REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 3rd APRIL 2007

REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD 3^rd APRIL 2007

Chairperson: Dave

Apologies for absence were received from Ruth, Morag, Liliane, Judy and Christine.

In attendance were Kate, Kay, Alex, Lauren, Trish, Zoe, Louis, Ken, Tony, Peter, Dick, Barry and Dave

Scribblers News:

The joys of family life meant that Ruth had to take her turn babysitting, whilst Morag was sunning herself somewhere in Spain. Judy, as secretary of her local arts group, had an AGM to attend whilst Liliane is, of course, in Australia for a number of weeks.

Liliane has written from a balcony together with its views of the Ku-zing-gai National Park which she visited. The wildlife is amazing with all the different birds, and wallabies etc., She made a detour to see the Aboriginal rock carvings and has been to the City to see, amongst other places, the cathedral, the art gallery, and the botanical gardens. It seems that her time is a mixture of sight seeing and relaxation on the balcony all those miles away in Wahroonga, NSW. Liliane is thoroughly enjoying her stay that seems as if she has never been away. On the weather front it has been quite variable in the temperature, with lovely days and some heavy downpours. Sounds like home from home, doesn’t it? She has also managed to provide two sets of homework, the second, too late to be read out at the meeting.

Tony is liaising with Felixstowe TV over the possibility of them producing an innovative game show so, perhaps we need to watch this space…

Talking of Felixstowe TV, those two old characters Bill and Bert went live for a short Easter clip which can be viewed at

http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/e107_plugins/eplayer/eplayer.php?view.288.0.20

Dick has explained how he is disappointed with the final production of his work ‘Things that Go Bump in the Fort’. It seems the title has been amended but, worse still, he feels that the proof reading was not up to scratch and there are many errors that should have been spotted. He is highlighting these to Landguard Fort in the hope that the mistakes will be corrected. It just goes to prove how important proof reading is because a poor job can reflect badly on the author. There are members of Felixstowe Scribblers who would gladly have proof read the work.

Other news:

Dave is still concerned that he is unable to post on the weblog at present and has asked Alex for fresh instructions of how to update the site to enable reports and various items of interest to be posted. The weblog is at http://nar8or.blogspot.com

Online Scribblers have announced that one of their members, Vincent West, has become the new organiser. They have a new online competition running for members only, “Good Friday” which is due to close at the end of this month. For our Felixstowe Scribblers members who have signed up, the invitation is there to enter, so why not have a go? No prizes, but still good fun. Further information will be found at http://onlinescribblers.com

Entries for THE BILL BUDNER SHORT STORY COMPETITION should be with Bill’s widow Maureen to select the winning entries and these should be announced at the end of this month.

The open themed 1,500 word assignment were read by Kayley and Ken..

Kayley: The Magic Box: A modern day tale of the dangers of the Internet. 45 year old Galina met Fred Smith on the Internet and decided she would travel to England to surprise him - but all was not as it should have been and Fred took Galina to a station and left her there…

Ken: Home: Written for his children, the captivating story about nine year old Tara and six year old James who go missing, features a two headed monster and a chained up dragon whom they help to release in return for its assistance in their escape.

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The 500 word homework assignment set as ‘New Beginnings’ resulted in the following work.

Alex: Untitled: He parked his car, walked up the hillside only for the visibility to diminish to a few yards in the fog and he lost the path…

Kate: A trilogy of poems written in a fresh and calming genre, something completely different for Kate. ‘The One’, a beautifully worded poem on nature, ‘Possible’, featuring Angels on the shoulder and ‘Alphabet of Love’.

Lauren: The Sea: Written for a school project, these lovely words should have been entered in the Bill Budner competition.

Trish: Untitled: Extremely atmospheric and imaginative work. Galloping on the horse through the fog on an uncertain path with the enemy pursuing.

Louis: Grey Smudges: Written as a female about the rail journey from Ipswich to London where a fellow traveller thrusts an envelope in her hand at Liverpool Street with the contents lifting her spirits.

Tony: Rainbow Demon: Gerys hears a cry through the mist, knows that the Rainbow Demon only took lone men and he was alone…another very atmospheric tale on the homework theme.

Peter: Fogging the Issue: A Suffolk based tale about Bernie and his desire to marry Jenny, yet the story surrounds splitting the household.

Dick: The Great London Smog: A true account of the four days and nights in 1952 that caused chaos, fear and some 4,000 deaths that included many babies. This work created a much discussion and revived memories for some of the Scribblers.

Barry: Fogging Creek 1667: A very strong story that was full of atmosphere and began with the longboat, the difficulty of having to navigate the long winding creek, then onshore and the tunnels etc.

Dave: The Fog Cometh: A short story of a possible alien abduction when the character‘s body was invaded by the alien during the missing time period, so strangely replaced later.

Next time:

The 500 word homework topic chosen for our next meeting is ‘SUFFOLK’

The 1,500 word open themed homework will be written by Alex and Dave.

Our next Felixstowe Scribblers meeting is set for Tuesday 17th April at 7.30pm in the Library and will be chaired by Kay.

So until then,

Keep Scribbling!

Dave

scribblers@ntlworld.com