Felixstowe Scribblers updates.

The minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting can be found above.

Also added above is the 2020 Programme of meetings.

Meeting Report.

The AGM.

First of all we must thank Liz for taking over as secretary for the meeting as Cathy had an emergency. Secondly to welcome Thalia to the meeting on one of her rare visits. She is Liliane’s granddaughter.

We had a very interesting and positive Annual General Meeting and the minutes will be forwarded round to all our members in due course.

For your information, the committee was re-elected, that’s Cathy, Beryl, Liz, Georgina and Dave.

We now have a new account in a different bank meaning that our funds will be transferred over and the HSBC account closed.

There was a date error in the proposed programme for next year - the social evening meal at the White Horse is on Tuesday 11^th February and not the 12^th as shown.

There is a likelihood that we will have regular social meetings, - not all meals! – during the year. Watch this space.

Just to confirm all homework and competitions will have a maximum limit of 750 words.

Following the AGM we had a 15 minute flash fiction session using one or more of the prompts drawn out by Thalia. These were:

‘Along the Road’, ‘The Glass Smashed’, and ‘106 High Street.’

Liz in Cathy’s absence and was so interested in listening to the stories she forgot to make a note of the titles used, however, as Georgina said we seemed to have forgotten to put away our Halloween costumes as many of the stories had a supernatural twist. 

Kay Along the Road …a spooky tale about a derelict house in the Fens and its ghoulish inhabitants!

Martin Along the Road…a very literary inspired piece referencing Dylan Thomas.

Liz Along the Road the Glass Smashed… a domestic situation.

Georgina Along the Road… an atmospheric piece set in the Lake district when someone runs out of petrol and their phone battery dies.

Tony Along the Road ..containing play on words, a journey with an extra-terrestrial  guide.

Jane Along the Road… a tense story of a jealous man watching his ex-partner with a new man, danger is looming as the ex has a knife!

Derek The Glass Smashed… a story with a supernatural twist and a hand.

Dave ..No one believes a woman’s story and she ends up in a mental health facility yet the local vicar knows she is telling the truth but does not help her.

Liliane Along the Road…  a tree had been blown over by a storm and a driver reacts badly blaming everyone and even God for the disruption.

Beryl Along the Road … a young lady is unimpressed with her date but he finally redeems himself.

Thalia Along the Road…  walking along the road at night the character encounters cats. 

AGM minutes will follow in due course.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave.

The AGM

The AGM was quite a calm meeting. No major problems at all. 

Items on the agenda included the ratification of the existing committee, confirmation of the transfer of our bank accounts to a hopefully more customer friendly bank, membership growth and consequential reduction in word limits together with more time for feedback. Suggestions for a new flash fiction homework and the Writeathon which will probably be included in our next anthology in 2021. The possibility of a regular social event outside our normal meetings.

One amendment to the Proposed programme - the social evening in February will take place on Tuesday 11th and not the 12th as shown.

A full meeting report will follow in due course.

After the AGM we held a 15 minute flash fiction session which produced some remarkable stories from three different prompts.

Our next meeting is on 3rd December when the 750 word homework assignment will be..."She touched his arm."

Until next time,

Keep Scribbling!!!

We will remember them...

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them". 

Meeting Report

Minutes of Scribblers meeting held on 05 November 2019

Present:

Dave, Liliane, David, Carole, Georgina, Martin, Stephen, Liz, Justin, Jane H, Derek, Kay, Jane B, Tony, Arlette, Beryl, Cathy. New member Mary.

Apologies: 

Steve, Anne

Business: 

We welcomed Mary to the group – she’d come across Scribblers at the Felixstowe Book Festival this year – very pleasing that she was impressed enough to want to join us!

Writeathon – progressing well – not many more members left now to continue/complete the story.

HSBC – Dave, Beryl and Cathy have a meeting at Barclays on 8 November and hope to open an account there for the group. If we don’t get the issue resolved by mid-December, our funds will be frozen at HSBC, and we won’t be able to access them.

Felixstowe Book Festival 2020 – no further progress yet

Mugs – we had considered purchasing new mugs with a Scribblers logo on, but our local contact no longer does this work, so the idea has been shelved.

Subscriptions – usually paid at the AGM (i.e. next meeting). Cathy will notify members about method of payment once the bank meeting of 8 November is over – if the banking issue is not resolved, payment will have to be in cash, not cheque.

No homework, but fourteen entries for the Mairead Reidy competition

Beryl and Cathy were readers, and once again the standard of entries was tremendous. Working to the loose theme of spooky/magic/Halloween inspired work, the group had come up with some fabulous tales.

For the first time ever, four stories tied for first place! It was agreed that each winner would retain the crystal ball trophy for three months.

Joint first place:

Jane B – Putting the frighteners on

Tony – Three days

Georgina – Eternal bliss

Carole – 21^st century witch’s lament

‘Second’ place was taken by Justin, with ‘The arrival of Otis Fielding’

The remaining stories were:

Derek – Who leaves the flowers?

Beryl – The voodoo house

Martyn – Ford Capri Mark One

Kay – Bye Baby Bunting

Steven - Hartley – J R Hartley

Liliane – Halloween caller

Liz – Lucas

Jane H – Clementine

Dave – Chilling feelings

Next meeting: 19 November – the AGM. This is the time for members to pay annual subscriptions (still £30), and to raise ideas/suggestions/grumbles (as if!). The business element of this meeting is kept as brief as possible. Usually we enjoy a flash fiction activity afterwards.  

Four way tie for the Crystal Ball.

Oh what a night, what a night it really was! It was a night that would have made Mairead so happy with so many excellent stories from fourteen of the eighteen members present, including Mary on her first visit.

Eighteen represented the biggest attendance for many years. The fact that we introduced the 750 word limit also helped ease the strain of reading by committee members Cathy and Beryl. In fact, as Beryl said, the reduced limit meant that every word became important and  superfluous words and phrases were edited out. Yet another suttle way of helping our writers improve!

Could you believe the climax to the meeting? It's never been done before and is unlikely to happen again as four, yes four members tied for first place. Initially we would have had an additional vote to help provide an outright winner but the concensus of opinion was the most satisfactory one of all. The crystal ball would be shared, each of the four joint winners holding the trophy for a three month period.

The winners, in alphabetical order were:

Carole with "A 21st Century Witches Lament"

Georgina with "Eternal Bliss"

Jane B with "Putting the Frighteners On"

Tony with "Three Days"

An amazing result for an amazing competition in memory of our much lamented Mairead.

Other news: There will be a meeting at Barclays on Friday this week to try and arrange a transfer of funds from our existing, and extremely disappointing bank. Fingers crossed everyone!

I am afraid that Scott at Mr. Cobbler is unable to provide any mugs as the cost of ink supplies is prohibitive and the general order for mugs is extremely low.

The Writeathon is moving closer to its final words. Our good friend Morag has just produced the latest instalment and now it is being forwarded to Steven for his contribution.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 19th November when we hold our Annual General Meeting. (This means no homework folks!). An agenda will be forwarded round in the next few days and it is requested that you print a copy out for the meeting. The AGM gives you all, and that includes our newer members, the opportunity to tell us how you would like the Scribblers to develope, or should the meetings  be structured differently? Perhaps we could work on a project together in the coming months. 

If the AGM goes according to plan and is not too onerous (lol) then there may be the opportunity for a short flash ficition session afterwards. Remember the door will be locked at 7.30pm when the meeting is due to begin.

Remember... Keep Scribbling!!!

  

Tuesday's meeting for the Mairead Reidy Crystal Ball Award

Not that you will need reminding but our next meeting is this Tuesday 5th November in our usual abode in the Room at the Top.

Obviously that's Guy Fawkes night and some of you may be otherwise occupied but we are hoping for a healthy attendance to celebrate our much missed friend Mairead Reidy with a competition for the Crystal Ball Award. It will be a special evening as the competition is for stories about Halloween, ghosts, spooky goings-on, in fact anything with a supernatural flavour. Mairead adored those types of stories and I'm certain she would have loved to be with us in person to hear our entries.

We have asked that entries are somewhere between 500 and a maximum of 750 words. As with other competitions, there should be no identifying marks on your entry - the rules can be found at the top of the weblog.

The door will be locked at 7.30 when the meeting is due to begin.

Good luck with your stories, so, until Tuesday,

Keep Scribbling!!!

Dave