Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Writing for Children with Ann Burnett


Last Tuesday, we were very pleased to welcome Ann Burnett back to Erskine Writers to talk about writing for children. Ann also writes short stories, articles and novels but she is well remembered for being the author of several episodes of popular children's stories such as Postman Pat and the Moomins. Ann has also written scripts for radio.

We had a most enjoyable afternoon being reminded of what makes a good picture book for children and getting the chance to skim through Ann's large collection of picture books form different eras, including the hugely successful Gruffalo and several modern classics.

One important point that was evident from Ann's talk was the necessity to aim a children's book at the correct age group as they all have different requirements. We were given a very useful list of websites for information, including the Scottish Book Trust.

Ann will be adjudicating our children's story competition: a Christmas story for Under 7s, up to 750 words to be in for Tuesday 8th December.

Monday, 16 November 2015

Annual Dinner and Awards

Prize Winners
A great time was had by all at our annual dinner and awards at the local Ingliston Equestrian Centre. After an informal meeting where we read short prose and poetry on the theme of 'home and family', we enjoyed a lovely three course dinner followed by coffee.

It's a great excuse to spend time socialising with each other, which we don't get the chance to do at weekly meetings, and to reward the hard work throughout the year. It's always very encouraging to see newer members being awarded some of the prizes and hopefully it will inspire everyone even more. The roll-call of winners follows:

President's Cup     Kathleen Hammond


Erskine Bridge Cup - General Articles

1st       Morag Moffat
Morag receiving the Poetry Award

2nd      Wilma Ferguson
3rd       Elizabeth Gillespie

Quaich - Flash Fiction

1st       Vikki Gemmell
2nd      Elspeth Munro
3rd       Morag Moffat

Betty Munnoch Memorial Competition - Poetry

1st       Morag Moffat
2nd      Linda Cope
Victoria receiving quaich
3rd       Michelle Hurrell
H. Commended   Andrina Connell
Commended        Hilary Stevenson
                            Linda Cope
    Andrina Connell







Here are some of the photos I took at the event. President, Elizabeth Gillespie awarded some of the prizes and Vice-president, Hilary Stevenson, awarded the others. Excuse the layout but blogger has a mind of its own!

Rosemary


Elspeth receiving certificate
Kathleen receiving President's Cup
Hilary receiving certificate
Wilma receiving certificate

Andrina receiving two certificates

Elizabeth receiving certificate

Michelle receiving certificate


EW Writers 1
EW Writers 2

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Short Story Competition Results

On Tuesday, 3rd November, we were delighted to welcome multi-published author Alanna Knight back to Erskine Writers. Alanna had kindly agreed to adjudicate our short story competition and we all enjoyed hearing what she had to say about the entries and about writing in general.

The results are as follows:

3rd     Fitness Frenzy                 Wilma Ferguson

2nd    The Christmas Angel       Myra Duffy

1st      Parting Company            Elspeth Munro

Well done to all!

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This Tuesday, 10th November, it's our Annual Dinner and Awards at Ingleston Country Club. The meeting will begin at 3pm and the dinner at 5.30pm. Bring along a maximum of 300 words to read at the meeting on the theme of Home and Family.