakespeare's Globe in the Autumn of 2014 this was described by The Independent as "enchanting as it is hilarious."  Whilst the Guardian called it a " near-perfect production .... the audience roars with delight."  It's the story of estranged twin brothers and estranged twin servants, in ignorance of each other, with ensuing  mayhem,  cross-purpose and slapstick.

Tickets again are £7.50, advance booking only.  Doors open 6.30, screening starts 7pm.  Please let me know if you would like any reserved.

Finally, we are holding one of our grand Book Mountains  tomorrow, Saturday 5th December, here in the library between 10am and 3pm.  All the books are donated and money raised will go to library funds.  As a bonus we will have a selection of craft stalls here too.  

Wishing you a Very Happy Christmas

Kind regards

Debra Rowe
Library and Information Advisor

Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk, IP11 7BY
01394 694880

From the Felixstowe Book Festival's Book Advent

4th December: Ruth Dugdall Ruth Dugdall's page-turner of a novel Humber Boy B was  this year's festival read and we're are delighted to announce that she will be joining us once again in June! In 2016 she will be joined by Elizabeth Haynes and Julia Crouch to  talk about 'Domestic Noir' in a panel event called  'Home is Where the Hurt is'.

From down there in Cairns

Chris with his little catch, a tiny barrumundi...

He was celebrating the birth of his granddaughter Ella. Guess what he called the fish...? Ella!

And this Ella was returned to the water.

Communications and a poetry competition

What a great meeting again despite the 'Phone' theme! Just waiting for Cathy's notes but in the meantime I thought you'd like to know the link for Jeanette's post on the Crime Readers Association website. It can be found at http://www.thecra.co.uk/a-day-in-the-life-working-on-a-deadline-by-jeanette-hewitt/

Also we had an email from Chris way down yonder in Cairns Qld. He says:

Read the FS weblog about the ‘Ghost’ meeting and how good it was. Some extraordinarily good stuff goes through during some of those evenings, and I’m not sure an Anthology does it justice. I don’t know any other way, unless you appoint a ‘Collator’ to collect copies from all the contributors and store them somewhere safe. Random thought! Seem to be having more of those these days, just 'getting on a bit' methinks.

We received the splendid gift of a fourth grandchild of the female persuasion about a month ago - Ella Nordling Shaw. (Nordling is the Danish daughter-in-law’s surname!) My son invited me to go fishing to celebrate, so what do you do? You go fishing, and I enclose the little article I wrote to celebrate Ella and the fish I caught. (A bloke just has to have some bragging rights. He hasn’t much else these days that isn’t by proxy!)

I’ve just sent through an article to a magazine called; Annals of Improbable Research, the medium for the awarding of the IgNobel Prizes, which you may or may not have heard of. It’s run by Harvard Uni, and awards prizes for daft stuff that, ‘First makes you laugh, then makes you think’. Mine is entitled; ‘Australian Drinkers Produce Green Solution’. It’s a small article 4000 words, describing the means of changing from oil-based fuels to Ethanol produced by fermenting heroic quantities of grapes. I will send it to you if you would like to see it, but I know you are busy and that I do send you probably more than you need. My justification is that the first meeting of Felixstowe Scribblers I attended and read out my small story, gave me the feedback that I could actually write stuff that people enjoyed, and it wasn’t a case of, ‘Why did you bother?’ So, thanks to that encouragement. I’ve been writing ‘stuff’ ever since.

Last April, three years of planning came down to one single evening, the 150th Anniversary of the opening of Framlingham College, and the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli. I organised a dinner for nearly sixty people: 5 from UK, 2 from Oman, 3 from New Zealand including the Arch-wizard of New Zealand (about as sane as a bottle of pickled sausages), and the rest from Oz. The guest of honour was Trish Evans, the widow of Len Evans, doyen of wine drinking, judging, making and marketing wine. Len was an Old Framlinghamian and was born and grew up in Felixstowe. Apart from anything else, there had to be a book, but white hair has its advantages, so I got other people to write most of it, and a graphic designer who has a cottage in Iken to weave his magic, and it turned out to be a thing of beauty and a joy forever. (There are some short stories at the end and you may like to see how they stand up to the quality of the Scribblers - not at all would be my guess!) Thus, you see I still have a soft spot for Felixstowe and the Scribblers.

We are now coming up to the heat of Christmas, which for us means; lots of platters of cold meats and seafood, washed down with copious quantities of cold wine, air-conditioning turned up and preparing for the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the Boxing Day Test Match, which is against the West Indies this year. Close the doors and prepare to repel borders. Rebecca and I are very happy with our own company - blessed is the word.

Have a great Christmas time, and we wish all of you of the Scribbling persuasion a safe, healthy and happy 2016.

Cheers, Chris and Rebecca

Here's a competition for the poets amongst us and also the Book Advent: 

Dear Writers,

Ware Poets is running its competition for the 18th year, and we are delighted that Philip Gross - poet, a playwright, librettist and writer for young people - has agreed to judge the competition. Philip leads the MPhil/PhD in Writing programme at the University of South Wales. He won the T S Eliot Prize 2009 with The Water Table, and Wales Book of The Year 2010 with I Spy Pinhole Eye. This year he published A Fold In The River with artist Valerie Coffin Price (Seren), and a new collection called Love Songs of Carbon (Bloodaxe).

The Ware Poets competition offers cash prizes for the winning poems, including one for the best sonnet, and we publish a competition anthology of prizewinning and shortlisted poems.

If you entered last year, or passed on our flyers, many thanks. I hope that you will consider entering again this year, and that you will download and share the flyer attached to this email with other poets. Details of the competition are also included below this message.

I look forward to receiving lots of poems. 

Stuart Handysides 

Secretary, Ware Poetry Competition

Ware Poets Open Poetry Competition 2016

Prizes: £600, £300, £150, and the Ware Sonnet Prize (£150).

Anthology for winners and commended poets
(£3.50, post free: pre-ordered).

Informal prizegiving at Ware Arts Centre, Friday 8 July 2016.

Fee: £4;  4 poems for £12, then £3 per poem (in the same submission).

Length:  up to 50 lines.

Deadline: 30 April 2016

Sole judge: Philip Gross 

Entry form available at

http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/comps/ware16.pdf

or send SAE to : The Competition Secretary, Ware Poets Competition, 

21 Trinity Road, Ware, Hertfordshire SG12 7DB

or email: warepoets_competition@hotmail.co.uk

Phones...

Another very good meeting with a wonderful selection of diverse stories on the seemingly mundane subject of phones. How wrong can one be! How everyone comes up with such different stories on the same theme every time we meet is absolutely amazing!

Can't wait for the meeting report from Cathy.

Our next meeting takes place on 15th December and will be the last of 2015. At the AGM it was agreed that we would have a 250 word homework on any subject - and once the stories have been read then we will let our hair down with our Christmas party. It seems incredible how the year has passed so quickly but it has!

By popular agreement we are all going to be Scrooges, having agreed not to hand each other Christmas cards. Instead we will accept a small donation for one of the deserving charities we support. Details later.

Until next time...

Keep Scribbling!!!

SUFFOLK READING FESTIVAL BROADCASTS THIS WEEK

Wednesday 2nd December 1900-1930 
Felixstowe Radio 107.5 fm or via the internet 
Program 91 
The Sword of the Kings by  Tony Shearman 
The Road Hill House Murder by David Morrison
Rallying Cry by Tony Shearman
Performers: Debbie Coveney, Sheila Martin, David Miller, Ryan Guilder,Tony Shearman, Alan Dix, Alison Miller, Martin Jarvis, Brian England, Su Stedman.

Friday 4th December 1230-1300
Ipswich Community Radio ICR 105.7 fm or via the internet
Program 89
The Sword of the Kings by Tony Shearmann
The Road Hill House Murder by David Morrison
Laura by Suzi Griffiths
Performers: Sheila Martin, David Miller, Debbie Coveney, Ryan Guilder,Tony Shearman, Alan Dix, Alison Miller.