Minutes of ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
FELIXSTOWE SCRIBBLERS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
At Felixstowe Library,
7.30 pm Tuesday 3rd January 2006.
1 Apologies for absence
Morag, Peter, Lisa, Ann, Louis, Bill and Ruth.
Dick, Alex, Liliane, Judy, Caz, Zoe, Gordon, Tony, Les,
Christine, Ken, Rachel, Scott and Dave.
All existing committee members agreed to serve until further
notice. The same conditions apply that committee members will serve until
resignation. The committee comprises of
Secretary : Dave Feakes
Treasurer : Caz Wilkinson
Website : Alex Price
Member's representatives : Morag Clarke and Dick Bradshaw
Online Jotters : Jan McGeachie
The committee was approved.
Margareta proposal:
Elect the Scribblers committee every year on the regular
basis, through nomination of people standing for election, and direct votes -
which gives the whole proceedings a really democratic aspect.
Proposal rejected unanimously.
Members thanked the committee for all its hard
work
Following a very hectic year in 2004 with Culturama and the
Anthology taking so much time, 2005 was somewhat quieter and possibly can be
described as a year of consolidation.
Membership held up remarkably well, in fact it increased
quite significantly during the summer months peaking with our record
attendance of 27. Our average attendance was 18 per meeting with a total of
429 attendances made by 39 members throughout the year.
The Scribblers suffered some losses too. Belinda
Janz and Geoff returned home to Australia. Ellen Kirby resigned
to set up her own business but is still active with the Ipswich Writing Group.
Richard Barker is currently unable to attend but hopes to resume at a
later date. Sue Smith and Mark Ward recently resigned.
The Social side of life…
24 members and partners attended the New Year Social
at the Grosvenor. Another successful evening that Caz followed up by
successfully nominating the pub for Rachel Sloane's Salt and Pepper Award.
Belinda threw her own enjoyable birthday party at the Grosvenor.
Gordon had a surprise 60th birthday party in Ipswich
that was attended by several Scribblers. It was back to the Grosvenor at the
end of August to bid au revoir to our dear friends Belinda
and Geoff. Tony hosted a musical mayhem party at his home
with several Scribblers present whilst the final get together of the year was
at the Brook Hotel at the invitation of Felixstowe TV. During the year
Alex added a fresh new dimension to Scribblers evenings with after
meeting wind-downs at the ALEX which have been quite successful.
Projects:
The first project was to answer a challenge from Chris
Gosling of Felixstowe TV to write a mini-serial of ten, ten-minute episodes
for his broadband TV station. The challenge was accepted, every writer
involved with initial ideas and a group of 4 writers eventually sat down to
filter through them before incorporating them into the script. The challenge
met, Felixstowe TV began filming the series using local actors including Tony
in one of the starring roles whilst Dick and Dave [aka Bert and Bill] also
have roles to play. The first episode was launched on 30th December
2005 via BBC Radio Suffolk.
The second project, The Online Jotters was set up by Jan
following all her research, thought and hard work. It has evolved into an
absorbing project with writing competitions, exercises and is a massive
resource for writers. Online Jotters deserves better support that Jan is
working on. She has also produced posters for display at libraries to
advertise her group.
Our successes:
The 2004 Anthology was a sell-out.
Jan set up, organised Online Jotters and produced
their first exercise with Writers Tennis, competitions and an excellent
newsletter on line.
Mark was winner of The Online Jotters first writing
competition with "Chilled to the Bone". He has also written a novel that is
due for publication in 2006. Morag was runner-up in Online Jotters
first writing competition with "Independence Day." Jan was winner of
the first Online Jotters poetry competition with "Coming to Blows"
Early in the Year Caz had several poems read out on
Radio Suffolk and also had her 'Charity Begins at Home' published in the
excellent Wessex Cancer Trust production.
Dick was third in a mini-saga writing competition.
Ruth published her excellent book 'The James Version.' Les
published 'Another Life' which is a personal history and anthology.
Doreen's local history book 'Under One Umbrella' went on
sale. Morag's 'Green Wellies and Wax Jackets' was finally published in
book form after many disappointments. Gordon's homework 'Knees' was
adapted by Tony and performed on stage at Rose Hill and Rushmere
Schools in Ipswich. Sue has a short story accepted for future
publication in Aquila
Scott had a ghost story published in Best magazine.
Rachel won the October Coast to Coast Writing Competition with her poem
'The Choice' at her very first attempt. Ruth won the Debut Dagger award
for her new novel 'The Woman Before Me.' Dave guest-edited another
edition of the Libraries and Heritage in-house magazine 'Chapter and Verse'
and published articles in other issues. Provided a factual feature on Jeremy
Doncaster's career for his souvenir programme at his farewell speedway
meeting. Was interviewed by Lesley Dolphin on BBC Radio Suffolk's Action Desk
to help a lady, born into a gypsy family, with a manuscript that she soon
hopes to publish.
Meeting Format and feedback
The general format of the meetings has remained unchanged
throughout the year. There has been a variation in the length of homework
submitted at meetings ranging from 3 x 1,500-word work down to 2 of the same
length. Additionally we started the year with a 200 maximum word limit on the
shorter work but realistically that was far too short and was soon increased
to 500 words.
Taking into account the number of new members that arrived
and the increase in the average attendances, I believe that we have coped
extremely well under the circumstances. Apart from one exceptional evening
when we had 27 in attendance, we usually ended the meetings by ten pm.
Calls had been made for meetings to be split into two groups,
something that the majority voted against back in the summer. The reason for
this decision was that most people enjoyed the diversity of the stories and
that smaller groups would become segregated into a 'them' and 'us' situation.
As secretary I could belong to neither group as I would have shown favour to
one and not the other. Alternatively I could have moved between the two groups
during the evening but would have lost sight and appreciation of everyone's
work.
Part of the reason this split was suggested was that feedback
and critique of work was considered insufficient. From this criticism I will
re-emphasise that it has always been the view that Scribblers will not
participate in harsh criticism. An example: should a new writer come along,
read out their work only to have it torn to shreds, would be extremely
distressing and demoralising. They would hardly return again and may even
cease writing altogether.
Unlike some, I find it difficult to give honest and accurate
feedback simply by listening briefly to the words of a writer, especially on
subjects which I have limited knowledge. This is why many comments made are
either kind or receive little feedback. This is the reason that we have
offered alternative options for feedback.
1 Work may be displayed on our weblog for in depth feedback.
2 The opportunity exists to request feedback by handing or
emailing a copy of the work to willing members for comment.
3 Feedback can be personal to the writer, shared with the
group or remain anonymous. On the weblog it would be open to everyone - the
downside to this is that owners copyright could be breached.
4 Online Jotters also offer feedback via their fortnightly
Post Notes.
5 Feedback is a path that we should follow providing it is
done correctly - our methods have actually been used successfully by various
writers.
I hope this indicates that the Scribblers are aware of their
members' needs.
Just to 'lighten' proceedings a little, we introduced a
Halloween special evening that was run by torchlight and was very enjoyable.
It may be possible to add more themed meetings to our calendar during the
coming year.
From one of the resignations referred to earlier, it seems
that after four months absence from Scribblers, we were criticised for
having a social club atmosphere, have too many members relaying their short
work and no in depth critique or feedback.
The way the specific email was worded indicated that
the sender had formed another official writers group to be made up from
Scribblers members and that they too would meet on the last Tuesday of the
month - immediately clashing with two of our pre-arranged social dates.
Felixstowe Scribblers have no objections to 'competition' in
fact it is welcomed. Just ask who Ipswich Writers Group approached for advice
on setting themselves up, ask the Clare Writers Group too and, further back in
time, the Tendring Writers over the border in Essex. Would they have
approached us if we not had some kind of reputation? The Scribblers have
always shown willingness to help others with advice even if it may sometimes
mean losing membership - the priority is to benefit the writers themselves.
Those four months could have been used to better effect with
a simple phone call or meeting to make the intentions known before rather than
after the fact and would have avoided any misunderstanding.
Since then a further resignation has claimed that he does not
feel that the whole dynamic and structure of the Scribblers is conducive
towards his writing and career development. "It was an insult to have no
mention of the recent competition. The level of support from the part of the
Scribblers administration towards this creative venture was pitiful. It is
obvious to me that if any creative effort does not come from certain quarters
in the group now then it does not warrant the attention, time and response."
Obviously all these comments need addressing.
Sometimes there are avoidable deflections for the last three
or four months have been shrouded with many problematic and upsetting
situations both through a string of time consuming emails and the anonymous
comments posted directly to our weblog. These have affected both Alex and
myself with concern and lost time.
All this lost time should have been used for personal
creative writing and progressing the website.
The Online Jotters
From a discussion earlier in the year between Jan and myself,
Online Jotters was created. It has been nurtured, organised and lovingly cared
for by Jan thanks to all her tireless effort. She has managed extremely well
and although she is disappointed with the membership level, she still has
plans to advertise for more members. Jan quickly organised fortnightly post it
notes on the weblog, run a Writers Tennis series, organised a short story and
a poetry competition along with independent judges, and produced an excellent
e-magazine on line for all to see. Additionally Jan has provided valuable
information on writers' resources and websites etc. that are regularly posted
on our weblog. In essence, Jan has been brilliant and certainly done a
tremendous amount of work that deserves far more recognition.
Despite all her efforts I am still receiving adverse comments
about the Online Jotters. Here, at the AGM I would like to emphasise that
Online Jotters is a Felixstowe Scribblers facility set up basically to
help those who cannot attend meetings, to stay in touch and share writing
skills online. There is no obligation to join although it would be nice for
all Scribblers to be involved. Any questions or comments concerning Online
Jotters should be forwarded directly to Jan [Yours Truly
].
The Weblog and New Website
The work that Alex has put into the weblog and the evolving
website has been enormous and invaluable. Much of the success of the
Scribblers is the ability of 'surfers' and people searching for a locally
based writing group to link to our site.
I know that we all have our own ideas on how personal
websites should look, but Alex has made ours unique. Of course there have been
teething troubles and a few harsh words flying around at various times, but he
has overcome with aplomb.
It is amazing how much material is embedded in the weblog,
from reports of meetings, to writers' competitions, information and general
writing resources. Some have been from Alex, some from Jan. The .com site will
be even better and anyone who has logged on will appreciate the results of his
labour.
Of course there have been one or two blips, like the ability
to post anonymous messages directly onto the weblog some of which were
extremely concerning for one of our members, and other immature postings that
detracted from the good name of the Felixstowe Scribblers. That situation
could not continue and so security was stepped up to allow only traceable
comments to be made by email.
Other things such as the ability for the Online Jotters now
to post directly onto the site have eased the pressure on Alex whilst some
other minor issues are being corrected.
Overall it is our site that Alex is hosting so brilliantly
and it is up to us to feed him information of our successes, etc., so that
they may be displayed for all to see.
The Modernisation of Felixstowe Library
Having viewed the exciting plans for a one million-pound
modernisation of the library, we were originally concerned that this could
have meant the end to our regular meeting place, especially during the works.
I am glad to say that there have been few problems during the first phase of
the work and our needs have been well catered for. We now move into the second
phase when our initial accommodation will be in the new part of the library,
but shortly, once flooring is completed and the room furnished, we will be
allocated the new meeting room. It is exciting. The finished library will be a
brilliant and prestigious facility to Felixstowe so we must feel very proud
that the library will remain our hosts.
The downside to the year :
A dreadful time for our youngest member Jack and his
parents Caz and Karl. If you have followed the website news you
will be aware of everything poor Jack has been through with extensive
chemotherapy, radiotherapy, investigations and an operation. He has been to
Ipswich Hospital, Addenbrooks, and Great Ormond Street and recently was away
from home for nearly five solid weeks. Every stay in hospital has seen Caz at
his side. Our thoughts and prayers have been with them throughout. Now,
finally, the main treatment is over.
Jan
too has had a bad time this year having lost both herparents in a very short space of time.
Les
was hospitalised for an operation recently.Gordon
has had a personal dilemma recently whilstTony tore his Achilles tendon playing basketball and was in plaster for
about 10 weeks.
I hope this covers fairly, the last twelve months of
Felixstowe Scribblers.
Responses to items in Secretary's Report
Unanimous support for the Scribblers position of keeping
constructive criticism to the means emphasised above.
In respect of large attendances. Agreement reached to
maintain one group and not divide into separate sections.
Suggestions :
If there are large numbers divide on the night. Rejected.
Unanimous opposition to dividing into separate groups
permanently.
Refrain from reading work out from absent members as this
affects those attending meetings. Agreed
Cut out preambles and waffle prior to work. Agreed
Important to keep to the 500 and 1,500 word targets.
Agreed
Set a cap on the number of readings possibly 15 a meeting and
then those who haven't read go first next meeting. Some members may not have
done homework and would 'sit out' anyway, or names could be drawn out of a
hat. *
Vary the cap according to the members present 15-16 is a good
level that keeps the meeting to a good length and doesn't overload everyone.
*
** Agreement to trial an informal cap, see how it works then
review after 3 months.
Concerning resignations.
The various criticisms of Scribblers organisation and
activities were thoroughly discussed and there was agreement that the group
actually works very well in its present format despite its imperfections.
Ongoing problems.
The weblog/website has had some problems with anonymous
postings that Alex has dealt with. There have also been a spate of critical
and inappropriate emails that have involved the committee, particularly Alex
and Dave in a lot of deflection and management. Agreement that if this occurs
again then an option will be given to the critic[s].
Thanks for their efforts
Jan has done a terrific job with Online Jotters and sincere
thanks go to her.
Sincere thanks to Alex for all his work on the
website.
Caz apologised for the brief report. Since the last AGM a
small voluntary donation of 50p for each meeting was suggested. This has
proved a good way of keeping expenses in check and allowed us to provide tea
and coffee, etc. It helped to bolster funds and went a long way towards
financing the felixstowescribblers.com website. As at 29th December the
Scribblers showed a small profit, mostly raised from these donations for tea
and coffee.
Matter arising.
Online Jotters competition judges were taken out to lunch for
their services. Although there was no prior notification for this, the
secretary and treasurer have agreed to pay this bill subject to receiving a
receipt or invoice for this expense. All accepted and agreed.
There was also a request for a fee to join National
Association of Writers Groups but this was withdrawn after NAWG declared
online groups were not welcomed. An additional request for postage was lodged
to enable Online Jotters post information out to approximately 100 writers
groups. Whilst Scribblers members understand this request, the financial
situation is such that we are cannot meet this claim and this was therefore
declined.
Jan has offered to fund this herself, and the meeting
confirmed they have no objection and expressed their gratitude to
her.
The website is divided into two sections:
A The active content
B The static content
The static site, felixstowescribblers.com is almost finished
and Alex hopes that this will go live within the next four or five weeks.
As far as the weblog is concerned there have been huge
problems with spam, offensive comments and a number of phantom Felixstowe
Scribblers sites are increasing. Currently the following sites are neither
authorised by Felixstowe Scribblers, nor official.
http://felixstowe-scribblers.blogspot.com/
http://felixstowescribblers.blogspot.com/
http://felixstowescribblerscafe.blogspot.com/
http://felixstowescribblers.tripod.com/
http://Scribblers.tblog.com/
The main problem is that they affect the number of hits on
our own official site.
Alex made a request that anyone receiving the Ipswich Evening
Star or the East Anglian Daily Times - should they see any articles related to
writing then please email him details for inclusion in the weblog.
Alex does need some help imputing material onto the sites so
volunteers are needed to help.
Websites should go public soon. One concern is that not
everyone is happy for their personal material to be viewed and critiqued by
the world. Alex, Ken and Dave to meet to see if it is possible to have a
password controlled area for members only where private work or material that
we only want to share with Scribblers may be posted.
Alex can help to organise personal websites if members want
them.
Dave would like a showcase page to highlight our members
published work giving links for orders and purchases to be made.
There is the facility to include pictures of writers if
desired.
I must admit in the six months or so that Online Jotters has
been in formation that there have been times I have felt more and more
isolated living so far away from Felixstowe. That might be something to do
with losing both my parents in the last year and the writing group and my
relations that still remain in the town are now my only connections but I feel
that I have held true to the principles which I first offered.
The idea was for those of us who are unable to attend
meetings can communicate by mails and the twice-monthly post notes online. I
was pleased to see that membership was growing steadily but that seems to have
dried up despite all my efforts at contacting other writers groups. Just
recently I have also contacted Student and Hospital radio stations in the hope
to attract more members as someone at one of the Universities I contacted
suggest that I do this rather than contact the individual Student Unions.
Those members that the group has do seem to have their quiet
periods but I suppose I should expect that being as I too was offline (thanks
to Wanadoos inefficiency) for much of the period to the run up to the closing
date for the first competition. I was still able to print the entries and
present the results (seven entries from the 24 members) personally to the
judges, ready to be included in the e magazine close to Christmas as promised.
I hope that as part of the Post Notes my various trawls
online have proven to be a valuable information source with notes for other
online writer’s links.
I am open to any suggestions and welcomed the feedback I got
from both Dave Feakes and Mark Ward - I shall continue to keep the Post Note
twice monthly and hopefully keep the e magazine to the same format
*Regarding the next e magazine I would like it to be 100%
Online Jotters articles/stories/poetry – with me just doing the editing. We
can see that 2006 is going to be totally different for us with (hopefully) the
adoption of a little ‘un in the house and Gordon’s intention to start his own
Professional Photographer/computer doctor business so I will confess that
Online Jotters won’t take such high priority.
The meeting was very happy with all Jan's efforts and
agreed that they would all like to record their sincerest appreciation
and gratitude for all her hard work in making the Online Jotters work.
Margareta proposed a separate weblog for the Jotters. The
proposal was unanimously rejected.
The Winter Social at the Grosvenor has been arranged
for the evening of Tuesday January 31st.
There is a possibility for a birthday social on either Monday
27th or Tuesday 28th February. This to be confirmed.
A Felixstowe Scribblers beach party has been agreed for
Tuesday 27th June
front of the Alex [or the Fludyers] in case of rain.
Matters Arising
The question was raised: 'Is the group too social?'
Unanimous agreement that it is not. One January and one Summer Social
is ideal. Socials are a fairly new innovation but at least 20-25 people attend
each time so this clarifies their popularity.
For fuller comment please refer to the Secretary's
notes
AGM Item 9 Proposed by Louis
Louis suggests I notice in the meeting reports that the
stories of 500 words in length are barely given more than a mention of their
title and little other comment. Might I propose that a member of the group
take some brief notes (i.e. 50 word synopsis) of the piece being read out? I
would be more than willing to scribble a few notes and give them to Dave at
the end of the fortnightly meeting. In this way Scribblers can gain more of a
feel about what went on, and perhaps lead to further discussions via the web
page or email.
Apologies to Louis but this
point was not raised during the AGM. However I feel that if there are
sufficient volunteers to take notes on a meeting to meeting basis then there
will be no objection to including them in the meeting reports.
It has taken myself a little while to become accustomed to
writing a piece of 500 words, before this most of my 'short' stories were in
the region 5-8000 words! Can I propose that longer pieces be put online for
constructive criticism etc? Agreed but there are also other options
open for feedback and constructive criticism.
We were informed that a new group of writers had been formed
by Sue who will no longer be attending Scribblers. It seems that this is more
a group of friends rather than the formal group that was originally indicated.
They will meet monthly to discuss and critique their work, together with their
future writing plans.
It is a shame that Sue no longer feels happy in our large
group, and here I wish to record thanks for the effort and hospitality she has
shown in the past with committee work. I wish her every success for the
future.
There will be no Culturama this year because of the
organisational time and effort that is needed.
IpArt 2006 is likely to see a Creative Writing Event or
weekend sometime in June to be organised by the Ipswich Writers Group. This is
an event supported by Ipswich Borough Council. Alex is to communicate with the
Ipswich Writers to find out more details about the proposed event.
Ken: The Arts Council is happy to fund activities that bring
people in from outside, like an open event but would not fund an internal
event only.
Proposed by Jan
As a Felixstowe Scribbler Committee Member I suggest organising a Creative Writing Weekend in
Felixstowe (to mix with those members from online) either Easter or one of the May Bank Holiday weekends. Use the facilities at the Library, contact local writers to give talks, book accommodation for those who come from afar. Proposal rejected. We do not have the organisational resources to host an event, on the scale suggested, however, we will investigate the possibility to be involved with the proposed Ipswich event. Agreement has been reached to produce a new one and we can
start the selection process of articles now. We need to learn from our
previous experience and ensure no date is included in the title as that
shortens its shelf life. Other improvements should be to ensure there are no
'gaps' on the pages and that short fillers be used where necessary or
illustrations etc to make the production more professional. The idea is to
benefit a charity preferably a local one that may have publisher
connections.
The committee will investigate further and
report back to the group on which charity is most likely to be selected.
Scott's partner Amy is prepared to help do
little filler sketches etc for the anthology.
Proposed by Margareta
Margareta suggests to continue with the good
practice of a printed Scribblers anthology (if not annually, then may be every
second year.) Agreed.
Problem
The upper level can only be accessed
currently by lift until the stairs are eventually placed. Unfortunately one
member is unable to travel in lifts which could be a problem in the immediate
future. Dave to investigate the possibility of using the library area
until the stairs are in situ.
Some members have expressed a problem with
hearing the softer voiced members which was particularly bad in the high
roofed original building. The acoustics are better now in the library but
obviously we need to try and help people in this position. In the past we have
found a solution by providing copies of work at the meeting so that those with
hearing difficulties could follow the stories. The recommendation is to supply
extra copies of our work at meetings. Agreed
unanimously.
An Online Jotters poster has been supplied
by Jan and was passed round and accepted for display.
The question of the provision of a fresh
Felixstowe Scribblers poster arose again. It was challenged that why, with a
healthy membership, did we need to produce a poster for libraries etc.? The
response was that generally there is a turnover in membership so we still need
to maintain the groups profile and this was accepted. Caz will ask Jack to
assist with this
We also need a member's information card
[credit or business card size] to hand to members containing the relevant
contact, email addresses and website details. Agreed as a good idea.
Dick informs us that the Town Crier is happy
to carry reports but do we need them? What is the point? Response. Report
events that are of general interest, competition winners, having books
published etc. Again this keeps us in the public eye. Dick has agreed to do
quarterly reports providing a draft of what needs to be included is passed to
him. All agreed.
- Any Other Business
- Any Other Business
Caz raised the point that although Sue has
resigned, she remains a signatory for our cheque account. Liliane volunteered to
become the new signatory and was accepted with thanks.
Scott has some additional ideas for the
meeting formats for example varying the homework procedures from time to time
and requesting that:
Everyone writes in a specific
genre.
Do a speed writing exercise at meetings of
around 50 words.
Do an internal competition, perhaps four times
a year with a small prize [paid for by a small entry fee]. It is possible that a
trophy will be provided and that the winner's name be engraved, the trophy being
passed from winner to winner.
The meeting agreed that these were
excellent ideas and immediately adopted the genre idea for the next
meeting.
The committee thanked all members for
attending the AGM, and especially to Rachel for providing these comprehensive
minutes.
There being no further business the AGM was
closed at 22.15
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