WOKING WRITERS CIRCLE MINUTES OF MEETING AT GENERATION CENTRE, FEBRUARY 2018

Present: Sarah SH, Sarah DD, Liz, Peter, Greg, Alan, Tricia, Shane.

Apologies: Heather, Hilary, Cathy, Ramzan, Dermot.

 

News

Greg as outgoing treasurer listed those who have so far paid their 2017-18 subs: Tricia, Greg, Alan, Sarah DD, Sarah SH, Liz, Heather, Hilary, Ramzan, Carla plus Peter.

Greg apologised in advance for missing the next meeting. He will be appearing in A Life Sentence, a one-act play, with his wife Gillian, at Lancaster Hall, Send from Thursday 15 March to Saturday 17 March.

Alan showed his article about road-rail vehicles in the current issue of Railway magazine. You can read more details about it here.

Liz reported that the book group had been tackling Huckleberry Finn, which no one had liked much apart from Liz.  Their next book is Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, the 2017 Man Booker prize winner . The next meeting is in the Crown pub, Horsell, on 13 March.

 

Readings

Tricia’s poem ‘Everything Must Go’ was a poignant look at the trials and tribulations – and memories evoked – while family house-clearing. It included these lines: “When we build our castle of odds and ends / We give little thought to the difficulty / we present to those who remain. / I will pare down my things / It is the person not their things that matters most.” Wise words indeed.

Sarah DD’s short story had an intriguing plot but was also fascinating for the way in which it examined and deconstructed individual words. The story is about a wife’s dissatisfaction about being left to stay in on Valentine’s day, and her subsequent meeting with an old boyfriend from 20 years ago.  We all loved it, so much so that we wanted Sarah to work on the dialogue just a little bit more to make it perfect.

Sarah SH read another extract from a longer piece of work. In this section Hannah is lying in bed slowly regaining consciousness after almost drowning … and slowly discovering terrible news about her friend Anthony, who she thought had rescued her. She is told that instead it was the priest standing over her bed, Father Foley. Other sections of the story have included dramatic sequences describing the feeling of drowning in a river, inspired by the writer’s own brush with death.

Peter read a chapter of a longer work about a soldier who has returned to his home after surviving various theatres of the second world war, including Dunkirk and D-Day. There were vivid descriptions, including the ex-soldier relaxing in a tin bath, and his father shooting pigeons while seated on the outside privy. The group made some suggestions, including incorporating some dialogue, and even splitting up the story into a series of self-contained short stories, pre-war, during the war, and post-war. It was felt that there was so much good material within this tale, it could perhaps be better expressed this way.

Greg read an account he had written some years ago about the novelist John Braine, of ‘Room at the Top’ fame. At the height of fame – and money – Braine bought a substantial family home in Pyrford and wrote in a room above a shop in Woking. As his fortunes declined he moved to various different addresses in Woking. Greg wondered why the council had not erected a blue plaque somewhere in Woking to commemorate Braine’s time here.

Liz  is working on a new project about residents in a care home. She read from notes that she had taken from conversations with a hotel worker about her Polish father, and is looking at the comic potential of love and sex among the geriatrics.

Alan’s short but sweet tale, ‘Booked’, was, like Tricia’s poem, on a house clearance theme. It ratcheted up the tension but was amusing at the same time, combining first editions, family feuding and a helicopter raid over two sides of A4. A masterclass of pace and economy.    

Shane, who was visiting the group for the first time, had waited patiently to make his contribution. His piece headed in a sci-fi direction, with analytical language about automated systems and artificial intelligence, as well as Facebook and Google.

 

Next meeting: Thursday March 15 at 7.30pm. (From April onwards our new landlords, the Scouts and Guides, require us to begin at 7pm, and finish at 9.30pm).

Jobs

Minutes: Alan or Peter

Chair: Heather  

Tea and biscuits: Sarah SH

Wine: Tricia

 

Homework theme: Rooted.