Present: Dave, Steve, Beryl, Liliane, Daniel, Anne, Gerry, Tony, Dick, Cathy
Apologies: Mairead, Jim.
Business:
Dave advised the group that the launch of Ruth Dugdall’s new book, ‘My sister and other liars’ is at Felixstowe Library on Saturday 6 May, from 6 – 8. Free, and all welcome. Let’s hope several of us will be able to go along and enjoy this.
Thanks to Dave for providing chocolate treats in Mairead’s absence – how would we have survived without our chocolate fix?
Bill Budner competition:
Beryl and Dick were our readers again, and our thanks must go to them, and to Tony, who calculated the votes after the readings.
Dave clarified the rules for marking, then we sat back to enjoy listening to the entries, and it really was a pleasure to hear all eight of them – a wonderful variety of themes and ideas, and all excellently written. It says much about the standard of work that every single story got votes, and there was a three-way tie for second place.
The well deserved first place went to Steve, for ‘The Age of Innocence’
Second places went to Dave, for ‘That sinking feeling’
Tony, for ‘The long dark dingy winding road to singleton’
Dick, for ‘A dip into the training manual’
No third place was awarded.
The remaining entries were:
Anne – The complaints department
Daniel – The storyteller
Beryl – The island
Liliane – The course of destiny
Our previous winner, Jane, wasn’t able to be with us to present the trophy to Steve, so Dave stood in for her. Photos were duly taken, both of the presentation and of the entire group. Thanks to Gerry for helping with this.
Next meeting: this will be on 16 May, and is a flash fiction evening. This time we are returning to the format of each of us bringing in 4 different words on separate slips of paper, to be put ‘in the hat’ with everyone else’s, ready for the group each to select four slips (not their own) and spend thirty minutes writing a story that includes all the words they have drawn out.
