Erskine Writers

 Tuesday 29th April

The sunshine seemed to bring people out and we had fourteen members around the table. Apologies were received from Donnie and John McD.

The challenge over the past week was to write a piece, the last sentence of which was to begin with the words “If only……” This brought quite a variety of ideas to the fore and it was a fascinating afternoon. Sandra began proceedings relating the story of a down at heel theatre in the hands of two ageing actors who were doing their best to rectify the fortunes of the theatre as well as their failing marriage. It reminded me of an old black and white film starring Virginia McKenna and Peter Sellars. John McD’s story, “The Dalai Lama’s Spaniel” was a study of the internal trials   of the Dalia Lama as he faced the world and its problems and discussed the same with his pet spaniel Nirvana. It provoked a lot of discussion within the group and was followed by Rob’s article “Living with a Silent History” a reflection on the forthcoming eightieth anniversary of the Second World War.

Lorna described a paddle boating incident which could have been easily avoided had the main character read the tide tables for the day. Thankfully it had a happy ending. Marilyn’s piece on “The Power of Thyme/Time” was a clever construction using both senses of the word and their properties in healing and this was followed by Joan’s story which related on the mysterious goings on in a tiled floor kitchen and the antics of a family of slugs who came out “when the human had gone to bed”. Unfortunately its ending was NOT so fortunate.

Jackie’s “The Story of Agnes” told of the sad life of her heroine where he cleverly use of both comedy and tragedy was employed to entertain before a rather doleful ending. To a degree comedy was also at the centre of Irene’s offering whose story told of the ultimate dangers of wearing mittens in a snowstorm!

Jeannie produced a “first” for the Writing Club - a collaborative story written with her grandson. With a cast of  colourful characters, all blessed with a descriptive nickname it told of the bloody antics of a Borders clan and how it was eventually drawn to a close. Hilary told the tale of Emma, a steerage passenger - one of only a handful who survived the sinking of the Titanic and cleverly entitled “The Sea Will Not Take Me”. The sea also played a part in Sandra R’s poem telling of a trip ‘doon the watter’ which ended with a cry for help as she and Irene missed the bus home, the poem laced with Sandra’s homespun humour. John H gave us “Thirteen Down`; a clever  tale of the hero struggling to complete a crossword whilst under pressure from the family pet who wanted his morning walk. The last two clues were solved by the words “if” and “only”. Finally Brian gave us a very courageous piece entitled “ A Day in the Life” and is to be congratulated on his bravery in reading it out to the rest of us.

With a little time to spare we returned to the articles recently judged by David  Robinson. Irene’s offering “Science Fiction - Fiction or Reality” gave us a sobering history of the relative frequency in which asteroids land on Earth and the measures being currently undertaken to protect the planet; it was a fascinating insight which benefitted from her own love of the sci fi genre. Finally Morag read out her third prize winning offering “The Pittenween Arts Festival. The Hidden Treasures” which encouraged everybody to pack a bag and head for the Fifeshire coast as soon as possible. Her obvious love, appreciation and detail of the event shone through!.

Next week……”I’ve never…..” so dust off your bucket lists!