Friday 12 October 2012

Meeting Report: 17th September 2012

It was time for us to wrestle with yet another competition, the second in memory of long-standing member of the Group, Fleet Street journalist and St Leonard’s resident David Buchan, who sadly died last year. On Monday 17 September, we gathered to present our entries. Thirteen people had taken up the challenge of producing short pieces of journalism, mostly commentaries on current social or political issues, but also more general articles on wider themes of interest.Unusually for us, there will be a prize for the winner – a bottle of red wine – David’s favourite tipple!
As ever, we had an interesting evening listening to the entries, ranging from thoughts on the American Presidential elections through to reflections on the life of a Liverpudlian Christmas grotto designer, via the school uniform debate, recycling in Hastings, ‘think bike’, and a review of 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Stables Theatre'.  Not surprisingly, we also had two entries about the legacy of the Olympics/Paralympics.
We were also delighted to learn that Hastings Writers’ Group had performed very well in the annual competitions run by the National Association of Writers’ Groups (NAWG).  Jill Fricker  won second place in the Literary Consultancy Trophy for Open Poetry with 'Ghost' and third place in the Aine Chadwick Trophy for a Poem for Children with 'The Mangy Cat'. Roz Balp had been commended in the Jilly Cooper Trophy for a Crime Short Story with 'Synchronicity', and the Group as a whole had also been commended for our ‘Ghostwriters’ anthology, published in 2011.
      The Group meets fortnightly at the White Rock Hotel. If you are interested in joining (there is currently a waiting list), or in finding out more about our activities, please contact the Membership Secretary, Amanda Giles, on 01424 442707 or e-mail membership.hwg@gmail.com. You can also visit our website at www.hastingswriters.co.uk
Report by Steph Gaunt

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