Online Scribblers Shock
I have just received news concerning the future of Online Scribblers from the organiser, Vincent West who is having to step down because of his business interests. It has, until the last few days, been a well kept secret that he would be leaving and I am sorry that he has had to make this decision. It is a sad day especially as neither Debbie nor I are able to take over. Vincent's message reads:
The future of Online Scribblers.
The time has arrived when, with deep regret, I have to resign as Organiser of Online Scribblers. A change in working practises will mean that I will be unable to devote any time to Online Scribblers in the foreseeable future.
What started as a platform for writers, generally those with a Felixstowe connection, to air and share their work in the relative safety of our members’ forums, has been fairly well supported until recent times. There has been a recent decline in postings which has been very disappointing but we have tried to soldier on.
Unlike sponsored and commercial clubs and organisations we have not been able to offer prizes for our competition winners – only the prestige of winning.
So what happens next?
After heartfelt discussions with our Administrator, Debbie and moderator, Dave at Felixstowe Scribblers, a decision has been made to close the site with immediate effect. It will remain closed until someone comes forward to take over.
The domain name is paid up until March 2009 and can easily be transferred, along with the site, to a new owner. If no-one comes forward by March next year, then site and everything in the forums will be permanently deleted and the domain name cancelled.
I really must thank all you writers who have joined in the forums and confess that I especially enjoyed the competitions, the ongoing stories but stress that every forum served a purpose.
I am sorry that I have to resign but thank you all for your support. I hope that someone will step forward and offer to take over Online Scribblers very soon. If you are interested, or know someone who is, then please let Dave know. You can reach him by email via scribblers.1@ntlworld.com
Vincent West
Saturday 5th July 2008.
Anyone who is genuinely interested in taking on this challenge, please email me in the first instance at the above address.
Dave
Online Scribblers 'Beach Bomb' competition winner
With the competition closed and all voting completed, I have great pleasure in announcing the winner of our ‘Beach Bomb’ competition – Ruth, whose entry was quite brilliant.
Well done Ruth!
Vincent West
Organiser
Online Scribblers
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET
Incorporating
the
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 1st JULY 2008
In the Chair: Peter.
Apologies for absence were received from Debbie, Jane and Morag.
In attendance: Les, Alex, Tony, Dick, Ruth, Trish, Liliane, Lauren, Barry, Peter, Ally, Stephen and Dave.
SCRIBBLERS NEWS
Debbie emailed her apologies for the foreseeable future – there is just too much work to get done but she hopes to join us all again soon.
Jane didn’t miss us at all, drinking Pimms in the sunshine at Wimbledon indeed! Hope she enjoyed the tennis. She says she has good news on two counts, the first that she has at last exchanged contracts on her house in Hertfordshire. Of the other good news Jane says:
“I heard from the Observer that they are publishing a travel piece I sent them for their 'readers crap holidays' section. Its a 400 word piece I wrote as part of the Creative Writing Group course about a holiday in Northern France in the rain. They expect to publish it in their travel section this Sunday. You can probably tell I am really chuffed.” The song “Its Good News Week” springs to mind. Well done Jane!
Morag was off to sample some clairvoyance she should know what the next homework will be!
Had a message from Ken (Matthews) who says he is just not writing at the present time, but who knows? There is a really good story in Ken and one day we hope it will be written.
Talking of non-attending members, Chris from Cairns down in Queensland has been in contact. He says “Please give my best to all the members. Hopefully, I will be out from under the yoke of paint, varnish, turps and mess sooner rather than later! Even 'er indoors is getting a bit tired of it, and she started it! Provided Mother goes the distance, I should be back over in September 2009 when she is due to click over for her 100th! Rebecca, my Sydneysider wife, has the theory that living on the east coast of England snap freezes people for half the year, so that they are actually only half their age! The corollary of that is that living in the tropics burns us up twice as fast! It's worth it.
Fare thee well, tergither. Chris (and Rebecca).
Do you remember young Megan who came along to the Scribblers one evening with her first book? Well she has already written a second one which is being read by one or two Scribblers at present. Megan will have a stall at Cricket Hill Residential Home on Saturday 26th July when her books will be available at £1 each. She is already starting a third book called ‘Arthur Meets the Romans’ and this may possibly be ready for her stall. Well done Megan and best of luck once more.
Caz emailed to say that young Liam Fairhurst is in a campaign to get another holiday caravan called “Jack and Liam's Haven II”, for families of sick children to stay down in Devon. The first caravan, purchased through Liam’s fantastic fund raising efforts, was in Yorkshire. The fresh campaign was only launched last week and there has been an amazing single donation of £40,000 to the fund in Liam and Jack's name at CLIC Sergeant. “WOW” said Caz who added, “I'm thrilled Jack may not be here but he won't ever be forgotten.”
Dave brought along a few old Felixstowe Scribbler Magazines which were handed out so hopefully they will provide a good read and a little bit of amusement.
THE BEACH PARTY
The social gathering takes place next Tuesday 8th July at the beach hut nearest to the Spa Pavilion (opposite the small roundabout). Starts at 7.30 so if you can make it, please come along. Wives, husbands, partners are all welcome! Although not obligatory, it will be nice if everyone brings along just a little donation of drinks, savouries or cakes. Oh, and don’t forget the sun!
ONLINE SCRIBBLERS
I hear on the grapevine that one of the Felixstowe Scribblers has won their recent competition. That’s the good news, the bad news is that Online Scribblers could be closing its doors unless someone else offers to take over. The information is sketchy at present but the organiser, Vincent, is due to make an announcement soon and I am almost certain that it will be posted on the weblog.
THE PLATFORM
1,500 word open themed topics:
Lauren: Beginning Of An Ending.
Trish: Insomnia.
500 word work on Memories.
Tony: There’s No Place Like Emoh.
Dick: I’ve Just Remembered.
Ruth: Family Snaps.
Liliane: In Not So Loving Memory.
Ally: Summer Holidays.
Peter: Valentine Vendetta.
Barry: Excuse Me.
Dave: Memories.
Les: History Lesson.
Alex: The Persistence Of Memory.
Stephen: Memory of the Safe Road.
Here’s a website you may be interested in – it’s a short story competition. For details go to http://www.munsterlit.ie/Short%20Story/Sof%20prize.html
Next meeting will be held on Tuesday 15th July at the Café Libra in Felixstowe Library, commencing at 7.30pm.
There is no homework assignment this time, simply bring along four small slips of paper each containing a single word of your choice. These will be dropped into a hat and then everyone will draw out four words that will be included in a little piece of creative writing. The meeting will be another of our fun short writing exercises.
Chairperson: to be announced.
Don’t forget the Beach Party on 8th July at a Beach Hut near the Spa Pavilion starting at 7.30pm. All Scribblers and husbands, wives and lovers are all welcome!
The Writer’s Café @ Starbucks on Monday 7th July is fully booked and Ruth will now be reading some of her work during the evening. This is part of the Ipswich Arts Festival that has promoted a short story competition. Word has it that both Ruth and Dick are included in the twelve strong short-list.
Thanks to Lauren yet again providing the cakes and to Peter for taking the chair and the notes for the first time.
Until next time,
Keep Scribbling!
OUR NEXT MEETING
Our next Felixstowe Scribblers meeting takes place this coming Tuesday 1st July at 7.30 in the Café Libra in Felixstowe Library.
Lauren and Trish will provide the 1,500 open themed homework whilst, if I recall correctly, the rest of us should write up to 500 words on ‘Memory'. Peter will make his 'debut' chairing the meeting.
Don't forget the Pulse Fringe Festival, details at http://www.pulsefringe.com/home.htm and the Ipswich Arts Festival events that start tomorrow can be found at http://www.ip-art.com/
A little word of warning - an email has been received from "The NTLWORLD Webmail Team" asking for personal webmail account details and passwords to be provided because of security upgrades. For NTL users who receive this email I would suggest it should be deleted from your inbox and from your deleted box also. It appears that similar style emails asking for account names and passwords are being targeted on some Virgin customers as well. So beware!
On a friendlier note the BBC Writersroom newsletter follows at the end of this email.
Have a good weekend and remember,
Keep Scribbling!
******************************
The BBC writersroom newsletter.
Sharman Macdonald Q&A
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The writer of The Edge of Love will be in conversation with Kate Rowland on Thursday 3rd July in London. Book your free ticket now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/sharman_macdonald2.shtml
BBC writersroom roadshows
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We're taking the BBC writersroom countrywide. Hear us talk about how our unsolicited scripts system works - and you can even give us your script in person.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/roadshows.shtml
Jack Thorne Interview
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Jack Thorne - writer for Skins and Shameless - talked to us last week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/jack_thorne.shtml
Writing Radio Drama
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Read our collection of tips on writing radio drama.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/tips_radiodrama.shtml
Script Archive
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Read scripts for shows including EastEnders, Casualty, Waking the Dead, and Silent Witness in our TV Drama script archive.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/tv_drama.shtml
Submitting your script to BBC writersroom
-----------------------------------------
Want to write for the BBC? Find out what to send us on our script submissions page.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/submissions_writersroom.shtml
Blog
----
Micheal Jacob tells more about the Comedy College, while Paul Ashton talks about Sharps. Join the conversation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/
Opportunities
-------------
Tamasha New Writing
Intensive, fully-subsidised training for aspiring British Asian playwrights.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/tamasha_new_writing.shtml
Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award
Win $2,500 and a trip to New York where your script will be read at the International Emmys.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/peter_ustinov.shtml
Protect the Human
Playwriting competition for Amnesty International and iceandfire theatre with a £3,000 prize.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/protect_the_human.shtml
The Alfred Fagon Award
£5,000 award for a new stage play by a playwright of Caribbean or African descent.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/alfred_fagon.shtml
Summer Challenge
Open writing call for unagented writers offering representation and a development deal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/summer_challenge.shtml
The Peter Wolff Theatre Trust Supports The John Whiting Award
Receive a £6,000 award for a recently-produced play.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/wolff.shtml
REPORT OF MEETING AND NEWSHEET
http://felixstowescribblers.com
http://nar8or.blogspot.com
http://onlinescribblers.com
For all your research and information for writers
visit your local Felixstowe Library
and the Suffolk Record Office .
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET
Incorporating
the
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 17th JUNE 2008
In the Chair: Alex.
In attendance: Trish, Lilian, Peter, Lauren, Steven, Barry, Les, Ruth, Dick, Tony, Morag, Alex and thanks to Dave and Jane for being able to make it in spite of their house move situations and a warm welcome to first time visitor Trish's Sister Sylvia.
SCRIBBLERS NEWS
In a lively news session we learned that the 'Peoples Friend' has asked Morag to write a story based on a picture they have sent her. Morag also mentioned that she has an interview on Felixstowe Radio. Felixstowe Radio is also now available by podcast at http://www.felixstoweradio.co.uk/. Tony told us a funny story about the shipping industry. Dick told us about an eerie event at the fort where he had heard a 'Winston Churchill' speech echoing around the rooms. Trish told us of her recent excellent Adriatic holiday and her difficulty with her travelling companion snoring. Lilian had lost and found the key to the library - as ever thanks once again to Lilian for collecting the key. Ruth reminded us that we could still submit our 200 word 'Suffolk' themed short story to Suffolk Magazine. It was her understanding that they planned to run a number of them in a spread so this is a really good opportunity to get in to print. Peter recounted how he was just back from a round the world trip. Lauren has started and has got quite a way in to writing a book and asked for a reader. Ruth said we would contact Sue Smith to see if this was of interest to her. Jane recounted her troubles with a house sale.
The platform:
Long Pieces: Barry read the introduction to a novel he is writing, 'Strictly a family affair' which will consist of two parallel stories that will eventually meet. Alex read his longer piece 'Boat Train.'
Short Pieces: Lilian read 'Things that go bump in Suffolk,' a collection of the ghost stories of Suffolk. Ruth read 'Suffolk' an almost poetic story of dizzy vertigo causing skies. Peter read 'Where I was brung up' in accent a tale of Suffolk lives and loves that concluded with Suffolk’s aeronautical history. Lauren read 'The Mindless Journey' a tale of a child’s imagination and the places it can go to. Jane read 'Woodbridge' about the richness and variety of a small community. Dave read a piece from his 'Chapter and Verse' project 'The Rood to Framlingham' in accent about the encounter of a Londoner with a Suffolker. Les read 'Silly Suffolk?' about how he loves Suffolk and its People, countryside, buildings and waterscape. Morag read 'Trimley Marshes,' about the sights and senses of this piece of seaside set in the countryside. Tony read 'Part of the things we do for Timothy Whiteboots,' more tales of the strange fantasy world he is constructing. Dick read 'Suffolk' which was about the counties rich delights, craftsmanship and variety of character. Sylvia read 'A chance reunion,' a story of a chance meeting with teacher Mr Bower. Trish finished up by reading two pieces, a piece of 'Homespun Philosophy' and a sonnet 'Before Nightfall darkness will come'.
Next time we meet is on Tuesday 1st July at 730pm in Cafe Libra.
Long pieces have been volunteered by Lauren and Trish with Ruth putting her name down for the meeting after.
The 500 word homework subject is 'Memory' suggested by Les.
Forthcoming Social Event: Put this in your diaries - It is the Beach Party on 8th July at a Beach Hut near the Spa Pavilion. Full details will be given nearer the time. It is on a Tuesday evening and will start at 7.30pm. All Scribblers are welcome!
Another entry for your diary is the Ipswich Arts Festival that takes place from Saturday 28th June until Sunday 13th July with various events organised throughout including the Writer’s Café @ Starbucks on Monday 7th July. Book now or be disappointed!
Thanks to Lauren and Steven for yet again providing the cakes
Until next time,
Keep Scribbling!
Alex
*****
LEAF BOOKS NEWSLETTER JUNE 2008
In this newsletter:
• New and ongoing competitions: Poetry Competition (*new*) and humour competition for Mostly Life;
• The Someday Supplement – available for purchase;
• Private printing project: The Siren of Salamanca by Brenda Ray;
• Proof-reader available;
• Shoe Tales.
Current Competitions
New: Poetry Competition.
Leaf Books invites you to submit poetry of any length and on any subject. Enter online or by post. £3 per single submission; £10 for four submissions. Winner receives £200. Runner-up receives ten free pocket-sized Leaf Books. All selected entries will be published in a competition anthology. Closes 31st October 2008.
Ongoing: Mostly Life Competition
Mostly Life (a sister site of Leaf Books: www.mostlylife.com) invites you to submit humorous material in any publishable medium imaginable: writing (fiction or non-fiction, including comic verse), videos (live-action or animated), audio files, cartoon strips, still pictures, games and anything else that comes to mind. All original, previously-unpublished and non-offensive material will be considered.
Video/audio material should ideally be no longer than five or six minutes, if that – remember that it has to quickly capture and then maintain its audience's attention.
Similarly, writing should ideally not go beyond a couple of pages.
Entry fee: £3 per entry, £10 for four entries. One winning entry will receive £200 and publication on the Mostly Life website. Other selected entries may also be published if they sufficiently tickle the judges' fancy. The winner or winners will be announced on the Leaf and the Mostly Life website. All copyright remains with the authors.
Enter online only and pay via paypal or credit card. Note that the payments go to the mothership at Leaf Books.
Closed: The Leaf Books Micro-Fiction Competition 2008 has now closed and is in the process of being judged. Please wait for further announcements.
*Note – if you’re paying for two or three entries at once, eg. £6 or £9, we advise you to make each payment separately (as in two or three lots of £3), otherwise you’ll incur an erroneous £1 p&p charge. It’s a PayPal glitch – we have to designate price groupings for postage charges and we can’t mark those amounts as p&p free without losing the p&p for our anthologies. There’s no problem, however, with paying for a single entry at £3 or a group of four entries as £10 – no p&p fee will be incurred.
Now available: The Someday Supplement
In 2007, Leaf Books ran a Spoof and Humour competition. In 2008, we tunnelled our way out of the mound of entries, blinking mole-ishly and very much tickled about the ribs. We were clutching some horoscopes and comical diaries and political satires and product reviews, and useful information on how to tell if someone fancies you via the medium of quantum physics.
The Someday Supplement contains the fourteen winning entries from that very competition – including 1st prize winner Gearalt MacAodha’s ‘Nota Bene’ and runner-up Robert Wilton’s ‘Horoscopes’ – with additional material by the Leaf Team. The book is available for purchase from our website, www.leafbooks.co.uk and costs £7.99 (plus £1 p&p per copy) or £6 if you’re a featured author.
Standing on the Cast-Iron Shore and Other Poems, which will contain the winning entries from our most recent poetry competition, is in the final stages of production. Keep checking the website for further announcements.
ivate printing project: The Siren of Salamanca by Brenda Ray.
Author Brenda Ray recently and joyfully received her copies of The Siren of Salamanca, the book she had printed through our private printing service. For further information about the book and the printing service and to purchase the book direct from the author at £9.99 per copy (via brendaray@hotmail.co.uk), please see our website at www.leafbooks.co.uk.
The Siren of Salamanca:
'Beyond the buildings, I can rise up now, above the cornfields, above the trees towards the blue mountains. A single shadow ripples over the stubble like a passing cloud. I have returned. I have come back. I am home.' – ‘Return Journey’
In this evocative collection of fourteen stories, nothing is quite what it seems. A girl is haunted by the story of a child who vanished from her grandmother’s house many years before. A resistance fighter tells her tale in an alternative England of the 1940s. A schoolboy becomes obsessed by a girl whose name appears on a war memorial. Two boys delivering newspapers discover a severed human head. Unruly children provoke a strange woman they encounter on a tour of Italy, alas for them, while other children are haunted by a strange doll they dig up in a suburban garden. Lovers are parted by the Spanish Civil War. A workplace romance precipitates jealousy and murder. And in the title story, a successful lawyer cheats on his wife whose doppelganger pursues him through the beautiful Spanish city of Salamanca.
Brenda Ray was born in Derby, where she still lives. She has worked at various times in librarianship and as a creative writing tutor. In the 1980s she worked as a free-lance playwright, with professional productions at a number of venues. In the 1990s, she returned to education to take a degree in Photographic Studies at the University of Derby. She has three grown-up daughters and one grandson. She now concentrates mainly on the short story form and her work is set largely in the East Midlands and in Spain, the country that haunted her as a child. The title story, ‘The Siren of Salamanca’, was the winner of the Allianz Cornhill Short Story Competition at the Guildford Book Festival in 2005.
Proof-reader available.
One of our published authors, Jo Horsman, is looking for proof-reading work. We’re too impoverished to offer her any right now, but we’d like to recommend her to anyone else out there in need of a spot of proof-reading. If you’re interested, get in touch with us at contact@leafbooks.co.uk and we’ll pass on your information.
Shoe Tales.
And finally … our wonderful work-experience person, Sarah, who’s presently undertaking the fairly mammoth task of databasing all your micro-fiction entries, has produced a blog called ‘Shoe Tales’ at http://shoe-tales.blogspot.com/ . In her own words:
‘Shoe Tales is a postcard project. It invites you to tell the story of your most memorable pair of shoes on a postcard. Old shoes, borrowed boots and shoes you laughed in or wore on a long walk - use words, doodles, photos to share their story. As postcards are received they'll be posted on this blog - as you can see it's a-filling up with shoe tales from far and wide. I hope you enjoy browsing through and if inspired, tell the story of YOUR memorable shoes.’
The address to which you ought to send your shoe tales is:
PO BOX 1048, CARDIFF CF11 1JH, WALES, UNITED KINGDOM
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Contacting Leaf Books
Email: contact@leafbooks.co.uk
Telephone: 029 20810726
Post: Leaf Books Limited, GTi Suite, Valleys Innovation Centre, Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taff CF45 4SN http://www.leafbooks.co.uk
A member of the GTi Business Network.
OUR NEXT MEETING
Our next Felixstowe Scribblers meeting takes place this coming Tuesday 17th June at 7.30 in the Café Libra in Felixstowe Library.
Alex and Barry have opted to undertake the 1,500 open themed homework assignment whilst the rest of us are asked to write up to 500 words on ‘Suffolk' Apart from anything else, we all know where Suffolk is! We expect Peter to have returned from his holiday in the Antipodes in time to chair the meeting.
We have a message from Vincent West at Online Scribblers that the entries for the current competition are disappointingly low with only three so far. The competition ends on June 21st and is for fun only, but there is still the prestige at stake of winning. So if you are a member of Online Scribblers then why not have a go? The subject is something that has been very close to our hearts in Felixstowe, 'Beach Bomb'. Go to http://onlinescribblers.com
A reminder that the Pulse Fringe Festival is underway and full details can be found at http://www.pulsefringe.com/home.htm whilst details of the Ipswich Arts Festival events are online at http://www.ip-art.com/
Something that is close to our wallets is the ever increasing cost of fuel that has a knock-on effect with virtually everything you can think off. There is a new group known as Transaction 2008.co.uk specifically formed for the General Motorist and Motorcyclist to help try and lower Duty or Fuel prices. Information on the group, including a fuel protest scheduled for Bristol tomorrow can be found on their website. http://www.transaction-2008.co.uk or
http://www.transaction-2008.co.uk/bstl.html
Have a good weekend and remember,
Keep Scribbling!
REPORT OF MEETING
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET
Incorporating
the
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 3rd JUNE 2008
In the Chair: Ruth.
Apologies for absence were received from, Morag, Debbie, Ally, Scott and Peter.
In attendance Ruth, Alex, Di, Barry, Dave, Dick, Les, Tony, Liliane and Jane.
SCRIBBLERS NEWS
Main news this meeting is that Scott has now taken on a Karate course in a bid to keep himself fit and gain another black belt. The downside is that the classes are held on a Tuesday and it means that in the foreseeable future ge will be missing from Scribblers. We hope, just like Arnie, he’ll be back!
Ally was unable to attend having suffered a very temporary bout of writer’s block with the homework theme. Quite understandable following three weddings in quick succession.
Dick was really thrilled to have won the Bill Budner trophy and immensely proud to have had his name engraved on it. Just goes to show that some folk deserve an award for their creativity and Dick is certainly one of them! Thanks to Scott for the engraving.
The Committee meeting due for Tuesday 10th June has been cancelled but with no demanding issues outstanding this does not pose a problem. The meeting will be rescheduled in due course.
Dave is likely to miss a few meetings over the coming months as he moves home and waits for an eye operation. This has put a new spin on his understanding of downsizing for a three storey house plus loft, garage and shed somehow have to be cleared quite quickly… He will attend meetings whenever he can but currently cannot plan too far ahead.
One thing he has done is to order a ticket and a reading slot at the Writers’ Café @ Starbucks in July with fingers crossed that he will make it. Hopefully there will be other Scribblers represented there.
An Experience…..
A family trip to London and a theatre booking to see The Phantom of The Opera was brilliant for Dave and family. He says,
“If you haven’t seen it then this show really is one not to be missed. Events after the show though were quite frightening. Following a declaration by Boris Johnson, the new Mayor of London, to banish alcohol in public places and on the London Transport system, protesting hordes of drinkers spent their time riding round the underground’s central line and causing mayhem on stations, fighting, swearing, throwing bottles, spilling beer and being sick. Some stations were closed and some services ceased running on safety grounds. Public order disappeared and attempts to get to Liverpool Street for a train back home were almost thwarted but quick decisions to use alternative routes sufficed. Eventually we made it to Moorgate then a few minutes walk to find Liverpool Street only to find it swamped by the marauding masses and closed off by scores of police. Thankfully we got home safely in the end!”
The platform:
1,500 word open themed assignment:
Tony: Honian’s Travels.
Dave: Lady.
500 word assignment on “Industry”
Liliane: The Aviary
Jane: Postcard from the Front Line
Les: Industrial Waste
Dick: The Fate of St Hughes
Barry: What Industry?
Di: Industrious Hands
Alex: Boat Train
Ruth: Family Snap
A smaller group than usual allowed more time for feedback and discussion on all work again. Very interesting and diverse they were too.
Once again there were some problems with security as the other group using the premises left windows open. Always worth checking before locking the premises!
Next meeting, to be chaired by Peter, is on Tuesday 17th June at 7.30pm in the Café Libra at Felixstowe Library.
The homework assignment is to write up to 500 words on ‘Suffolk’, an easier subject this time with endless possibilities for creativity.
The two 1,500 open themed work will be provided by Alex and Barry.
Forthcoming Social Events: Put these in your diaries - It is the Beach Party on 8th July at a Beach Hut near the Spa Pavilion. Full details will be given nearer the time. It is on a Tuesday evening and will start at 7.30pm. All Scribblers are welcome!
The Pulse Fringe Festival in Ipswich is already under way. Go to their website for details and how and where to order tickets. http://www.pulsefringe.com/home.htmAlso coming up is the Ipswich Arts Festival and their programme of events is now online at http://www.ip-art.com/ with workshops and the Writers’ Café @ Starbucks included.
Until next time,
Keep Scribbling!
*****
The Ads:
A message fro Rexie and Gordon
Our Charity – the Children of Pulilan Foundation has booked a trip to Belgium on Saturday 6th of September. We leave Ipswich Crown Street layby at about 6AM. Those who wish to stay at Citie Europe can be dropped off and those who wish to go to Adinkerke can go directly to Adinkerke then go back to Citie Europe to meet the rest of the group then back to the ferry.
Cost of the trip is £30.00 per person
Those who wish to stay at Citie Europe will then have a longer time to shop around.
If you are interested to book please let me know so that I can add your name to our lsit.
We need a deposit of £15.00 and the rest of the balance is payable at the end of July.
Should you have any further queries please let me know.
Telephone number 01473 273500 or 01473 729103
Cheers
Rexie
http://www.thechildrenofpulilanfoundation.co.uk/index.html
Itenerary
pick up at Crown Street layby, Ipswich at 6.00 am and to travel to Dover for 1005 P & O ferry to Calais which arrives 1235 local time and then droff some passengers at Cite Europe before going on to Adinkereke and returning back to Cite Europe before catching the 1945 ferry from Calais to Dover which arrives at Dover 2015.
***
A THOUGHT PERHAPS?
We are hitting 123.9 a litre in some areas now, soon we will be faced with paying 2.00 a ltr.. Philip Hollsworth offered this good idea:
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy petrol on a certain day campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT,whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.
Please read it and join in!
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre is CHEAP, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the market place not sellers.. With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in the pocket by not purchasing their Petrol! And we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. Here's the idea:
For the rest of this year DON'T purchase ANY petrol from the two biggest oil companies (which now are one), ESSO and BP.
If they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of Esso and BP petrol buyers. It's really simple to do!!
Now, don't wimp out at this point... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to a lot of people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it... ..
THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
OUR NEXT MEETING
Hi Scribblers,
Coming up on Tuesday 3rd June at 7.30 in the Cafe Libra in Felixstowe Library, the next meeting of the Scribblers.
The homework assignment is to write up to 500 words on ‘Industry’, whilst the two 1,500 opened themed works will be provided by Tony and Dave.
Some exciting events coming up are the Pulse Fringe Festival with events already getting under way. Go to their website for details and how and where to order your tickets. http://www.pulsefringe.com/home.htm
Also coming up is the Ipswich Arts Festival and their programme of events is now online at http://www.ip-art.com/
And the forthcoming social event for the Scribblers is our Beach Party (wayward bombs permitting) on 8th July at a Beach Hut near the Spa Pavilion. Full details will be given nearer the time. It is on a Tuesday evening and will start at 7.30pm. All Scribblers and their partners, friends and family are welcome!
Have a good weekend and remember,
Keep Scribbling!
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 20th MAY 2008
In the Chair: Morag.
Apologies for absence were received from Alex, Peter, Trish, Scott and Rosie.
In attendance Dave, Dick, Jane, Di, Ruth, Liliane, Morag, Tony, Steven, Lauren, Ali, Barry, Debbie, Steven, and Rob.
Welcome to Rob who came along for the first time. From Ipswich, Rob is an Ipswich based poet who has published two books of poetry. Rob has an interesting website at http://www.lenney.org.uk Although the evening was devoted to the anonymous competition, Rob entered and was able to take part in the interesting proceedings.
SCRIBBLERS NEWS
Trish and Peter were absent due to holidays, Alex attending the theatre in Bury St Edmunds, Rosie studying hard for her exams and Scott now recovering from his leg injury is starting a new class. It looked as if the attendance would suffer, but, with a trophy up for grabs, there was a healthy turnout.
Dick received a £10 book token as winner of the monthly Coast to Coast poetry competition with his entry “The School Bus Run”, so well done Dick!
Caz and Karl completed their sponsored cycle ride in memory of their son Jack and to aid EACH. The East Anglian Daily Times covered the story on Tuesday morning.
Snippets of news are that Rochelle Moore from the Online Scribblers has a publishing contract for her new book, “WITCH” with Green Magic Publishing UK. It will be available to pre-order from info@greenmagicpublishing.com and is expected in UK and European bookshops in October/November 2008 and will also be available on Amazon.
Susie Enoch a Scribbler in recent times who played Mrs Flint in the Lost Sock is currently working on some performance poetry which, she says, is a bit late for this year and Edinburgh - but there’s always next year!
Our newest author, Judy, was featured on Felixstowe Radio last weekend being interviewed by our own Morag and Kay. A great piece of radio with Judy coming across extremely well and with advertising her terrific book “Like Ships That Pass in the Night”, on sale as well. The interview will be repeated this Sunday, 25 May, at 12 noon on www.felixstoweradio.co.uk
The platform:
THE BILL BUDNER TROPHY: An anonymous competition open to attending writers only and up to a maximum of 1,000 words. Here are the entries together with first the name of the reader followed by the name of the author.
Suddenly That Summer : Lauren : Liliane
Loose Connections : Ali : Di
Midsummer Dawn : Barry : Rob
Water Firework : Dave : Ruth
The Sleepover : Dick : Morag
Firing Blanks : Debbie : Dave
Just My Luck : Jane : Lauren
Stranger : Rob : Ali
Night Time Excess : Di : Barry
Matricide : Ruth : Debbie
Goddess of the Sun : Liliane : Tony
An Arctic Wilderness : Morag : Jane
A Gift From The Sea : Tony : Dick
With each reader voting for their top three stories, the winner was declared as A Gift From The Sea, a story based on two characters from The Lost Sock and a bomb washed up on the beach.
The Winner Dick.
Runner Up was Di with Loose Connections
Third place went to Jane with An Arctic Wilderness.
Morag presented the trophy to Dick. Scott, of Mr Cobbler, will engrave the trophy.
An observation was that the standard of the competition was very high and the diversity of entries was truly enthralling. It is a shame that we have to wait for another four months before Dick hands the trophy back! The trophy is only on loan!
ONE TO CONSIDER?
Hello
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS
MEMBERSHIP TO LITERARYAGENT.CO.UK
During the month of May 2008, LiteraryAgent.co.uk is offering lifetime Group Membership for a one-off fee of only £50.00.
The Members' Area at LiteraryAgent.co.uk is full of resources, information and advice, full details of which can be found by visiting Members' Area Information.
If you decide to take up this offer, all you need to do is to e-mail me a list of the names and e-mail addresses of the people in your group and at the same time, make the appropraite payment by visitng:
http://www.literaryagent.co.uk/payments.htm
Once your list and payment has been safely received, we will organise access for you and your Group to the Members' Area. Each Group Member will be given individual access details and will be contacted individually. Should a new member join your Group at a later time, again, simply e-mail us the name and e-mail address of that new Member and we will sort out access.
SHORT STORY AND POETRY COMPETITONS
Just a quick note to let you all know that LiteraryAgent.co.uk will shortly be running a Short Story Competition and later in the year a Poetry Competition.
If you have any queries whatsoever, please do not hesitate to contact me.
All the very best
Anita Lechmar
www.LiteraryAgent.co.uk
****
Next meeting, to be chaired by Ruth, is on Tuesday 3rd June at 7.30pm in the Café Libra at Felixstowe Library.
The homework assignment is to write up to 500 words on ‘Industry’, a subject that we made need to work at.
The two 1,500 opened themed work will be provided by Tony and Dave.
Forthcoming Social Event: Put this in your diaries - It is the Beach Party on 8th July at a Beach Hut near the Spa Pavilion. Full details will be given nearer the time. It is on a Tuesday evening and will start at 7.30pm. All Scribblers are welcome!
Another entry for your diary is the Ipswich Arts Festival that takes place from Saturday 28th June until Sunday 13th July with various events organised throughout including two creative writing workshops on Saturday 5th July each costing £20 including lunch, a poetry tent at the Music In The Park Day on Sunday 6th and the Writer’s Café @ Starbucks on Monday 7th July.
Thanks to Lauren and Steven for yet again providing the cakes and to Morag for taking the chair and notes.
Until next time,
Keep Scribbling!
*****
For the latest BBC writersroom newsletter scroll down the weblog
*****
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tel: 01782 584215
mobile: 07930 367227*****
A Wind Farm off Felixstowe?
It has been reported that the world's largest offshore wind farm with 140 wind turbines will be erected off the Suffolk coast and could start producing electricity as early as 2009.
Work is expected to start next year on the Greater Gabbard wind farm with comletion planned for 2010.
Chosen for its high wind speeds and quite low depths of water, there appears to be no environmental concerns although fishermen are worried about the impact on fishing grounds. It is considered unlikely that wind farm will be visible from the shore so it should not impact on the horizon. The field will offer its power to the National Grid at Sizewell.
BBC writersroom newsletter
OUR NEXT MEETING
Tuesday 20th May at 7.30 in the Cafe Libra is where its at! That's the competition for attending wrtiers only to win the Bill Budner Trophy.
Yes the Bill Budner Trophy is up for grabs again - reminding us that Morag must return the trophy as her 'loan' period is now over!.
You may write up to 1,000 words on any subject or genre you choose. Of course, if you wish to submit a poem then please do.
The only stipulations are that your work must be typed and anonymous - so please do not include your name at all.
The work will be laid face down on a table and then each Scribbler will pick an entry, have a few minutes to familiarise themselves with the work before reading it out to the group. Everyone will have the opportunity to mark each work, the winner being announced later in the evening with the trophy being presented to them by the current holder, Morag.
On the evidence of our Bill Budner Trophy competitions, this should be another good evening.
Here's to it and may the best work win!
Keep Scribbling!
Like Ships that Pass in the Night
Sunday 25 May at 12 noon Morag and Kay interview Felixstowe author Judy Clements about her new book on www.felixstoweradio.co.uk
Driver could hold key to finding Luke
It is two years since young Luke Durbin went missing on his way home from a night out in Ipswich. For his family and friends the period has been devastatingly concerning and very frustrating. Like all the other people, young and old, who disappear from our lives, we all hope, and pray, that they will be all be returned to their families some day.
From the pages of tonights Ipswich Evening Star on Monday 12 May 2008 reported by TOM POTTER, is the following feature on Luke.
A makeshift shrine to missing Luke at the Cattle Market.
ON the two year anniversary of her son's disappearance, Nikki Durbin today told how she believes the identity of a motorist captured on CCTV could hold the answer to where her son is.
Luke Durbin's mum renewed her appeal to locate the driver captured on CCTV in Ipswich the night he disappeared as she told of her pain in enduring two years without him.
Luke, from Hollesley, was last seen crossing the road from St Stephens Lane to the Old Cattle Market in Ipswich after a night out with friends at Zest nightclub.
He was 19 when he went missing in the early hours of Friday, May 12, 2006 and the last confirmed sighting of him is on CCTV images in the town centre, close to the bus station around 4am.
Luke Durbin
Despite extensive appeals for information and numerous unconfirmed sightings of Luke, he has still not returned home.
Even though the response from the public has been encouraging, police are still awaiting the vital piece of information that may lead them to Luke.
They are still keen to trace the driver of a silver car spotted on CCTV footage released shortly after Luke's disappearance.
The car is shown driving past Tinkerbelle bridal wear shop in Orwell Place around the time of the last sighting of Luke.
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Nikki Durbin
Today Ms Durbin said she is desperate to locate whoever was behind the wheel of the car.
She said: “Since Luke has been missing there have been so many calls from people with potential sightings and support and I can't thank those people enough for that.
“Now I want to find the driver of this car because I believe they can tell us something we don't know about what happened to Luke.”
Luke was recently featured on the BBC's Missing Live program which turned up even more sightings from all over the country.
Detective inspector Ian Addison, who is leading the Suffolk police enquiry into Luke's disappearance, appealed directly to Luke to get in touch with them or his mum to let her know he is safe.
Ms Durbin said: “We had 27 cases of sightings from that appeal and Whitechapel in London was again mentioned. One lady thought she had seen Luke selling the big issue but a photo sent to the police proved it wasn't him.
“There were so many new sightings for the police to follow them up but I think they had exhausted most of the other avenues they could go down.
“As time goes by, I realise that the search for Luke is endless and I still fear that I might not live to see him return. I hope to find him in whatever circumstance before I die.”
Ms Durbin has distributed new posters around Ipswich appealing for the driver of the silver car to come forward.
Anyone who may be able to help in find Luke can call Suffolk police on 01473 613500 or in confidence call Missing People on 0500 700700 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
Send a message of support to Nikki Durbin by writing to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
Where to join in the campaign to find Luke:
www.findluke.com
www.myspace.com/findluke
www.missingpersons.org
Or e-mail: findluke@hotmail.co.uk
http://felixstowescribblers.com
http://nar8or.blogspot.com
http://onlinescribblers.com
For all your research and information for writers
visit your local Felixstowe Library
and the Suffolk Record Office .
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS NEWSHEET
Incorporating
the
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 6th MAY 2008
In the Chair: Dick.
Apologies for absence were received from Alex, Peter and Rosie.
In attendance Debbie, Ali, Tony, Jane, Trish, Liliane, Morag, Steven and Lauren, Barry, Dave and Dick.
An extra Tuesday in April meant a three week gap between meetings, and goodness, the “excitement” we had during that time! Namely one World War Two bomb that was found, then towed out to sea, lost, found and then detonated. During this worrying saga we understand that Kay was one of the Scribblers who had to evacuate and ended up ’house sitting’ for Morag who was away on holiday at the time. Incidentally, Morag was back in Felixstowe at the home of a former Scribbler, Sue Smith, when the bomb was detonated and shook the house. It makes one understand the need for such an exclusion zone.
As a footnote to this, Felixstowe TV provided some really excellent coverage with the footage still available to view on their website at http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/news.php
THE BILL BUDNER COMPETITION sponsored by Maureen.
Confirmation of the results of the competition are:-
ADULT
1st Ruth Dugdall - Old Dogs & New Tricks
2nd Kayley Lyndle - Off the Beaten Track
joint 3rd - Morag Clarke - Suspicious Minds
joint 3rd - Una McMorran - The Waiting Room
CHILDRENS
1st - Harriet Avery (aged 14) - It all started when...
2nd - Emily Sims (aged 11) - Cooking up Trouble
3rd - Megan Payne (aged 9) - Valentina the Doctor`s Daughter.
Maureen enjoyed the competition but with fifty one entries she needed help judging the entries with a friend and her son. Our sincerest thanks to Maureen for making this possible and, of course, congratulations to all the winners.
SCRIBBLERS NEWS
Nice to welcome back Debbie, Trish and Ali to our meeting.
Alex missed the meeting as he is in Scotland where his sister was married at the Bank Holiday. Let’s hope their weather was as good as ours!
Rosie has dropped out of the Scribblers for the time being because of revision for her GCSEs. Fingers crossed that it all pays dividends and she gets her passes. So best of luck Rosie and see you whenever you can make it back.
Peter is of course on the other side of the world by now and will miss the next two meetings as well. Doubtless he’ll come back with an Australian twang to his Suffick haccent.
Caz sent her sincerest thanks to The Felixstowe Scribblers for the collection in aid of Jack’s Just Giving fundraiser for EACH. The Scribblers are mentioned on their website.
An update on Liam can be viewed at
www.itvlocal.com/anglia/?player=ANG_HomePage_15&void=159027
www.itvlocal.com/anglia/?player=ANG_HomePage_15&void=183863
www.itvlocal.com/anglia/?player=ANG_HomePage_15&void=120444
Tony’s brother has had his first book published in the USA where he lives. His first attempt, a saga of over a million words never made it, but this book was conceived written and published in just a few short months. Perhaps there is a market for publishing Stateside.
A message has arrived from Pat who has been missing for a while. She says
“I regret that I have not been able to attend recently. This year, Tuesday is proving to be a bad day for me because it is our main competition day at my golf club, and, as I am Lady Captain, I have a lot of work that day and usually that evening. But I do hope to see you all soon. I do enjoy the meetings.”
Scott has also been in contact and apologises for missing the last two meetings. The first was a little depression over his injured leg that led to an inability to do any fitness training. Overall this has given him not helped and this, can you believe it, has led to his first ever writers block. Scott and Aimee are off on holiday this Saturday and now, it seems, may also be starting another Tuesday class. Let’s hope they have a lovely relaxing holiday and come back refreshed and with fresh literary ideas for Scott. Just as an aside, there are some tips at http://onlinescribblers.com covering writers block.
A reminder that the Ipswich Arts Festival runs from June 28th until July 13th and will include three different writers’ workshops during the fortnight. Details of the events will be released early in May. Check out the website for more details including the 2008 Short Story Competition that has cash and book tokens available in three categories, Adult, Young People (ages 12-16) and Children (ages 7-11). The subject is for a 500 word story on ’Migration’ whilst the children’s competition calls for 250 words on ’Journeys’. Be warned that the closing date is rapidly approaching - Friday May 16th, so if you haven’t yet entered then visit
http://www.ip-art.com/news_details.php?id=26
This will give you all the details you need.
A NEW AUTHOR ON THE BLOCK
We are pleased as punch that our Judy has at last had her book published. Entitled “Like Ships That Pass in the Night”, a cover shot is available on our weblog along with the LAWRENCE MEDIA press release. The book costs £12.99 and is available from Amazon or can be ordered from bookshops.
Well done Judy!
Of course there has been some not so good news for Judy. Her passion for Burma and the tales and pictures she has provided for us in the past, has been tempered by the dreadful tragedy that has cost so many lives. Judy says “Our friend and guide Zuu appears to be missing and my London-based Burmese friend is in distress as his parents live in Yangon and sister and family in the devastated delta region. He has no means of finding out whether they are even alive. I am so sad for them all.” I am certain that all Scribblers share Judy’s concerns.
AFTER THE MEETING - by Dave
Locked up after the meeting and the alarm activated. Had to re-enter the building and check round thoroughly before discovering a window on the upper floor had not been properly closed. The alarm reset perfectly after that.
On the way back to Ipswich along the A14, first a motorcyclist joined dead in front of me and disappeared into the distance at approaching a ton. I was travelling at 70mph and being caught and overtaken by a very fast moving car when another vehicle, a taxi, came from the Trimleys to join the A14, accelerating hard and beginning to pass me on the inside - I had nowhere to go, but the idiot of a taxi driver decided to brake hard after nearly spearing me in the side. He hung back and then came past me a few miles down the road well in excess of the speed limit.
If you think that was enough, coming off the A12 were two fire engines, blue lights flashing and I got trapped between them. I couldn’t brake to let the second one past to begin with because it was not safe to do so. Although I pulled to the side, I kept driving as I did not want to cause an accident by stopping but the following fire engine did not attempt to pass. The Orwell Bridge and cones, miles of cones. The leading fire engine was caught behind a stream of slower moving traffic and then - ahead I could see all the blue lights, police vehicles all over the place - that’s when the second engine came past me. There was carnage at the Wherstead turn-off and, although only two vehicles were apparently involved there were many more slewed all round the scene. From the newspaper reports the driver of the car involved is critical.
After that, I got home safely, though perhaps a little shakily! One could say that the library alarm delayed me sufficiently to avoid being directly involved in the accident…..
The platform:
The Open 1,500 word work:
Liliane: Too Long at the Fair.
Dick : Just Like Robbing ‘ood.
The Themed 500 word assignments on ‘Fair or Fare‘:
Debbie: Cloven
Ali: The Snarl’s Tale
Lauren: Random Story Part Three.
Tony: The Things We Do for Timothy Whiteboots
Jane: All the Fun of the Fair.
Trish: Strawberry Fair.
Barry: The Cricket Club.
Dave: Fair.
Dick and Dave then read out a short script for Bill and Bert of The Lost Sock fame, entitled “The Navy Lark - Felixstowe.” Guess what that was about! Tony was asked if we could write a 30 minute skit on the missing bomb…. That’s one for the melting pot perhaps.
Next meeting Tuesday 20th May - and another special meeting.
This time it is the Bill Budner Trophy up for grabs. This means that the homework is on any theme and in any genre you wish.
The only stipulations are that your work must be typed and anonymous - so you must not include your name at all.
The work will be laid face down on a table and then Scribblers will pick an entry, have a few minutes to familiarise themselves with the work before reading it out to the group. Everyone will have the opportunity to mark each work, the winner being announced later in the evening with the trophy being presented to them by the current holder, Morag.
Thanks to Barry, Lauren and Steven for providing the eats again.
Until next time,
Keep Scribbling!
Dave (for Dick)
*****
HOW THE OTHERS DO IT - THE RIVERSIDE WRITERS
Contents:
1) Riverside Writers' next meeting - dates & writing project.
2) AGM Report for 2008.
3) Photos of Words from Wordsmiths
The next meeting of Riverside Writers will take place at 7.30-9.30pm at West Kirby Library in The Concourse, on Monday, May 19th.
May's writing project is set on the theme of The Stray Shoe. How many times, when you've been travelling around, have you seen a perfectly good shoe flung onto a grass verge or bus stop roof, or similar? Who did the shoe belong to, and how did it get there? Where is the other shoe now, and who has it? In a poem or short story (of any length), tell the story of the stray shoe.
AGM Report for 2008
Founded in 1998 by Val New, the group has recently been experiencing a dramatic increase of membership. A year ago, the group was on the verge of being disbanded due to poor attendance, but this is most certainly not the situation now.
AGM 2008 ELECTIONS!
After many years of service, Val New has retired as Treasurer. We thank her for all her hard work. Our new Treasurer is Peter Hurd, who writes poetry, non-fiction and fiction in several genres.
Tim Hulme was re-elected as Secretary. Tim’s humorous stories have been broadcast on Radio Merseyside, and his work has been published in The New Cauldron magazine.
Adele Cosgrove-Bray was re-elected as Chairperson. Adele has been published by Hadley Rille Books, Dark Moon Press, Prediction Magazine and others. For more information visit:- http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com . Or try her MySpace site:- http://www.myspace.com/whimsicalpixels .
SUMMARY OF “WORDS FROM WORDSMITHS”
Riverside Writers presented Words from Wordmsiths on April 7th, as part of Wirral BookFest. Everyone who took part in this well-attended evening of readings enjoyed the experience and considers the event to have been a success. West Kirby Library has invited us to hold a similar event next year, which is excellent news.
SUMMARY OF GROUP WRITING PROJECTS
Each month, Riverside Writers set a project wherein everyone in encouraged to write either a poem of short story (of any length) to a particular theme. The theme might be a specific location, or inspired by an unusual photograph or phrase, or there might be a required opening sentence. Sometimes a random bunch of words (eg. potato, cuckoo clock, ballet shoe, Lamborghini) might have to be used within the same written piece.
Participation is not mandatory, but everyone who has taken part has found the exercise worthwhile, both in terms of improving their writing skills and confidence, and in providing them with a body of work.
The projects have also given the meetings a focus.
GROUP PURPOSE (in no particular order)
a) To encourage people to write.
b) To offer constructive, polite criticism of each others’ work.
c) To offer useful advice about the publishing industry.
d) To encourage use of the internet as a networking tool.
e) To provide a friendly and informal atmosphere where writers of all genres and abilities can socialise.
A copy of this AGM report can be read at http://www.myspace.com/riversidewriters where comments can be left.
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