In
attendance: Caz, Carolyn, Liliane, Tom, Barry, Dick,
Beryl, Richard, Tony, Derek, Les, Dave and a new member, Aidan.
Apologies
were received from Jane, Linda, Cathy, Katy and Suzy G.
Welcome.
We were privileged to
welcome Aidan along to our meeting and sit in to get a flavour of the
scribblers in flow. He has moved to Felixstowe for a year to be a volunteer
helping to support people with learning difficulties. He wants to be part of a
creative writing group to help improve the writing he loves. Hopefully he will have enjoyed the meeting and
will feel inspired to carry on his own creative writing.
News of Angela and a
competition.
As you know our friend
Angela Petch has moved to the south coast where she has found a new writing
group which she enjoys. From them has come the news of a new writing
competition that you may be interested in. The competition certainly hits home with
something we could all be guilty of. Go to http://shar.es/BcB2c for
details.
Angela would also enjoy
having a ‘writing buddy’ from Felixstowe. A writing buddy is somebody to read
over any writing that might need feedback - a reciprocal arrangement....with a
bit of constructive critique included. Any offers?
Fees.
Tonight was the first
meeting with increased meeting fees but also means that our membership fees are
terrific value for money. For eight months from April to November the cost is
£20, whilst six month’s membership from June to November is £15. The annual
November to November fee was £25 this year but the cost will be re-evaluated
later in the year. The fees are necessary to cover the cost of our room rental.
Tony
again requests more stories to be provided for the radio spots, ICR
broadcast the Scribblers work on Tuesdays at 15.30 on 105.7FM and Felixstowe
Radio Wednesdays at 21.00 on 107.5FM. A number have already been passed to him
so we will wait to listen to the results!
The Anthology.
Tonight we took a step
closer to our proposed anthology. As
you know we have been collecting some quotes for the pricing of an anthology –
A5 size, properly bound and with 75 pages. Currently Caz is investigating some
funding, and some artwork for the cover. We also have some artwork sent in by
our friend Jan who used to organise the online scribblers a number of years
ago.
With Ruth having agreed to
provide a foreword, it is now down to our members to provide the content,
stories or poems that will showcase the obvious talent within our group. That
is what this evening’s homework was all about.
Now
the homework!
Richard:
Good Morning What Can I Do For You? : Richard was so impressed
with Suzy’s open verse that he tried it for the first time himself and came up
with a gem of an effort. Based on an experience about the smiling girl in the
Bank, he wonders what she is thinking as she takes his cheque, perhaps waiting
for her payday. And what of the man in the queue, and the girl on the door who
was new last Tuesday and doesn’t stop laughing? What will she think if they
close her branch, make her redundant then read of the fortunes the bank has
amassed?
Liliane:
The Cold Wind Blowing: The winter of ’39-’40 was severe. Heavy
snow and hordes of hungry blackbirds fighting for crumbs in the back garden.
Mother Rosa said they were a bad omen but daughter Mitje tried to ignore it. Mitje
was a schoolteacher and though she had mobilisation papers she stayed at the
school. Her brother Jan came home from the Congo with his ‘little mistake’, a
young son who Mitje took under her wings. As war clouds darkened, Jan decided
to take the boy away for safety. Being mixed race would put him in danger when
the Germans invaded, Mitje was very upset.
Tom:
Time: An interesting and realistic portrayal of a police
interview, located in Hillhead. Time 2.15 am Friday 2nd November
2000. Interviewer turned on the tape, recorded those present as himself, D.S.
Sam Dennis, Interviewee Robert Peters and D.C. Don Mcullum. In the exchanges
between questioning and the sneering responses from Peters, some idea of his
character and profile emerged. Initially refusing a brief, after a break for a
smoke at 2.55am, Peters then asked for his brief, John Samuels, who always
brought expensive tailor made fags earned from washed up plonkers like
himself...
Carolyn:
Fathers and Sons at the Transport Museum: A moving story with
Carolyn taking a picture of her partner, Clive, and his 89 year old father,
Jack, beside the tram tracks at the East Anglia Transport Museum. It reminded
her of the hundreds of hours she’d spent at the Seashore Trolley Museum in
Kennebunkport, Maine, on the US Atlantic coast when her son, GR, was growing up.
She took scores of pictures of husband Gary and GR beside the collections or
riding to the end of the line. Then that September day in East Anglia, Clive
and Jack and Carolyn rode trams until late afternoon. Gary lost his battle with
cancer before Clive entered her life. Now a double picture frame stands on her
desk and chose a picture both fathers and sons from the US and England.
Dick:
Game for a Laugh: Seven year old Dick’s childhood adventures
with his mates. What was Operation Sealion they wondered? British or German?
Was the navy strapping explosives to the creatures to attack U-Boats? Or a
German plot to flood the English Channel with sealions? As the children watched the Home Guard’s
weekly training in full kit trying to crawl over a suspended rope between
island and shore. Virtually every one of the old codgers dropped into the muddy
waters creasing the boys with laughter. If the Germans could use sealions
against us, we could use laughter against them!
Derek:
For Better Life: Prague 2012. I am walking along the Charles
Bridge along with the Tourists. He sits slumped against the 15th
century stonework eyes heavy, unshaven and unkempt hair. Stained shirt, torn jeans.
An old coffee cup between his legs catching a few odd coins. She is elegant,
well dressed and crossing the bridge but stops and opens her purse, places two
coins in his cup which he acknowledges by lifting his head. She asks where he
is from and he replies, ‘Chechnya.’ Why are you here she continues. ‘I come for
better life...’
Caz:
Man’s Best Friend: Always in fear of owning a dog, the day came
after Jack’s eight courses of radiotherapy and before major surgery, that he
needed something to focus on and that something was a dog. A lady on a farm had
three golden Labrador puppies, and Jack fell in love with the male which he
named Kai. When they collected Kai there was not a dry eye in the place and at
home they enjoyed all the playfulness of the puppy. Kai helped with so many things, mainly giving
Jack so much happiness.
Dave:
The Happening: An eerie arrival at Alice’s family home that
is in complete and unusual darkness. Nothing seems right. Spooky owls hooting,
a kamikaze cat tripping her up, and then the open front door. The missing light
switch, the wrongly textured wallpaper. Scared witless Alice slips to the floor
in absolute blackness before a tiny prick of light appears and grows into an
enveloping brightness. She sees her welcoming parents appear...
Beryl:
Over My Dead Body: “Over my dead body!” It was the old man's
instant response to the doctor's tentative suggestion that he might consider
going into a home once he was discharged from hospital. Philip looked down at
the frail figure of Denis with pity. “And I'm not going into any bloody home!
Frank would never have agreed.” Frank was Denis's only child and Philip's
partner for 27 years but had died suddenly, shortly after his wife had died. In
spite of everything Philip had cared for the feisty Denis. Only now did he
admit that helping Denis back on to his feet had to some extent assuaged his
own grief. Denis was discharged, a care package in place. But it was some time
before Denis conceded that Philip was his son-in-law.
Tony:
A Walk in the Green Forest: Hunions goes off in search
of Blind Eye MacPherson. He managed to survive an unsuccessful attack on his
life by Lieto and Uriah. Eventually he met Knott and told him he was looking
for Blind Eye MacPherson who had a female companion. Knott gave directions in
strides, left turns and right that eventually took him to his quest but after
discussion, Blind Eye MacPherson shut the door in his face.
Les:
The Evacuee: A true story from Les, at nine, in wartime
England. Bombs falling on London where his father continued singing, unaffected
by the nearby explosion. Life carried on despite the war. Les was home from
evacuation in March, Cambs.for his sister’s wedding and party in the Queen
Victoria – Victoria Crescent not Albert Square. Then down to Cornwall where Les’s
brothers and sister were billeted at The Lizard and Coverack for two week’s
holiday away from the war. Then it was back to March and his loving and
sympathetic evacuation landlady.
Barry and Aidan did not
read.
It is always appreciated
when copies of your homework assignments can be loaned to enable a précis of
content to be included in the notes so thank you all.
Thanks to Liliane for collecting the key and thanks to Caz for providing
the biscuits for the meeting.
Our
next meeting is on Tuesday 15th April, usual time, usual
place with our annual historical themed homework assignment. Up to a maximum
1,000 words on any event, either fact or fiction, from past times. Should be
interesting!
Hope to see you next time,
Keep Scribbling!
