Felixstowe Scribblers 2021: Our Genre Meeting Report

Wednesday 17 July 2019

Our Genre Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 16 July 2019

Present: Georgina, Liz, Kay, Justin, Tony, Beryl, Tom, Steven, Liliane, Carole, David, Jim, Steve, Jane, Barry and Dave.

Apologies: Cathy, Anne, Derek

Business: It was nice to see Barry at our meeting again. It has been a long time since his last visit and hopefully it will not be too long before his next!

Also nice to see Jane again. She can’t believe that her son Jack has just celebrated his 24^th birthday. Happy birthday Jack – another former Scribbler.

The summer social meal. Liz has done another fine job in organising a meal at The White Horse in Felixstowe on Tuesday 30 July. Tonight she gathered in the meal orders which will be passed to the venue to help them order sufficient stocks to meet our needs. Although it wasn’t stated at the meeting, it would seem reasonable to set a time of 7pm for 7.30pm. Confirmation will follow in due course.

The anthology is selling well, another 26 tonight. We have sold just over two thirds of our stock already so have more than broken even. There is a copy and details for purchasing a copy in the window at Poor Richards in Felixstowe, otherwise it is down to us to sell the remaining copies.

Locking up. After our last meeting Cathy and I had a problem locking the library and needed to call an emergency number. Cathy suggested that there should always be two Scribblers locking up after meetings. Dave asked and Steve, amongst others agreed to stay behind.

Reading of homework: The homework was to choose and write in a personal genre. It is hoped the genres below are correctly recorded, if not, then apologies! This was a very popular theme and one that produced some tremendous tales!

Liz Fantasy Untitled.

Tom Biography Untitled

Justin Adventure Another Brick in the Wall

Jim Murder Murder on the Felixstowe Express

Carole Poetic Humour The Trials of Bill and Sue

Liliane Family The Exile

Jane Historical The Speak Easy

Beryl Science Fiction Surveillance

Tony Writer’s Block Blank Screen…

Fantasy A Tale of Strange Parts

Dave Ghost The Spook

Steve Horror The Inheritance

Kay Autobiography Fragment

David Murder The Two Black Cats

Steven Travel Around the World

Georgina Mystery Cold Case.

Next meeting: The next meeting will be in THREE weeks time on Tuesday 6 August. The 1,000 word homework theme is: “Over the Hill.”

Just a reminder that our meal is at the White Horse (7pm for 7.30) on Tuesday 30 July.

REPOSITORY

The Jack Wilkinson Competition for stories about children for an adult reader, is open for entries until 1st June. Stories should be emailed in the usual way to Georgina, making clear that it is a competition entry. Your entries can be in any genre of writing and should be no more than a maximum of 1,500words. Once all entries have been received, they will all be posted on the Repository. Members will have a week to read and choose their favourite three stories. Please do not vote for your own story. Your top three choices should be emailed to Georgina stating 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the corresponding story titles. Please don’t make any comments below the stories until the outcome has been announced. All stories will be published anonymously, with only a story title and a corresponding letter of the alphabet. Once all votes are in (and scores have been double checked) the winning entries will be announced. As we are unable to present the trophy due to the existing situation, an e-certificate will be awarded to the winner. The more entries, the better, so get those scribbling sticks out! Please email all contributions to Georgina Dave

CORONAVIRUS

Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, Felixstowe Scribblers have sadly cancelled all future meetings until such time as Government advice and restrictions are lifted.

This means a great upheaval to many of our writers, but we will do our best to keep you updated both on this weblog and by email.

We intend to maintain our writing with 500-750 word assignments that may be posted on here for a short period of time whilst our WhatsApp group will have regular 100-200 word exercises to help keep our creative minds working.

Further information will be released as soon as possible.

30 March 2020

Gipping Press

Felixstowe Scribblers chose Gipping Press to publish their 2014, 2017 and 2019 anthologies. Our reasoning was based on their enthusiastic help, great track record and, more than anything else, the quality and high standard of their work. Our anthologies are testament to their expertise.

We anticipate another anthology in 2021 and will be seeking the help once again, of Gipping Press.

We can honestly recommend Gipping Press to anyone seeking advice in publication and for their very competitive prices.

Thank you Gipping Press.

http://www.gippingpress.co.uk/GPselfpublshing.html

Where we meet

Felixstowe Scribblers meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month in The Room at the Top in Felixstowe Library, Crescent Road. Meetings start at 7.30pm and end at 10.00pm.

Details of the library are on their website at https://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/libraries/felixstowe-library/.

Felixstowe Scribblers are indebted to the Library and its helpful staff for all their valuable assistance.

Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, our annual membership fees have been reduced from £30 to £15 for the coming year until November 2021.

Meetings, when they are able to be organised again will allow people preferring to pay at each meeting a charge of £5.

Our writing programmes are available via our two avenues, The Repository and our WhatsApp group.

Membership is open to both published and hobby writers and whilst there are no age limits it is wise to be aware that there may be adult content included in some work.

For more information about Felixstowe Scribblers simply email our Secretary catherine.stafford1@ntlworld.com or our Chairman, Dave, at scribblers.1@btinternet.com.

Committee Members:

Hon President: Ruth Dugdall.

Chairman: Dave Feakes.

Secretary: Cathy Stafford.

Treasurer: Beryl Sabel.

Scribblers Repository Editor: Georgina Salmon.

Weblog Co-ordinator: to be arranged.

Anthology sub committee:

Beryl Sabel,

Georgina Salmon,

Dave Feakes.

WhatsApp administrator:

Justin Keogh

In Memory

Martin Enticknap One time member of the Scribblers who stayed in touch from his home on Sanday in the Orklands. 2003.

Nobby Clarke A keen sailor, he relayed many amusing tales from his past life. Died tragically in a road traffic accident in 2004.

Bill Budner A lay preacher who joined the Scribblers and provided so many prolific words in his short stories. 2006.

Jack Wilkinson Our youngest member for four years, he provided so much laughter and talented creativity before losing his life to cancer at the tender age of twelve. 2006.

Allen Williams Our Welsh wizard had a wonderful wit that kept the group in fits of laughter. 2007.

John Crowson At 97, our most senior member. He passed just a week before he was published for the very first time in the 2010 Felixstowe Scribblers Anthology. 2009.

Doreen Rayner Published and very knowledgeable Felixstowe historian and former member of the Scribblers. 2012

Les Smith Such a welcoming and endearing character, his laughter, matched with his personality and his humorous writing leaves the Scribblers much poorer for his loss. 2015

Mairead Reidy Such a warm hearted and generous person who was both extremely talented and knowledgeable. Liked and loved by all. Another very sad loss to our creative group. 2018

Dick Bradshaw A warm and friendly long term member. A wonderful and published writer with a wealth of knowledge and so many humorous tales. A very sad loss of a good friend. 2018

It is fitting that we also remember Liam Fairhurst of Soham who died of cancer in 2009. He raised enormous sums of money for charity all beginning in memory of his friend and ours, Jack Wilkinson.

Maurice James, the creator of the Coast to Coast competitions and a great friend to the Scribblers. 2010