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.