Wednesday 1st April
Seeing as how the meeting began after the midday curfew, there was little danger of any practical jokes being played; however there was a great deal of humour during the session which began with a welcome return to the colours of our beloved treasurer Donnie. It was a delight to have him back and a real boost to our spirits. Apologies were received from Irene and Lorna and there was a good turn out of twelve. Communication had been received from Jeannie and Vikki - both of whom had produced stirling performances at the recent SAW conference - Vikki receiving second and third prizes for her humorous writing and Jeannie being mentioned in dispatches for her poem “Brigida’s Brooch”.
The afternoon was given over to own manuscripts and a little bit of unfinished business. We began with Jacqui who read out her childrens’ story entry “What made the mouse go Eat?” which had been commended by Alan Dapre and told of a mouse’s experiences on Hallowe’en. Written in rhyme and easily adapted to a picture book, she received a very constructive and valuable crit from the judge. Later, she followed this with a tale based of family fact. It was entitled “Serendipity” and related how a chance visit to a doctor’s surgery ended with a life time of love and adventure on the high seas. Sandra’s poem “February Daffodils”, apart from benefitting from a superb title, told of the promise of Spring through the gradual blooming of daffodils whilst Donnie made his return to the fray with a true but, nevertheless, hilarious piece on the dangers of parking in Killin High Street entitled “Killing Time”. It enjoyed some throaty and robust dialogue. Hilary’s piece, carried over from last week, was entitled “The Welsh Councillor” had a warm ending was couched in some well-researched Welsh language idioms whereas Joan’s dark family tale “Victor” had a shocking ending which highlighted the dangers of holding some oudated views and opinions.
Morag gave us two offerings - “Dangerous Writer”, a flash fiction creation which was blessed with the modern re-writing of established nursery rhymes (a workshop for the future perhaps?) and this was followed by her blind date entry “If at first you don’t succeed…” which was based on the Romanian marriage arrangement tradition. Rob gave us Ammanford” - part of a picee where he recounted the conversation of two ladies on the top deck of a double decker bus. John H weighed in with his flash fiction from last week - “The Peculiar Widow” which also had a very dark conclusion and he followed this with a quartet of nine word Wordle challenges which again gave rise to ideas concerning the syllabus for the next session. Sandra R’s simple yet moving piece about the arrival home of a new baby brother was entitled “The Jealous Sister” and was, again stimulated by last week’s meeting as was Marilyn’s offering “Child Online” - a positive view highlighting the benefits of online communication at a time when it has come under justifiable criticism. Lastly John M’s essay “Love in the Time of Covid”, commended at the SAW Conference, related the online machinations of a business ‘zoom’ conference which would eventually lead to a date at one of his beloved Italian restaurants. Its modern humour was not lost and the introduction of the “egg” was very clever.
So we take our Easter leave and I think it’s true to say that our move to the Sports Centre has been a success. Just to point out that the Syllabus Sub-committee meets over the break and if anyone has any ideas they would like to see included next year, can you please email them to me for consideration. Happy Easter one and all.
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