MINUTES OF WOKING WRITERS’ CIRCLE MEETING, THURSDAY 19th MAY 2022 (held at the Crown, Horsell, by kind permission of the proprietors, entrance to the usual venue of the Church hall, St Mary The Virgin having been unavoidably prevented, due to circumstances beyond our control).

Present:     Tricia (Chair) , Alan (Minutes), Hilary, Heather, Peter, Liz

Apologies: Simona, Amanda, Sara DD

NEWS:

Carla Scarano D’Antonio  Following the death of our much loved, highly talented and acclaimed Carla, Peter confirmed that members’ tributes will be posted on the WWC website.

The Poetry Evening held at the Lionsheart Bookshop the previous evening was a resounding success, with Peter unanimously acclaimed as the star performer. This reflected great credit on all participants, together with Liz for initiating the organisation and Amanda for her meticulous and thoroughly professional planning. Jack, the Bookshop Manager was very pleased with the outcome and had suggested monthly fixtures. Peter, however expressed a preference, at this meeting, for a frequency of once or twice a year, with which Liz agreed. Attendance was excellent, with at least six members of the audience keen to join WWC. A more detailed report of this event is to be published shortly.

Liz also suggested that there could be prose evenings at the Bookshop. Peter felt that these would need a governing word limit for each reading, of possibly 400 – 500 words. He also suggested reading theatre reviews or articles, thereby broadening the prose offerings to include non-fiction. Play readings were another attractive possibility, but the requirement for more participants was a potential deterrent.

Heather joined Verpoets, an organisation that produces a lot of online work, and has had two ten-line poems, entitled Grayson Perry and Wordwoods accepted and published in their magazine. Heather has also been commended in an anthology called Shepton Snowdrops, in their2023 Poetry Competition entitled Let Nature Thrive. Her poem was called The Sting.

Liz gave an account of the book club’s most recent reading, ‘The Lido’, which in her words was not the most literary work they have read. However, due to the size of the group they benefit greatly from reading a wide range of novels, mostly good ones, which is of course especially helpful to those of us who intend writing their own. in their next meeting, on Monday April 3rd at 7.30 p.m., they will discuss ‘ Sweet sorrow’ ( one life-changing summer !) by David Nicholls and welcome any fellow members of WWC to join in reading the book and exchange impressions.

READINGS: The homework theme was “Spring” or “Warm”.    

Heather read her two published poems. Grayson Perry, the group agreed, said a great deal in the ten lines allowed, with the pithy, implicit social references occasioning great appreciative mirth. Woodwords, Heather’s second poem, was an entirely different piece, illustrating her great versatility. This was a much more reflective, serious appreciation of Heather’s highly original impressions gleaned from moonlit walks in the woodland bordering her home. Hilary admired the great emotional contrast between the two poems. Alan found the use of implicit imagery and references powerfully impressive, likening some allusions to John Tenniel’s illustrations. Heather described how the magic of these nocturnal woods greatly inspired her, with images such as words having sufficient presence and significance to seem capable of weighing branches down.

Liz read Snowfall, a poem dedicated to Carla’s memory and written during a snowfall just before Carla’s passing. Peter felt that her very effective choice of words helped greatly to “knit the poem together”. Hilary admired the beginning and end, while suggesting that the central section about pyjamas was confusing and would benefit from “tightening”. Heather then suggested that, in certain cases, setting word limits for the beginning,  middle and end of a poem might be helpful. Liz appreciated this, while Peter explained that this was the method underlying sonnet writing. Heather emphasised that any such formula should be regarded as  flexible rather than being a rigid set of rules. The poem reminded Tricia of the unwelcome jolt from the initial rapturous appreciation of waking to a snowy morning, caused by remembering one’s imminent commute to work.

Peter read the first draft of Tommy Smith’s Story, concerning Tommy’s misadventures on a motor bike. This continued from Peter’s previous innovative sharing of his preparatory notes, (as opposed to an actual draft), at a previous reading meeting. The section after the introduction was headed Spring 1939. First Wednesday of the month, Market Day in Ringwood. Listeners found that the horror of the accident was most effectively conveyed, being written from Betsy’s point of view. Peter then read a section set in 1976, written from Tommy’s viewpoint. Tommy is recalling the accident, back in 1939, survival of which influenced him to reject an American offer of a skating contract in the USA and instead, enlist to fight. He realises that he couldn’t escape family censure or the tortures of self-reproach, were he to choose safety and fame over patriotic duty. Listeners having praised the convincing realism of the crash scene, Peter ascribed this to writing from personal  experience, having survived just such a crash as described, while riding a motor bike.

Hilary read another part of The Goldilocks Bench, having previously entranced listeners with an initial reading from the same work. Tonight’s section concerned the further experiences of a woman who wanders around an expensive part of town, in which she wishes but cannot afford to live.  Chastened by penury, she peers in through a cottage window on various occasions, developing a strange, chillingly disquieting relationship with a young man portrayed in a photograph, displayed on the sitting room wall. The sense of unease, already masterfully accomplished in Hilary’s uniquely effective style, is powerfully increased when the protagonist subsequently engages a young man in conversation. He resembles her, in subtly crafted and nuanced ways. Tonight’s section continued with the woman’s dispiriting return to her tower block flat in a sink estate, with atmospheric descriptions of sexually explicit graffiti. On a subsequent visit to the cottage, she is caught by a WPC, peering, once again, in at the window. Summoned by a complaint from the resident of ‘Jasmine Cottage’, the police woman tells her to ‘move along’. The protagonist’s anger and frustration were powerfully conveyed, building via an eviscerating exposé of societal attitudes, to a thrilling hook, as the outraged and humiliated woman contemplates accomplishing the demise of the mother of “Theo”.

Alan, in a somewhat vague gesture towards the homework theme of ‘Spring’, read Mimicry in Birdsong – Avian Copying of Tunes and Sound Effects. This article had been published several years ago, online, by the now defunct Canadian ezine Suite 101. Alan explained that it had been inspired by a blackbird alighting on an electricity cable in his garden, when he lived at Mytchett, before he and Angela were married. The blackbird had then proceeded to “belt out the title bar from ‘Way Down Upon The Swanee River.” The article explored various experiments that had been conducted to establish birds’ mimicry and memorisation capacities. Particular interest and amusement centred around the ability of the Superb Lyrebird to imitate almost literally any sound, from a whirring camera shutter to rifle shots, barking dogs and crying infants.

Next Meeting: Thursday 20th April, 7.30pm  at St. Mary The Virgin Church Hall, Horsell

Chair: Hilary

Minutes: Heather

Homework Theme: Friendship

Wine: Heather

Biscuits & Milk: Simona