Historic Writing Results – 31 October, 2016

On 31^st October, Alan Judd, novelist and biographer, gave his feedback on our historic writing competition entries. He told us how the high standard of writing and interesting range of subjects made the selection of a top four extremely difficult. His positive comments and interesting anecdotes made for a very amusing and enjoyable meeting. First place went to Vicky Armstrong’s ‘And The Band Played On’.  Alan Judd commented on the excellent use of local sources of information to create a fascinating view of life in Bexhill in 1916. In second place was ‘A Bluebell Among The Thorns’ by Sandra Daniels. This was judged to be a very well researched account of the life of Bluebell Klean, a celebrated classical composer and musician, and prize winning local sea angler. John Taylor was awarded third place for the ‘Warlingham Murder’, praised as a very effective account of a historical event that allowed the reader to make up their own mind about the outcome. In fourth place was ‘The Madness of Victorian Women’ by Godfrey Forder. This piece depicted some of the circumstances under which Victorian woman found themselves to be considered ‘mad’ and provided interesting descriptions of some of the usual treatments administered.