Wednesday was our chance to celebrate the winners of club competitions through the year, but before Ann led us through the readings, she highlighted some of the successes our members have enjoyed in the world outside (i.e. publication). Our Success Book has many more items recorded this year than in previous years, including Alice Muir, one of our postal members, who has published four books on mental health issues. Others have had poems published in anthologies or in their own collections, and articles in various magazines.
The readings for the evening included short stories, articles, drama, children’s writing, book reviews, and part of a novel. Everything was so interesting that I forgot to take notes, so, apologies if I have missed anyone out.
Fiona ably acted out Wilma’s monologue – a supermarket checkout assistant with delusions about her own abilities – then we heard book reviews from Dorothy (Alan Bennett’s An Uncommon Reader) and Jennifer (Belinda Bauer’s Blacklands).
The next section was children’s writing, when Dorothy and Lorraine read their stories for the under-7s, accompanied by their descriptions of the illustrations required.
Joan took on the role of narrator for the first part of Flora’s novel, which whetted our appetite for more, then Catherine read her article on Doug Scott, the mountaineer. She included quotes from Doug that she had obtained during a family lunch, frantically jotting down notes on a napkin. Flora’s article dealt with a holiday in Pitlochry, and encouraged many of us to revisit the area.
Then we came to the short stories, when Wilma and Carolyn read their ‘twist in the tale’ submissions. Wilma’s story had such a surprise ending that it caused an “Oooh” to go round the room. We finished with Janice’s crime story about a bookkeeper’s final day at work.
Some of the winners who did not read their pieces will have the chance to let us hear their winning entries after the AGM on 9th May.
Jennifer West