Hastings Writers celebrate
success
‘This has been an excellent year’ said Chair Jill
Fricker as she welcomed members and friends to the White Rock Hotel and
introduced the Group’s Patron, well-known author Tamara McKinley. Tamara has
written psychological thrillers, a series of best-selling novels set in the
Australian outback, and a further series of novels under the name Ellie Dean.
Her books have been highly successful and translated into at least 15 languages.
‘I love working with this
group because you all don’t just sit about talking about writing, you all have a
go and actually write,’ said Tamara. ‘In addition to the published authors in
the group, so many of you are so nearly at the stage where you could be
published – I would like to be able to help more of you take that next
step.’
Helped by the Vice-Chair,
popular children’s author Kate O’Hearn, Tamara gave out certificates to all the
members who had won, or been placed, in the Group’s internal competitions
throughout 2012. Points for winning entries are added together, and the person
with the most points receives the coveted ‘Writer of the Year’ Award. This
year, the winner was the talented Mike
Walsh. Long-standing member Mike, from Bexhill, has won the
award before – in 2010. His work deserves a much wider
audience.
The big event of the night
was the award of the Catherine Cookson Cup, awarded annually for an open-theme
short story, in honour of the Group’s first Patron. Tamara McKinley, who had
judged the competition, commented on the high quality of the entries. Forthright
as ever, she urged less experienced writers to edit their work
rigorously.
‘In a successful short
story,’ she said, ‘every word must count.’ She singled out six entries where
sufficient words had counted to impress her. Highly commended were Charlie
Menzinger with ‘Dominic Gets a Second Chance’, and Maurice Haken, with ‘Foxed by
a Phantom’. In fourth place was newcomer to Hastings, Stephanie Gaunt, with ‘How
Time Flies’. Established member Amanda
Giles, also from Hastings, was third with ‘Dear Aunt Lulu’.
Second was the consistently excellent Mike
Walsh, with ‘Pagan Sunset’. The winner was Marcus Towner, from
Hawkhurst, with the beautifully composed and evocative ‘Perhaps an Indian
Summer.’
In addition to the awards,
a final cheque from sales of the group’s anthology ‘Ghost Writers’, was presented to
Sara Young from local charity The Association of Carers. Sara explained how the
money had benefited projects to support young
carers.
In a slightly more sombre
mood, those present sent their best wishes to Monica Percy, local author and
former Chair of the group, who was unfortunately not well enough to
attend.
Finally, on behalf of the
group, Jill expressed gratitude and thanks to Rosemary Bartholomew, who is
standing down from the Committee after many years invaluable service. After so
long supporting others with their writing, not surprisingly Rosemary now feels
she would like to spend more time concentrating on her own work. However, she
has been persuaded to help with production of the group’s annual anthologies –
the 2012 ‘Strandline’ has just gone on sale.
Further thanks went to
member Anne Hooker, for organizing fund-raising raffles on this and other
occasions, and to Richard Holdsworth for organizing the
bookstall.
With over thirty
contributing members, the Hastings Writers’ Group is one of the largest and most
active groups of its type in the country. Newcomers continue to join, and the
membership includes a diverse range of ages, backgrounds and levels of writing
experience. A number of members have had work published this year, and have
entered – and won - prestigious external competitions. For 2013, the Group wants
to do yet more to increase the standard of its writing, to get more involved
with the local community, and to take a bigger part in cultural festivals and
events.
