MINUTES OF WOKING WRITERS CIRCLE MEETING

of 21 June 2017 at the Baden Powell Centre, Goldsworth Park

 

Present: Catherine, Liz, Amanda (chair), Heather, Carla, Danny, Tricia, Hilary, Alan, Peter, Peter (minutes).

Apologies: Sarah SH, Sarah DD, Greg

News

Carla gave apologies in advance as she will not attend in July and August.  Greg will be leading his poetry group at its new venue, The Lightbox, on its new dates that clash with WWC.

I think we all feel that the earlier starting and finishing time at Strollers does not work well for us and we are resolved to fully explore alternative venues, perhaps commencing September.  We agreed to use this opportunity to possibly move to a different Thursday to allow members to attend both the Lightbox poetry and WWC evenings.  A few of us will be visiting the candidate venues in July.

Ramzan dropped in with chocolates for his friends.  Super to see him and we hope he will come along when he can.

Is it just me or are we getting better?  There was some really excellent, mature work shared this evening and, as always, made even more enjoyable to hear because of the range of styles and content.

Readings

Carla brought a beautifully drawn vignette of a family outing in the Lake District with one of their number challenging the others with autistic behaviour.  By showing and not telling, this story communicated something of the challenges of the condition.  It also showed how a loving family might be able to adapt and this group all rubbed along together very successfully.  It was both poignant and heart-warming.  Members’ reaction was respectful and warm, recognising both the content and the writing quality.

Tricia’s ditty might have seemed aimed at kids but, like all great children’s writing, worked at two levels and perceptive observations of a domestic cat and slightly less domesticated children provided a sound backdrop for some hilarity.  We applauded this pleasantly surprising work.

Peter Murphy joined us again, for his second visit and shared a piece from what he intends to be a novel.  Although he has lived in England for many years, amongst heathens, he managed to show us a very catholic way of thinking about life that was both warm and reassuring – and reminded us we can learn by looking into other cultures.  We are not all the same and there are different ways of bringing value to relationships.  An enthusiastic discussion followed and, we hope, encouraged Peter to keep writing and sharing.

Hilary, in another chapter of her latest novel,  used her delicate touch to probe under the skin of a troubled individual.  This piece skilfully illustrated why patient listening can reveal a glimmer of light others might have missed – and lost an opportunity to help.  All agreed this was an excellently crafted story.

Alan used his humorous and incisive style to probe philosophy and metaphysics in his writing on the month’s theme, Food for Thought.  Do we writers dream of the financial rewards of being published?  Well, no, of course not, but Alan’s story with its Walter Mitty character entertained admirably.

Our legal beagle Cathy gave us a history lesson and recognised people whose contribution she feels may not have been missed by society in general, and by the legal profession in particular.  As we have come to expect, Cathy dished up interesting facts in effective writing.  A useful, scholarly article.

Heather was on form with her poem, ‘The Walled Garden’.  A beautiful, thoughtful sonnet that didn’t strain to be contained in iambic pentameter and it reminded us how meter can be so effective.  A short discussion on the merits of poetic form followed.

Another thought and insightful piece of writing, this time by Danny, probed the management of a difficult relationship.  It prompted us, without being judgmental or preachy, to ponder how much abuse is too much.  Car and road were cleverly used to parody decisions and directions to take.  How easy, or difficult, is it to turn around and which is the best road to take?

Peter Morley read his old biker’s reflection on life, ageism and opportunity.  It received a surprisingly agreeable reaction from members.

With insufficient time to do it justice, Liz presented her play Tinklerwhich is to be staged at Camberley festival next week.  WWC members became actors for the duration and we all enjoyed the change of medium.  Unfortunately time ran out before a lot of feedback could be offered by the reaction was positive.