Erskine Writers

 Tuesday 6th May

Thirteen members attended the penultimate “working” meeting of the session with apologies coming from Morag and Donnie. Highlight of the afternoon was John McD producing a hard copy of the first of his Italian mystery novels, a very exciting moment for him in particular and for the group as a whole. He hopes to have the three others published by the end of the year thereby completing his “seasonal cycle” to which he has been aiming. While we all enthused about the quality of the book, Sandra gave him some really useful advice based on her years of experience and we all thought it a good idea were he to take as many copies as possible with him when he goes for his three month sojourn to Italy at the end of the month.

The rest of the day was given over to readings on the subject of “I’ve never….” which was thinly based around peoples’ bucket lists. It was a relaxed afternoon with lots of time given over to much animated and interesting discussion. Irene opened proceedings telling us of visits to Paisley Swimming Pool when a young girl and her attempts to dive - not jump - from the high board so it bore resonance with many of the members. Hilary’s piece entitled “An Adventure Not To Be Missed” was an astute interpretation of that last journey which faces us all and how it could be explained and prepared for by various platforms on the Internet. A very clever and thought provoking piece.

Although not written down,  Sandra R hinted that something on her list was to experience para-gliding, something I would applaud but would never attempt myself! John H’s poem, in his own inimitable and humorous style drew attention to all the things which he had yet to achieve including dancing naked in an April shower and ascending the Eiffel Tower. One wonders what would happen if he were to combine the two!!. Brian’s offering, “Feeling Groovy”, gave us an insight on the career of Simon and Garfunkel and, whereas he had seen both as individuals, he would love to see them re-unite and perform one more time so he could attend.

Sandra McG  gave us “Castles in the Air”, a clever title which highlighted the fact that, although she had seen Windsor Castle whilst landing at Heathrow she had yet to visit it and see da Vinci’s sketches of cats which are part of the Royal Collection. Achieving this would tick off at least two items on her bucket list. Rob gave us the fact that he had never seen “Game of Thrones” and wished to attend the Cymru Wasgar ceremony at the Welsh National Eisteddfod.

Jackie believes in spontaneity and doesn’t invest in bucket lists. She prefers to live in the moment, satisfied with what she has and what she has achieved. However, this does not prevent her wanting to hold her new born Australian grand-daughter, something she hopes to accomplish in the very near future. Joan gave us a thoughtful piece on her climbing of the Cobbler and, whereas it seemed a pointless thing to do, it did give her ideas on her future and how it would pan out. The next offering was based around Sardinia, its food, its geography, its people and its overall attraction. No prizes for guessing that this was given by John McD who is planning a road trip there soon. Jeannie gave us things she had already achieved on her bucket, well, more of a reservoir, list but had yet to land on Barra beach by scheduled aeroplane. 

The readings were closed by Jeannie’s offering “Brigida’s Brooch”, which achieved “wall status” at the recent SAW weekend and Ryan’s poem based on a morning in his life and it was a pleasure to see Ryan, mindful of the times of his job and the demands they make.

Next week is Own Manuscripts week so if you have entries to the Article Competition and their crits which have still to be heard, something of which you are particularly proud and which we would like to hear again or, indeed, something new then bring along.