We are a long established Writers Circle based in Felixstowe, Suffolk. This Weblog will be about us, Writing, Writing Competitions, Writing in Felixstowe, life and generally what we are up to as a Group and individuals and what interests us.
We are based in Felixstowe but our membership comes both from a wide area within Suffolk and we also have many 'online' members from around the UK, Europe and the US.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Please note our New! contact address is scribblers@btinternet.com . Please note all previous email addresses are now defunct.
Prose and Poetry Prizes 2007 from The New Writer magazine
Now in its eleventh year, one of the major annual international competitions for short stories, novellas, single poems, poetry collections, essays and articles; offers cash prizes as well as publication for the prize-winning writers in The Collection, special edition ofThe New Writer magazine each July (back copies available from website).
Closing date 30 November 2007
Short Stories, Novellas/Serials - stories up to 4,000 words, serials/novellas up to 20,000 words on any subject or theme, in any genre (not children's). Previously published work is not eligible. Short Stories: 1st prize £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100. Novella: 1st prize £300. Entry fees £4 per short story (TNW subscribers two entries at same fee) or £10 per serial/novella.
Single Poems and Collections - single poems up to 40 lines and collections of between 6 - 10 poems. Single poem entries must be previously unpublished; previously published poems can be included as part of a collection. Collection: 1st prize £300, 2nd £200, 3rd £100. Single: 1st prize £100, 2nd £75, 3rd £50. Entry fee £4 per single poem (TNW subscribers two entries at same fee, £10 per collection.
Essays, Articles, Interviews - covering any writing-related or literary theme in its widest sense up to 2,000 words. 1st prize £150, 2nd £100, 3rd £50. Single entry £4 (TNW subscribers two entries at same fee).
All work should be clearly typed, double-spaced (except poetry), on one side of white A4 paper and paperclipped. Entrants may make as many submissions as they wish but please include your name, address, title of entry, word count and category on a separate cover sheet with every entry. Preliminary judging will be carried out by The New Writer editorial board with guest judges making the final selection so there should be no identifying marks on the entries. Judges in recent years include Robyn Young, Robert Seatter, Mimi Thebo, Simon Scarrow, Jane Draycott, Ros Barber, Margaret Graham, Phil Whitaker.
Welcome to another typical bank holiday with threatening inclement weather just arriving!
This could be a good time to send out a reminder that our next meeting will be on Tuesday 5th June at the Felixstowe Library.
With an extra Tuesday in the month it also gives us the opportunity to create 500 words on 'Bottle(s)' or, perhaps, just to empty a few!
Judy has emailed to say that she is now fit enough to set sail today for a month on the high seas and calling in at a few ports on the voyage. Good news too as she has now signed a contract for her book 'Ships'. Having read a couple of sample chapters some time ago, I know it will be a compelling read.
Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday, so, until next time,
Author John Saul, will be reading from and signing his new book of short stories 'Call it tender' and answering questions at Browsers bookshop in Woodbridge, on the 1st June (the official launch) 7pm onwards. Information about the author and book can be found at http://www.saltpublishing.com/writers/writers.php?show=20.
In the Chair:Ruth, for what turned out to be a very enjoyable meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from Trish, Kate, Judy, Peter, Alex and Caz.
In attendance were Liliane, Barry, Dave Dick, Rani, Les, Kay, Rosemary, Morag, Tony, Lisa, Maurice and Ruth.
Scribblers News:
A special welcome was given to Rosemary, our 15 year old winner of the Bill Budner short story competition. Rosemary, who is writing a story with a friend on line, each taking the part of one character, decided she would like to expand her writing and visit the Scribblers.
It was also a welcome back to Lisa who was making her second appearance of the year. She is hoping to attend a little more frequently from now on.
It was also nice to welcome two visitors to the group. First Liliane’s daughter Rani who has visited us two or three times before, and also Maurice, who is visiting from the northwest. Maurice has run writing competitions for many years and also published several books as well.
An update on Kate is that, following an emergency scan on Friday 13th April she underwent an operation ten days later on Monday 23rd. and is now at home recovering from her ordeal. Not being able to drive for up to seven weeks is, she says, going to be a real challenge but over the next few weeks she will gain more strength and be able to do a few more gentle tasks.
Judy is in the wars having injured her back and been virtually bed bound for sometime now. Lets home she soon improves too. Perhaps we should send our best wishes to both Kate and Judy for speedy recoveries.
Trish was missing for this meeting as she was going to a meeting concerning the ‘Dissolution of Abbeys’.
Caz emailed the following to the Scribblers:
“Sorry, my apologies once again as I will not be attending the meetings for the time being. It is all too soon for me to be that brave but please thank all my friends at Scribblers for all their love and support. I saw both Ruth and Liliane during two days of fundraising for Macmillan at Solar. These days were arranged for May 2006 but I was unable to do them because Jack was unwell. It was very difficult for me to come out and face the World but Jack would want me to continue my fundraising.
“So eight of us as a group cycled 25 miles for EACH yesterday afternoon . All was well (although really tough for me as I'm so unfit at present) until the rains came as forecast. Eight drowned rats completed 25 miles in Jack's memory and we hope that we'll have raised a few pounds in the process. Jack was in heart and head when things got tough and I asked him to lend me his wings and his courage to get me round and I know he helped me to finish.
“My love to all my friends,
Caz.”
Belinda and Geoff sent a lovely tribute to Jack from their home in Australia that Caz loaned to Scribblers for the evening. It really was a lovely tribute.
New Virus warning:
Caz has informed us of a virus warning she has received and it seems this may be a genuine one. With the subject line on emails reading "Osama Bin Laden Captured” or "Osama Hanged", the advice is to delete the email and certainly do not open any attachments.
THE BILL BUDNER WRITING COMPETITION
As we are all aware the winner of the competition went to Belinda all the way down there in Australia. However she emailed Maureen Budner with the following:
“Dear Maureen,
With the competition winners now announced, I would like to donate my winnings to the Felixstowe Scribblers in memory of Bill. I will leave it up to the group to decide what it is they would like to buy or use the money for. If Scribbler's buy something for the group's use then it could be in memory of Bill.
With Many Thanks,
Belinda Janz.”
What a lovely gesture this was. The prize money, it was agreed by all present, would go towards the purchase of the trophy for our own in-house competitions that we began at this meeting. With the cup selected from the catalogue that Scott provided, a very easy decision was made to name it “The Bill Budner Cup”. These words will be engraved on the cup along with each winner of the trophy.
With the cheque since received from Maureen, I telephoned her to thank her for suggesting the competition in the first place and for donating the prizes. It really was an enjoyable competition which Maureen was pleased with, especially that the winners were shared between old and current Scribblers and also a member of the public too. She was also delighted to hear that Rosemary came along to our meeting. I have also sent a Thankyou email to Belinda.
Other news:
There is another hiccup with our weblog at http://nar8or.blogspot.com where my postings have been temporarily blocked. This meant that I was unable to include information on Tony’s Cabaret events at St Augustine’s Church on Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
I am hoping that Alex will soon be able to provide the solution to resuming posting again. After all the work he put into the site it is a shame that additions cannot be made. Don’t forget, though, to keep an eye on the site to see the updates soon. There is also our website at http://felixstowescribblers.com that can be viewed at any time. There is also our online group at http://onlinescribblers.com for those who cannot attend meetings.
Wanted: Ideas for a summer social event as soon as possible please. Please let Ruth know - the possibility is a beach party with Ruth’s beach hut for shelter!
The Homework Assignment:
Our anonymous reading ‘competition’ proved to be a really great success. With eleven people participating, including Rosemary, it provided a lot of enjoyment with authors able to sit back and listen to their work being read by someone else.
The basic rules were that all work was submitted anonymously in typed format. Placed face down on a table, each writer gathered a work then had a few minutes to read it through and understand it. Each person present was handed a card and asked to write each title down and then mark their first three choices. At the end of the readings, the cards were deposited in a box, taken away and then counted with the winning work then announced. Only then was the writer identified.
Taking Flight : Read by Kay. Charles leaves his wife Barbara but she doesn’t realise. Written by Ruth.
Solitary: Read by Les: Account of a prisoner in solitary confinement recalling the events leading to imprisonment. Turns out to be a cat! Written by Dave.
Village Life: Read by Dick: Lucas: A grieving boy with a broken arm after an attack over land. Peasant’s revolt. Written by Barry.
The Inconvenience: Read by Dave: An account of a woman going to a public convenience! And the woman who worked there. Written by Kay.
Stevie and the Kid: Read by Barry: A man takes summer walks and is wanted and followed by a girl. They grow up and have a child. Written by Tony.
Holly’s Half: Read by Liliane: A teenager at a rave type party. Drug taking, dancing… then coming down … Written by Lisa.
Wakey! Wakey!: Read by Ruth: A man’s sleepless night before an interview. Written by Les.
The Party: Read by Lisa: Description of a house party that gets gatecrashed and becomes a disaster with wide ranging consequences. Written by Liliane.
Breach: Read by Tony: A woman going through security checks at customs with a coffin. Written by Rosemary.
My Impulse Venture: Read by Morag: Answering an ad for a housekeeper, Emily goes for an interview with a positive outcome. Written by Dick.
Instant Karma: Read by Rosemary: Rachel, at work, sees her lover with his wife and ends up in a car crash. Written by Morag.
After the readings, the marking and the announcement of the winner and the closeness of votes. The top three places were separated by a single vote. Result:
1st Stevie and the Kid by Tony
Joint 2nd The Inconvenience by Kay and Wakey, Wakey! By Les.
The standard of work was unusually high and one of the things that added to the fun was trying to guess who wrote what work. How wrong can a group of writers be?
An excellent nights work and one that will now be repeated on a regular quarterly basis.
Our next Felixstowe Scribblers meeting is set for Tuesday 5th June at 7.30pm in the Café Libra at the Library and will be chaired by Dave.
The homework assignment is to write 500 words maximum on “BOTTLE”.
The 1500 word work will feature Rosemary reading her winning entry in the Bill Budner Competition, entitled “Driftwood”. The other work will be Belinda’s winning entry “Miss Sandy Shore’s Mid Life Crisis” which Kay will read.
ONE YEAR ON AND LUKE DURBIN IS STILL MISSING. CAN YOU HELP?
Luke has been missing for exactly a year now and his mother, family and friends are distraught with worry and anxious for news of him. Today this worrying anniversary has been extensively covered in the media. Let us all hope it leads to news of Luke.
There are a range of different websites about Luke, the main one is at
"A couple of friends and I are currently organising the year anniversary of Luke missing. As I am sure you can imagine it is not something I wish to be marking, however, I feel if I let it go unmarked Luke really will become old news. The event will be on the 13th May and the aim of the day is to once again highlight Luke’s disappearance and other people who have gone missing without a trace. There will be a silent auction and funds raised will go to National Missing Persons Helpline. The help we have had so far has been incredible and I wish to sincerely thank the following people;
I hang on to Luke being alive out there somewhere, being held against his will. I still believe someone knows what has happened to Luke and again I would appeal to that person’s conscience to call the police on 01473 613500 or if you wish to report something in connection with Luke’s disappearance in confidence, please call the National missing Persons Helpline on 0500 700 700 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 15th May at 7.30pm in the Café Libra at the Library .
The meeting will be chaired by Ruth but will be quite unique in another way. There will be a competition for attending writers only. Briefly the guidelines are:
750 words on any topic.
Work should be typed.
Work should be anonymous - so no names or identification marks on the paper.
All work will be placed on a table, and each writer, at a given time, will collect one story or poem and have a short time to read through it.
The stories will then be read out to the group with everyone able to mark the work.
At the end of the evening all the marks will be entered anonymously into a box and then counted.
The winner will be announced and a small trophy will be presented at a later date and will be held for three months until the next competition.
A message from Rochelle has been forwarded here by Vincent at Online Scribblers The authors & poets of www.mandalapress.com (usa) and www.sunrisepublishing.com (usa) have set up their own website in order to fight for justice.
The authors/poets were originally informed that mandala press was a traditional market and after handing over money to "register their work in the USA"; mandala press showed it's true colours.
The authors received excuse after excuse by one of the Directors Donette Smock and her partner Dale Jungk. First, it was personal financial problems which led to the delay in publishing, books which should have been out over 2 years ago are still not printed today. The authors feel very disgruntled due to the constant delay tactics, excuses and untruths however, the final straw was when www.mandalapress.com joined with www.sunrisepress.com (www.sunrisepublishing.com) the excuses began to become threats.
These authors/poets lost their money, their dignity and their dreams all due to an online literary scam. Not only was it a case of most of the authors work never being published, lies and deceipt, but when they began to receive threats from the new partner Scott Putnam in Sunrise publishing, that was the final straw.
You can support these authors or just drop by and see their experience with mandala press & sunrise publishing - it is abhorrant.
***
This was followed by a communication from Digg that reads:
"Thought you might want to check this out. This is literary fraud with no regrets by the publishers who bullied and threatened their authors/poets..
digg user poppymoore would like to share this story with you:
Here are one or two recent publications from Felixstowe Scribblers and Online Scribblers writers. These books may still be available and enquiries can be made by emailing scribblers@ntlworld.com
Could you be the next published Felixstowe Scribbler?
The first anthology produced by Felixstowe Scribblers In memory of Jack Wilkinson
Thanks to everyone who took part in the 2007 CWA Debut Dagger competition. It’s been said before, but it doesn’t make it any less true: choosing the shortlist was difficult. The quality of submissions was very strong, and narrowing it down to twelve from the longlist was the most arduous task of a demanding job. Arduous because there were simply so many good entries.
To keep the judging process completely anonymous, the names of the shortlist will not be released until the beginning of June, when they will be included in a general press release for the CWA Dagger Awards. So keep a look-out on the website.
The shortlisted titles are:
Cry Baby (UK)
Maletski’s Motive (UK)
Natural Causes (UK)
Pariah (UK)
Rome was Never Like This (USA)
Solitaire (UK)
Towers of London (UK)
The Shadow of the Dead (USA)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Canada)
White Lion (UK)
The Witch of Babylon (Canada)
With a View to Death (UK)
Congratulations and good luck to the winners and sincere commiserations to everyone else. I know that for some, just plucking up the courage to enter has been a giant step on the way to fulfilling your writing ambitions, and although those who didn’t make it onto the shortlist will inevitably be disappointed, I do hope that you gained something from the experience and will try again – it worked for Otis Twelve…
Feedback
I will send out a bulletin in the next week or so with some general comments and suggestions arising from the shortlisting process.
There will be a final bulletin in June to announce the winner
Apologies for absence were received from Kate, Judy, Peter and Alex.
In attendance were Dick, Stephen, Tony, Trish, Morag, Kay, Zoe, Les, Ruth, Liliane, Barry and Dave.
Scribblers News:
A welcome back to Liliane fresh from her Australian holiday.
An update on Kate is that, following an emergency scan on Friday 13th April she underwent an operation ten days later on Monday 23rd. and is now at home recovering from her ordeal. Not being able to drive for up to seven weeks is, she says, going to be a real challenge but over the next few weeks she will gain more strength and be able to do a few more gentle tasks.
Judy is in the wars having injured her back and been virtually bed bound for sometime now. Lets home she soon improves too. Perhaps we should send our best wishes to both Kate and Judy for speedy recoveries.
Our friend Gordon has been in touch and sends his best wishes to everyone. He now has a website for his growing poker business so if you would like to see what he's up to then go to www.freewebs.com/grpoker.
Belinda too, has been in touch sending a lengthy email to us saying that she and Geoff have been very busy with work with a good run of security work at regular events.
She says “It was so wonderful to read in the last email from Scribblers about Scott and Aimee's upcoming wedding - how wonderful for them and maybe we could get a photo or 2 of the event somewhere on the site - not sure if that is possible. Please pass on our CONGRATULATIONS to them both. Please also send on our wishes of good health soon and speedy recovery for Kate too. I am unsure what the operation is for but hope all went well.”
Belinda went on to ask about both Gordon and Rexie and also Lisa, before telling us about the local writer's group she joined 9 months ago. She still doesn’t feel really connected to the group in any way and partly it maybe the format and not having unison over the style or what the group is hoping to achieve. The leader of the group ‘seems happy to lead us to the edge and leave us there to take flight in whatever way that may be - not unlike leading us into battle but then retreating away because I'm too busy for this war so’ He said "if you want to have a go, by all means go for it, but I have too much on in my life to do anything extra". So just between you and me why start a writer's group? If you're that busy then don't start something new.
Each month they have at least one guest speaker recently they had a Psychic talk to them all of which is right up Belinda’s alley. Lilla gave a very good talk on encouraging thought process for writing and how to read the signs and messages all around in our everyday life and how they can be incorporated into a story. She also suggested keeping a Dream Journal as they can provide interesting messages and storylines. Ironically Lilla has joined the writing group and is the first one of the group that Belinda has connected with. Finally Belinda says “It's interesting that the group has a large number of ex UK people who all are glad to have escaped here whilst I am wanting to get back there. Oh well that's life. I must say though I am enjoying being reunited with the sun again and the beach when we can get there.”
THE BILL BUDNER WRITING COMPETITION - ALL THE WINNERS!
The inaugural writing competition organised by Maureen Budner in memory of her late husband Bill, drew many entries from Felixstowe, Ipswich and surrounding areas, together with some just a little further afield like Brighton and Bristol and far beyond.
The standard of all entries was very high and after great deliberation the winners were announced as:
ADULTS SECTION:
1st place : Belinda Janz of Queensland, Australia with her story "Miss Sandy Shore's Midlife Crisis." 2nd place : Ruth Dugdall of Felixstowe, with her entry "My Brother the Sea." 3rd place : Stephen Sharp of Trimley with "Morning Sea."
THE CHILDREN'S SECTION:
1st place : Rosemary Woolley, age 15, with "Driftwood." 2nd place : Aysia Schuetzle, age 14, with "Lost to the Sea." 3rd place : Samantha Healey, age 14, with "Lost at Sea." Consolation prizes are being awarded to other entrants in this section.
From Felixstowe Scribblers, many congratulations to all the winners, sincere thanks to Maureen for this excellent competition and to every entrant, young and old alike, very many thanks for your wonderful stories. The Bill Budner Short Story Competition
Other news:
At last, after such a long time, the transfer to new signatories and treasurer have been accepted by the bank and so we are now in a position to deposit the limited funds we receive from our refreshments. Peter, currently making his way via France to Italy, will be pleased to know that everything has come to fruition and also that Dick is proving a more than capable deputy!
Updates are now being place on the weblog at http://nar8or.blogspot.com where the number of hits on the site now approach the 8,000 mark and page views are around 15,000. All thanks to Alex of course.
The “Good Friday” competition being that was organised by Online Scribblers has now closed for entries which can be viewed on their website. Online voting is now in place and will be open until 14th May with the winning entry being announced on the evening of 15th May. Go to http://onlinescribblers.com to read the entries and vote!
In the last report research opportunities were mentioned at both Felixstowe Library and the Suffolk Record Office and I can quote some lovely words of praise from our good friend Di:
"Hi Scribblers!
"I have about 3 weeks left before it is all over. It feels like only yesterday that I was down the record office looking for documents on my first research project. The dissertation is going well, plus the independent study and the essays for the other module I have to do. Remarkably I am still enjoying it! It's just a shame there is no call for historians - if it wasn't for the cost I would book up for my MA the moment I finished. But that will have to wait. I've got to find myself a job - oh goody goody!
"What prompted me to email was the mention of the Record Office as a source of inspiration and research - oh my word - is it half! It is the sort of place that my tutors lovingly call the thief of time - what I would give to stop the clock when I enter and re-start it again when I'm ready to leave. In fact it is usually my stomach that wants to leave before I do - it's hungry work - research!
"And the index files make it so easy to start. In fact when I get back into my creative writing - expect to see me there - I've got a few little ideas bubbling away! A good book that will give some idea of what can be done with some of the sources - if anyone is interested - is Frank Grace's Rags and Bones. It's remarkable the way he pieces lives together from some of the sources.
"Oh, yes! The Record Office is a perfect place for inspiration and research. See you all soon hopefully."
The open themed 1,500 word assignments were read by Ruth and Les.
Ruth: My Brother the Sea: (runner-up in the Bill Budner Competition and 3rd place in the Suffolk Magazine competition) : Set in Southwold with the dray horses from the brewery and stables as background. A child’s nightmare of seeing of watching the devastating consequences of her father participate in the annual Christmas Day swim.
Les: Return to the Sea: (another of the entries for the Bill Budner competition) The tragedy of the spear fisherman whose wife Aleka, was washed from the rocks by a freak wave. She screamed and was lost to the sea leaving him drained and defeated. Seeking solace he was tormented by visions of his wife.
The 500 word assignment themed on “Moving”
Dave: Moving: Written in memory of his brother-in-law Tony who died at the weekend, it tried to understand the effects of Parkinson’s Disease. (It can be read in the forums at Online Scribblers and comments or feedback will be welcomed)
Barry: Moving: An emotive work spanning the journey from children to adulthood and how a heart attack altered the outlook on life.
Liliane: Moving In: Narrated by a child. The removal men, the crates of beer, and children playing Tarzan and Jane in the garden.
Kay: Moving Earth: Lovely words from Kay, this time with heart monitors and moving earth - dust to dust..
Morag: Extract from Muddy Boots: The dilemma of Vanessa to allow her child to witness the birth of a foal.
Trish: The Move (part of a novel): Removal men left house empty but Sarah recalled the laughter before the split with her fiancée. First night in her new house she was aware of someone in the orchard watching her…
Tony: Movement: A complete fantasy quest as Honion made his journey through the forest but was caught by the beast and scythed into pieces.
Stephen: Murder on the Princess Amiable: After seventeen years the couple sold up to go on a round the world cruise. Disturbed by a gunshot on deck..
Dick: Moving On: A poem with memories of a house whose occupant left after fifty years. What will happen next and who will move in?
Next time:
For the coming meeting only! A competition for attending writers only. 750 words on any topic. Work should be typed. Anonymous so no names or identification marks on the paper. All work will be placed on a table, and each writer, at a given time, will collect one story or poem and read through it. The stories will be read out with everyone marking the work. At the end of the evening all the marks will be entered anonymously into a box and then counted. The winner will then be announced and a small trophy will be presented at a later date that will be held for three months until the next competition.
Our next Felixstowe Scribblers meeting is set for Tuesday 15th May at 7.30pm in the Café Libra at the Library and will be chaired by Ruth.
We often hear about collections of photographs, memories and local stories to whet the appetite. Sometimes, usually for larger towns and cities, a variety of books of varying quality and content are published, to make as much profit as possible. Obviously all authors would like to benefit from their work.
Here, though, is a book that has been published through sheer hard work, determination, a great deal of research and, something often lacking in this type of publication, real community spirit. A splendid work that puts others to shame.
Blaxhall’s Living Past
A Blaxhall community based project started in 2004 has just borne its first fruits with the publication of a 160pp hardback book with over 340 photographs called ‘Blaxhall’s Living Past’. The book is being launched at the Blaxhall Ship pub on 7th May when people can come along and purchase a copy between 12 noon and 3.00pm. The book is priced at £20 and worth every penny but, sorry, we can only accept cash sales. If you can’t make that date but would like to buy a copy, then please phone 01728 688611 or 01728 689171 to arrange a pick up or look on www.blaxhall.com for further details.
Background After the Blaxhall Archive Group (BAG) was founded in 2003, it soon became clear that the resulting unique photographic, documents and oral history collection might be of considerable interest to a wide range of people not only to present day villagers but to ‘Blaxhallites’ far and wide in the UK and globally as well as to social historians.
Although all the many images are preserved and will be accessible in electronic forms at the Suffolk Record Office and the BAG database; Blaxhall Archive Group members felt that, to give the photographs the widest possible audience, a hard-copy selection from them, interspersed with written pieces on a range of Blaxhall people and places over its long history, would be a worthwhile project, particularly if combined with a DVD.
So in 2005, an application was made to the Local History Initiative of the Heritage Lottery Fund, resulting in a grant for such a project. This made it possible for this book to be available ‘free’ to each Blaxhall householder and to each person who donated photographs. The DVD will follow later in the summer.
This book is not an unbroken social history nor is it written by professional writers; it is a random collection of snapshots of village life in photographs and words, produced by the combined efforts of Blaxhall Archive Group with the welcome support of other villagers past and present and of the Suffolk Record Office.
Group Name: Blaxhall Archive Group Group contact: Rodney West Telephone: 01728 688611 Or email archive@blaxhall.com Group information Blaxhall Archive Group has a core team of 10, with ages ranging from 34 to 93. The group was set up in 2003 with the aim of safeguarding historical material for the local population and also the wider public.
Address: Flint Cottage, Stone Common, Blaxhall IP12 2DP
THE BILL BUDNER WRITING COMPETITION - ALL THE WINNERS!
The inaugural writing competition organised by Maureen Budner in memory of her late husband Bill, drew many entries from Felixstowe, Ipswich and surrounding areas, together with some just a little further afield like Brighton and Bristol and beyond.
The standard of all entries was very high and after great deliberation the winners were announced as:
ADULTS SECTION:
1st place : Belinda Janz of Queensland, Australia with her story "Miss Sandy Shore's Midlife Crisis." 2nd place : Ruth Dugdall of Felixstowe, with her entry "My Brother the Sea." 3rd place : Stephen Sharp of Trimley with "Morning Sea."
THE WINNER, BELINDA JANZ.
THE CHILDREN'S SECTION:
1st place : Rosemary Woolley, age 15, with "Driftwood." 2nd place : Aysia Schuetzle, age 14, with "Lost to the Sea." 3rd place : Samantha Healey, age 14, with "Lost at Sea."
Consolation prizes are being awarded to other entrants in this section.
From the Felixstowe Scribblers, many congratulations to all the winners, sincere thanks to Maureen for this excellent competition and to every entrant, young and old alike, very many thanks for your wonderful stories.
It is likely that this competition will be repeated next year so, until then,
Interested? Then why not join us at one of our meetings?
We meet on the First and Third Tuesday of each month at the Felixstowe Library in Crescent Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7BY., meetings start at 7.30 pm and we endeavour to be finished by 10pm.
The New!2009 programme is:-
All meetings are held at Felixstowe Library
Start at 7.30 pm and finish by 10.00 pm.
Suggested 50 pence donation per meeting, includes tea or coffee
January
20 Bill Budner Trophy – Anonymous competition for attending writers only
24 Social meal at Castle Lodge Hotel
25 Group session with Maureen Blundell at Castle Lodge Hotel
February
3 Meeting
17 Meeting
March
3 Meeting
17 Creative writing exercise
April
7 Meeting
21 Meeting
May
5 Meeting
19 Bill Budner Trophy – Anonymous competition for attending writers only
June
2 Meeting
16 Meeting
Beach Party Social to be arranged June/July
July
7 Meeting
21 Creative writing exercise
August
4 Meeting
18 Meeting
September
1 Meeting
15 Bill Budner Trophy – Anonymous competition for attending writers only
October
6 Meeting
20 Torchlight Halloween Meeting
November
3 Meeting
17 Meeting
December
1 Meeting
15 Creative writing exercise followed by the Christmas party.
Remember, membership is FREE, so why not come along? We ask for an optional donation of 50p per meeting to help towards running costs but that does include tea or coffee and a biscuit!
New!IMPORTANT - you can help.....do you know information or content that would help other readers of the Felixstowe Scribblers Weblog?...mail us at Dave Feakes, scribblers@btinternet.com with your comments, additions and suggestions TA! The Scribblers.
Sponsored Links
The Felixstowe Scribblers are an initiative created with the support of Suffolk County Council to help, support and encourage writers living in Suffolk.
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