Felixstowe Library refurbishment

An interesting page with information on theFelixstowe Library refurbishment.

'SUNDAY FUN' . The next meeting is Tuesday 2nd August at 7.30 pm at the Library.

Dave writes....

Hi Scribblers,



Just a quick email to let remind you that the next meeting is on Tuesday 2nd August at 7.30 pm at the Library. The homework theme is 'SUNDAY FUN' or 'FUN SUNDAY' and should be no more than an absolute maximum of 500 words. The two open themed pieces by Sue and Ken should be kept within a maximum of 1,500 words.







With attendances so healthy, it is important that we manage our time to enable the meeting to finish by 10.00pm.



Keep Scribbling!



Dave

Dave and Caz on Radio Suffolk Today : Thursday 28th July

Dave writes.....



.....Oh and I think I'll be on Radio Suffolk's action desk on Thursday around 12.10 for a couple of minutes whilst Caz will have a poem read out tomorrow by Lesley Dolphin.

A mini feature on Morag Clarke and her work available for sale at www.littlelemur.com.

I was just following some of the links Dave enclosed in the report of the of Meeting 19th July 2005 and ended up on the
littlelemur.com website.



There is an interesting profile of Morag which is well worth a read and features Morag’s BBC Radio Suffolk interview with Rachel Sloane 2/6/04.



You can also read for free the first chapters of Morag's Books ‘Green Wellies and Wax Jackets’ and 'Hides A Dark Soul'.



There is also a message board dicussion of 'Hides a Dark Soul'.

A date for your diaries.A social and a farewell for Belinda and Geoff

A date for your diaries. Tuesday 23rd August at the Grosvenor in Ranelagh Road Felixstowe - not so much a happy summer social but more of a farewell for Belinda and Geoff. For those who don't know, they have been in England for a considerable time researching their family history in the Ipswich Record Office. Belinda and I chatted about writing and hey presto, she soon became one of our valued members who now promises to join the Online Jotters as soon as the invite comes out.




Please will everyone who wishes to come along for a meal and a drink let me know as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be finalised. Menu details will follow shortly. Thanks.




Read about the BBC radio Suffolk Salt and Pepper award, The Grovsenor and the Felixstowe Scribblers.

Felixstowe Scribblers Report of Meeting 19th July

Apologies were received from Judy who is now on an
extension to her 'leave' from Scribblers somewhere, I believe in the Norwegian
area. She expects to be back during September. Lisa is also away on
holiday but should return for our next meeting. Apologies too from Caz
and Jack (see below).

It was welcome back to both Sue and Christine.
Sue, as you will know from previous reports, has had a fascinating holiday in
Canada chasing the Mounties, or was it chasing over the Rockies? Christine has
been on holiday then helped her daughter with a move of home.

Joining them in another bumper attendance this evening
were Kate, Dick, Peter, Les, Liliane, Ann, Louis, Scott, Gordon, Ken, Morag,
Ruth, Diane, Mark, Ellen, Belinda, Mavis, Tony, Alex, Jacky and Dave.

Regarding the size of the group there had only been one email
follow-up since the last meeting and that was from Ann, that if we exceed 15 in
number then we should split the group into two. This would give both groups the
opportunity for feedback on everything written.

However, better management of time produced a nice flowing
meeting that I believe everyone enjoyed. The tea and coffee break was good with
new members and old mixing and conversing in a really lovely atmosphere. There
were feedbacks from the readings and, the main thing was that the meeting still
finished before 10.00pm.

Unless we have another sudden influx of members I think we will
maintain our present format which still allows for two 1,500 open subject
pieces. Any comments in favour or against would be appreciated at scribblers@ntlworld.com

Spotted Jacqui Loose outside the library chatting to
Belinda. Jacqui, of course, produced that wonderful work 'in collaboration' with
the Scribblers for her fine art degree. This work can be viewed at the Ferry
Boat Inn (see our website http://nar8or.blogspot.com )

There were two surprise visitors to the Scribblers at the start of the
meeting. They were Denise and her mother Mrs Grilli. Denise, who works
for UNESCO (United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in Paris, contacted the Scribblers perhaps two years ago asking for
information on the origins of the name 'Felixstowe'. Our own historian
Doreen Rayner supplied some information and Denise and I then linked up
live on Radio Suffolk courtesy of our friend Rachel Sloane. This evening's visit
was very brief and didn't allow any time to chat with Denise.

Let's all wish Les the best of luck next week as he goes into
hospital for an operation. Just leave the nurses alone Les!!! - and get well
soon.

Caz reports that Jack has had a very tiring week
starting off at Great Ormond Street hospital on Sunday and then, after a day
back in Felixstowe was off to Addenbrooks for another session of chemotherapy.
Poor Jack and Caz must be absolutely exhausted. Let's keep sending out the
wishes for our young member Jack who, in his eleven years, has really been
through the mill.

At the other end of the age scale Allen has not been
with us recently. We understand he isn't too well and can't get here as his lift
(Judy) isn't available at present. Let's think about Allen too and hope that we
will see him again when Judy gets back into the country again.

Morag tells me that the Little Lemur site at www.littlelemur.com announces in their
News section, that the latest novel by best-selling author Morag Clarke, will be
available soon. A great booster for Morag after recent a bout of exploding
washing machines, gas leaks and the worry over daughter Lindsey who was on her
way to work at Great Ormond Street hospital when the terrorists bombs exploded
in London. Fortunately Lindsey was safe. Incidentally we should all congratulate
Morag (and cough up the cash) for completing the Race for Life in London on a
very hot day in a time of just 38 minutes for the 5Km,

You may already have noticed some addtions to our website that
Alex has included. Isn't he doing a great job? By now hee should now be
liasing with Jan about adding a section or page for the forthcoming
Felixstowe Scribblers - Online Jotters section. An invitation will
shortly be sent out to members to join up and respond by email to onlinejotters@yahoo.co.uk It would be
good if you could pass details on to anyone you know with an interest in
writing.

Ken thanked everyone who gave him some really good feedback
on his script 'Coven.' The first episode will soon be sent off with a synopsis
for each of the final two episodes.

And talking of episodes…filming Felixstowe TV's mini drama
serial… has finally begun with the first action taking place last
Sunday. The writers were all present with Tony and three other members of
the cast running up and down Bent Hill about six times in the blazing sunshine.
Spare a thought for Dick and Dave playing the old geezers (according to
Felixstowe TV). They had a terrible time sitting on that seat on the prom
watching the time pass by…

The next scenes will be shot this Sunday (meet outside the
Waverley Hotel at 09.30 and anyone interested in being an extra please meet
there. Also, for current information and mugshots view the website at

http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/miniserial/.

Does anyone know anything about the Ipswich Writers
group - if it is up and running and when and where the meetings are held,
please?

A date for your diaries. Tuesday 23^rd August
at the Grosvenor in Ranelagh Road Felixstowe - not so much a happy summer social
but more of a farewell for Belinda and Geoff. For those who don't
know, they have been in England for a considerable time researching their family
history in the Ipswich Record Office. Belinda and I chatted about writing and
hey presto, she soon became one of our valued members who now promises to join
the Online Jotters as soon as the invite comes out.

Please will everyone who wishes to come along for a meal and a
drink let me know as soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be
finalised. Menu details will follow shortly. Thanks.

***

And so to the readings. (This time without feedback I am
afraid).

Liliane read out 'The Black Cat' and Ruth 'The Woman
Before Me' which were the two open themed subjects.

Louis who selected the topic "Secret Desires" produced
'Curiosity Killed the Cat'. Scott read out 'Lonely' followed by
Gordon and his 'Overcoming the Opposition'.

Ken decided it was safer to do his own homework this time (please see
previous report) and read out 'The Way We Judge'. Mark read out
'A Life Spent
Well'. Diane wrote the first of several works entitled 'Secret Desires'.
Others with the same title were read out by Ellen, Belinda, Mavis and
Christine.

Tony read 'Beyond House and Home', Jacky 'Walberswick in August',
a poem dedicated to the memory of Gary Unwin Rose who drowned two years ago.
Dave shared 'Just One More Time' and Kate another entitled 'Secret
Desire', whilst Alex read 'In the Bunks at Night' his distinctive
style.

Sue read out her poem 'What Nonsense' and Dick, 'Let Me Be
Noticed'. Peter shared his 'Desires or Wishes' whilst Les and Ann
both read out work entitled 'Secret Desires'.

Morag read Jan's 'Secret Desires : In confidence.

Dave read Margareta's 'Why I shall not reveal my secret desire -
yet.'

Quite a diverse evening and one which was devoid of the kind of secret
desires that were expected!

The new homework assignment is 'Sunday Fun' set by
Dave from a notice on the wall of the children's section of the Library
where we are currently gathering. There is a strict maximum of 500
words for this whilst the open themed work will be read by Sue and
Ken with a maximum word count of 1,500.

From now onwards every member, in turn, will be offered to the
opportunity to write a 1,500 word story in future. And a diary will be kept for
this.

Our next meeting is in two weeks time on Tuesday 2^nd
August at the usual 7.30pm start time.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling and sending out your thoughts to those in
need..

Dave.

LifeLines Press - A NEW PRINTING PRESS TURNS FAMILY HISTORIES INTO FAMILY HEIRLOOMS

A colleague and I have started a new printing press which has received huge
encouragement from literary agents and publishers. We hoped it might be of
interest to some of your writers. It’s been set up mainly for authors of
non-fiction - autobiography, memoir, biography, travel, and family histories -
who have had difficulty getting their work accepted, or who feel their
manuscript is not necessarily for the commercial market.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like more information.

Best wishes,

Rebecca de Saintonge

A NEW PRINTING PRESS TURNS FAMILY HISTORIES INTO FAMILY HEIRLOOMS

A new printing press has been set up that offers an alternative to the
potential exploitation of vanity publishing.

LifeLines Press was started in April of this year by two professional writers
who were frustrated that wonderful autobiographies and family stories were not
getting into print because they didn’t meet the demands of the commercial market
place. Until last Christmas Rebecca de Saintonge was the manager of The Literary
Consultancy, the country’s most prestigious critiquing agency. There she and her
colleague, Alan Wilkinson, worked as mentors and editors to aspiring writers.

They were sent memoirs from people as diverse as circus performers and
holocaust survivors. They read love letters from the Boer War and stories of
ordinary families that spanned generations. Both felt these texts were unique
social documents in their own right and deserved to be preserved for future
generations – the problem was how.

"The only alternatives were for people to self-publish – which isn’t easy to
do well unless you have specialist knowledge – or to go to a vanity publisher.
This costs many thousands of pounds and you usually end up with a pile of unsold
books under the spare bed", says Rebecca de Saintonge. "The road to vanity
publishing is often paved with spurious promises and false hope, as many of our
clients testified. And not infrequently there are hidden costs that aren't
immediately obvious."

Alan and Rebecca decided to set up their own press to produce limited hard
back editions that were not for sale, but made to be kept as heirlooms, handed
down to friends and family. Every book is individually designed, printed on
archive paper and stitched. They are bound in a variety of leathers and hand
made marbled papers by skilled craftsmen using traditional methods. The de luxe
editions are bound in calf and tooled in gold leaf, but there is also a much
cheaper range using beautifully coloured book-cloths. All the materials are of
the finest quality, designed to last 100 years or more. LifeLines also print
paperback runs for those who want additional copies.

LifeLines Press offers an initial consultation free of charge.

Pricing is based on each individual order. To give a very general idea, a run
of 100 A5 paperbacks could start at around £1,400 with additional hardback
covers ranging from £60 per volume for cloth-bound up to £160 each for a run of
full leather. Please ring to get a clearer idea of costs for your particular
project. Our books are VAT exempt.

For more details visit the website at href="http://www.lifelinespress.com/">size=2>www.lifelinespress.com Or ring Rebecca
de Saintonge on 01892 512323 or email href="mailto:info@lifelinespress.com">size=2>info@lifelinespress.com

 

Writers' News and Writing Magazine together on http://www.writersnews.co.uk/

Ive just been ransacking the links page on NAWG website - (link below) and found this Writers' News.

A picture of Jaqui Loose's collaberation with the Scribblers,'A Precarious Balance'.

Its on display in the Ferry Boat Inn at FelixstoweFerry.




You can find it in the corner which is on the far right hand side as you enter the pub.



Thanks to DS for the photograph(s).



UPDATE 24.7.05 Alex writes .... The work is called 'A Precarious Balance' not 'Costal Erosion' as I first thought.

Felixstowe TV start shooting Scribblers Written 'soap'.

"18th July: Felixstowe Drama Starts Shooting: First scenes in the Felixstowe mini-series were shot yesterday (Sunday) on and around the seafront near Bent Hill. The initial rushes for part of the first and second episodes of the ten-part series were declared 'excellent', and initial shots of some of the cast will be on the mini-series website within the next few days!"

The National Association of Writers’ Groups. (NAWG).

Do you belong to a writing group? Are you a short story writer, a novelist, a playwright, a poet, a non-fiction writer? Then there's something for you on the NAWG website.



Read about our Competitions, our Festival of Writing, and our Link magazine. You can see if there is a writing group in your area. Come inside and meet the people who run this friendly association for everyone who writes.


The National Association of Writers’ Groups




The NAWG have a 2005 festival;

NAWG Open Festival of Writing 2005


The dates for the Festival of Writing 2005 are
Friday, 2nd September, to Sunday, 4th September
St Aidan's College, University of Durham Full details for the 2005 festival of writing.

A local arts organisation and a writers circle I have come across. Norfolk based InPrint.

InPrint are a group of visual artists and poets who specialise in collaborative work. Formed in 2003 to tour Norfolk with a highly successful exhibition sponsored by Creative Arts East, they have stayed together to extend their professional and creative boundaries. Working mainly in pairs, they have exhibited together at the massive Fringe at the Factory event in Norwich, which included workshops and readings, and at Southwold, as well as separately elsewhere. They are also involved in the community through innovative use of their skills, as well as traditional teaching and performing. They are particularly interested in the way that juxtaposing visual art and poetry can create unexpected sparks leading to new ideas. They have received a Grants for the Arts award to develop and expand the collaborative work of the group.



Ive also come across a Kings Lynn based writers cirle who have an annual prze competion where you can win money.! King's Lynn Writers' Circle

Prize Magic .... a site recommended by our Jan.

Prize Magic is an interesting site found by Jan about skill and writing competitions. She also recommends http://www.yeovilprize.co.uk/ which has details on the Yeovil Literary Prize 2005.

Stealing Heaven From The Lips Of God

Dee Rimbaud - who is definitely a poet and a writer - and should probably be probably given a few more credits than that - and is a frequent interlocutor of Dave's. Dee has an interesting weblog called Stealing Heaven From The Lips Of God at http://deerimbaud.blogspot.com/.

Felixstowe TV will start filming Sunday next, 17th July at 9.30am.

Felixstowe TV will start filming exterior scenes from episode one of the series on Sunday next, 17th July. Meeting place : In front of Waverley Hotel at 9.30am

In Case Of Emergency (ICE)...

Dave writes....



The following was forwarded to me by Ann and makes really good sense to tap this into your mobile



In Case Of Emergency (ICE)




Following the disaster in London . . East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency ( ICE ) " campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston.





The idea is that you store the word " I C E " in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".



In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.



It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.



Please will you also email this to everybody in your address book, it won't take too many 'forwards' before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind
at rest.



For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.



Why not do it right now? I just have.

Secret Desire? The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 19th July at Felixstowe Library at the usual 7.30 start time.

Hi Scribblers,



An early reminder that the next meeting will be held on Tuesday 19th July at Felixstowe Library at the usual 7.30 start time. However many members attend, our intention is to finish the meeting by 10.00pm to allow people to get away at a 'respectable' time. Doubtless there will be still be some of us available for a chat after 10pm.



The homework theme? Secret Desires ...



Could be interesting - especially if Ken hasn't done his own homework..!

THE THUNDERBURST NEWSLETTER #3.

For THE THUNDERBURST NEWSLETTER #3. July 2005.

Go to http://www.thunderburst.co.uk

Felixstowe Scribblers Report of Meeting 5th July 2005

Felixstowe Scribblers Report of Meeting
5^th July 2005

Apologies

were received
from Christine, Sue and Judy who are all on holiday.

A bumper attendance this evening when we were
pleased to welcome three new faces into our midst. Mavis, Kate and
Louis as well as a pleasant surprise with Margareta visiting from
her Salzburg home and Diane taking a well deserved break from her history
degree course. Joining them in attendance were Lisa, Dick, Peter,
Rachel, Les, Ann, Morag, Liliane, Scott, Tony, Ken, Belinda, Ruth, Alex, Ellen,
Gordon, Mark, Caz, Jack and Dave.

This is our biggest ever attendance for one
evening and one that took everyone by surprise. We knew it would happen one day,
but with 25 of us it was always going to be a struggle against time to
complete the meeting.

It did mean that the meeting overran until 10.30pm
with some members having to leave before the end and others unable to read their
work out. This is something we must apologise for but it is a situation that we
hope to remedy at the next meeting.

In view of the obvious need get away at a
reasonable time, we have decided that the best way is to reduce from three to
two, the 1,500-word open themed homework. Despite hurried discussions at the end
of the meeting we have decided to allow all other writers the opportunity to
write up to a strict maximum of 500 words for their homework.

Should the same situation arise at our next
meeting then we may have to look at other perhaps less popular options such as
dropping the 1,500 work altogether, splitting the group into two sections or
even limiting the number of readings per meeting.

If you have any views on this please email your
thoughts to

scribblers@ntlworld.com

News and events :

Belinda and Geoff have decided that the
time is fast approaching to desert our Suffolk shores and return home to
Australia (after a few weeks in Kent). Sadly, for the Scribblers, they will
leave Suffolk at the end of August but not before we have a send-off for them at
the Grosvenor on Tuesday 23^rd August. There is a new menu available
and the night should be a great occasion despite being a farewell. Caz will
obtain a menu before the night but we will soon need names of those able to
attend. Details will follow.

Sue has sent her third and
final email from Canada - she should now be back in England and hopefully
avoided the terrible situation in London today (Thursday) with all the bombings.
Her final account is attached at the end of this report.

Did anyone hear Ruth being interviewed by
our friend Rachel Sloane on BBC Radio Suffolk on Monday? All to do with her
brilliant novel "The James Version". A reminder too that she has another book
signing session at Ottaker's in Bury St Edmunds on Monday July
9th at 11am.

Ann thanked everyone who
gave her some excellent feedback on her last homework and now has to decide on
how to build on the first chapter of her work… we all wait with baited breath!
Her homework can still be viewed (and commented on) on our website at

http://nar8or.blogspot.com

We understand that our cheeky chappie, Les was not
feeling too well and had to spend Wednesday having a check-up at the hospital.
Hope everything went well - we'll be thinking of him.

And talking of hospitals, spare a thought for Jack who is
expected to go into Gt Ormond Street hospital this weekend for treatment. With
the London bombings and all the transportation problems it must be an extremely
stressful time for Jack and his parents Caz and Karl. It was nice to see him at
our meeting looking cheerful and full of fun despite being quite
tired.

Don't forget that Les has his personal history and
anthology of his written work, "Another Life" on sale to members at
£5.

On the subject of books for sale, we are fast running out of the
Felixstowe Scribblers Anthology and copies can now be purchased at the
reduced price of £3 (add 50 pence if you wish this to be posted).

Ruth's

'The James Version' is selling at
£6.99

Dave

has 'Ipswich Speedway The First 50
Years' on sale to members at £8.00 (Retail price (£10.99)

Details of the following publications can be obtained on
request.

Doreen's

'Under One Umbrella' is still
available at Magpie books

Morag

has novels available for sale on
line at Little Lemur

Sue

has children's books available for
sale

Dick

still has a series of illustrated
children's books available.

Looking at that little list, then things are looking quite
healthy for our writers!

Gordon

has had something of a success
with one of his humorous homework assignments, 'Knees' being adapted by
Tony and performed at Rose Hill School, Ipswich - with every possibility
of it being produced by Rushmere Players later in the year.

Ken

asked for help with feedback on an
hour-long television script he has written. I know some people have already read
it and thought it is excellent. I have to finish reading it and must confess it
is building into a terrific tale. If anyone would like a script to 'review',
then please request a copy to be sent by email.

Had an email from Gilly who wrote and published an
article on the Scribblers a year or so ago. She wishes to be remembered to
everyone and says that she is still in the middle of her studies but still
manages to do some work 'here and there'.

A surprise phone call from Lyn, who was our resident
medium when she used to come along to meetings, revealed that she is now into
painting watercolours at a very tender age of 75 !

It may be interesting to note that artist Jacqui Loose has some of her work available for sale at the Ferry Boat Inn. Included is her Coastal Erosion which the Scribblers helped with by providing written work on the most topical subject.

A new On Line (email) club is proposed and will kindly be hosted
by our friend Jan up in Brough. Very soon we will send out an
invitation to join the club which will be known as Felixstowe Scribblers –
Online Jotters. The Jotters will then have a separate section on our website
and will hopefully draw in a lot of online members.

Felixstowe TV's mini drama serial…

All ten episodes have now been completed by
Ken, Dick, Tony and Dave and sent to Felixstowe TV. Intended
filming dates have been sent out with a request from Chris for details of
availability. Extras will be needed and if you are interested please view the
website at

http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/miniserial/

.

An enquiry from a lady named Devona found out about the
group via Google following attendance at a scriptwriting workshop at the New
Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. A few other groups came up within the Suffolk region,
but Devona was 'drawn' to the Felixstowe Scribblers owing to the website and
ready access to information, which I am glad to say has been backed up by the
detail on the blog.

The Felixstowe Scribblers website is
currently at

http://nar8or.blogspot.com

Alex and Dave are still working on ideas for the website and
details will soon be released.

***

And so to the readings.

Lisa

read out 'Nan's
Freedom, a beautiful little story that produced some dramatic moments and a real
twist in the tale.

Peter

produced an
interesting "Bully Magic" set at a school and dealing with the topical
issue.

Mark

with his first
attempt writing other than fantasy and sci-fi produced 'The Weight and Burden'
about a judge who passed a harsh sentence then suffered the
consequences.

After the coffee break we attempted to read as much as we were
able. Ken came out of the hat first but without his homework read out
Jan's X-rated 'Honest Sir, I Didn’t Mean To Do It'. The subject matter
and Ken's manner made this very humorous and very well received.

Ann

was next with a real life 'I Didn't
Mean To Do It' about a supply teacher, and the playground cruelty to a
cat.

Belinda,

perhaps now missing her
Australian home, provided some sketches that illustrated the charred lands of Oz
- caused by a careless smoker discarding a cigarette.

Les

was allowed two short pieces, the
first 'To The Next Generation' and how the unlatched Pandora's Box had affected
the starving children of this world. Also his hilarious 'Not Guilty Your
Worship' about a court case in which the defendant represented
himself.

Caz

owned up in 'It All Seemed to be
Going so Well' to cutting her husbands hair so badly that it looked like a pair
of Skoda wheelarches.

Diane's

'One Year' dealt with the blame
for a broken marriage.

Mavis read

her short story entry for a
competition. 'The Artist' about an art teacher taking early retirement, creating
a new image and returning to producing his own art.

[Mavis has since contacted me and asked for
feedback so may well ask for some volunteers at the next
meeting.

Morag

shared 'I Didn't
Mean To Do It' about a distracted mother and a screaming child…

Alex

produced another
precision piece of short, sharp, writing about a couple, in bed, each pretending
to be asleep and not wanting the other to know they were still awake.

Ruth

came into her own
with 'The Birth' no doubt from her own recent addition of a precious star to her
family.

Jack

admitted that 'I
Didn't Mean To Do It' - and didn't!

Scott's

'Who's Done It?'
was based on Colonel Mustard and Cluedo.

Kate

read out her
descriptive 'I Didn't Mean To Do It' relating to a bay, beach huts and
winter..

Dave's

'I Didn't Mean To
Do It' about missing top secret documents from the department, a possible start
to a longer story.

Dick

shared 'The Fence' a
tale of Woolworth's and shoplifting during the 1940s.

Ellen's

'Off the Ward' dealt with the
anger of Nurse Tully after a confrontation with a Mr Day.

Tony

shared a real drama entitled 'Why
Did I do It?' based on the true events surrounding Fleetwood Mac.

Rachel

came up with another descriptive
work - 'Road Kill' reminding us of the perils of the road for the animal
word.

Gordon

rounded off a long night with
another amusing and topical rhyme 'Wimbledon Streaker.'

Again apologies go to those who were unable to read their
work.

***

The new homework assignment is 'Secret Desires'
set by Louis. Agreement has since been reached that the very maximum
number of words should be 500 for the subject. Two 1,500 word open themed pieces
will be read next time with Liliane and Ruth the volunteers.

Our next meeting is in two weeks time on Tuesday
19^th July at the usual 7.30pm start time.

Until then,

Keep Scribbling,

Dave.

Sue in Canada .... Part 3.

Sue Smith writes....



Hello again, everyone,




We are now back in Vancouver, having just returned from a week's trip to Vancouver Island. Vancouver itself is not especially inspiring, it's like any other big city. Its best points are Gastown and Granville Island, both of which have been tastefully renovated from old warehouse areas and are now busy, vibrant and interesting while still retaining their old world charm - or as old as things get around here which, by our standards, is not very old! Stanley Park is nice, and huge, being even bigger than New York's Central Park. From its highest point there's a good view of the city and bay, and we also saw a couple of wild racoons up there. There is a very good aquarium, too.









The island is lovely and much more our thing. We had good trips there and back, and even saw some orca whales (distantly) on the way there but not on the way back. We hired a car and drove along the East Coast of the island and then crossed to Tofino on the West (Pacific) Coast. The scenery over there is very pretty and it was well worth the trip. On Friday (1st July) it's Canada Day over here, and we were back in Victoria, the island's capital, in time for the celebrations. We joined everyone else outside City Hall on Friday evening, which was lit up like a fairytale castle. There was musical entertainment and then a fantastic firework display to round off the evening. On Saturday, we drove out to Butchart Gardens which are one of the island's main tourist attractions. I can see why - they're absolutely stunning, especially in the late evening under the floodlights.



The weather has been quite good to us over the last fortnight. We have had some drizzly rain, but it has been mainly dry and warm. There is always a cool breeze off the sea here so it never gets too hot - just like Felixstowe, really.



We returned to Vancouver today, and have just one full day left. The six weeks has gone really quickly and we have had a wonderful time. Tomorrow (Monday) we plan to take the cable car up Grouse Mountain and spend the day up there. There's plenty to do up there at this time of year, and neither of us wanted to spend our last day in the city. We fly out on Tuesday evening, but because of the time difference we won't get back to Felixstowe until Wednesday afternoon/evening.



Looking forward to seeing/speaking to you all again soon,



Love Sue.

Next meeting 730pm Tuesday July 19th.

Just a quick one to update .... there was rather a lot of us this week wasnt there.

New Publishing opportunity: The Friday Project.

Alex writes....



as some of you know I spend a bit of my spare time poking around some of the more obscure places on the net. Something I came across back in 2001 was a weekly email of OPED type material that contained some very good new writing called The Friday Thing. Sometimes its compared with Private Eye.







As a project they have grown and grown and are now incorporated as a company .... I mention them here as they plan a publishing arm based on a business model of turning successful websites into books .... though that may be of less interest to the scribblers any new independent publisher is worth a mention here, and they say theyre frankly interested to look at anything.