Ripon Writers' Group

The AGM was well attended. Cathy reported that finances were healthy and her recommendation of a reduction in the annual subscription was accepted. Retiring Chairman Audrey gave a short report reviewing a successful past year and Jan, elected to take her place, expressed the Group’s thanks to Audrey for her service in various offices over the past twelve years. Peter H succeeds Jan as Vice Chairman and the rest of the committee remains unchanged. A number of suggestions for meeting themes was put forward to assist the incoming committee in preparing a programme for the coming year.

Cathy won a free weekend at the ‘Hearth’ micro literary festival at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden and took lucky Maggie along as her ‘plus one’.

The writers in residence were James Runcie (seen above with Cathy), whose series of novels about a vicar turned sleuth in Grantchester has now been turned into a television drama screened on Monday evenings, radio, TV and screen dramatist Lucy Gough and novelists Rebecca Abrams and Patricia Bracewell.

As well as enjoying the more formal events, both ladies were more than happy to sit round the eponymous hearth with glasses of wine in their hands and take part in the discussions.

For more information about their weekend, take a look at https://www.writers-online.co.uk/information/Gladstone%20Library%20Hearth%20literary%20micro-festival%20review/ or Maggie’s website. Future ‘Hearth’ events will be posted on www.gladstoneslibrary.org

Graham Chalmers, Weekend Editor of the Ripon Gazette and its sister papers, adjudicated for us for the first time. After giving considerable insight into his journalistic background and approach to judging, he provided valuable feedback on each of the twelve entries.

The winner of the competition was Lindsay Trenholme with ‘The Rose of York’, an imaginative story with a background of intrigue at the court of Henry VII. Peter Page’s ‘The Art Show’, inspired by visits to a couple of local shows and the nursery rhyme ‘Little Miss Muffet’, came second. Eileen Walters was third with ‘Portrait of a Tree’, the tree in question being one which meant a great deal more to her than to the neighbour who owned it.

Graham also commended Susan Perkins for ‘My Enlightenment’ and Cathy Grimmer for ‘A Fair Bargain’.

Following the presentation of the trophy, all five of the above members read out their entries.

We were delighted to be given the opportunity to share Dr Roger Kendall’s insights into the short life of Wilfrid Owen; in particular the months he spent in Ripon in 1918, where he celebrated his 25th and final birthday. Whilst based at the nearby army camp, the young poet rented a room in a cottage in Borrage Lane and took advantage of its quiet location to write many of his best known works. These included A Tear Song, School Mistress, Arms and the Boy, Futility, Mental Cases and The Send-off, all of which Roger read to us, making frequent reference to local sources of information that he had discovered during the course of his research.

The question and answer session which followed Roger’s talk provoked a lively discussion. Topics covered included the influence of Siegfried Sassoon, Owen’s relationship with his Welsh mother and the fact that most of his poems were published after his death. We could only speculate sadly on what might have been achieved if Wilfrid Owen had not been killed just one week before the Armistice.

The annual summer school known affectionately to writers all over the world just as ‘Swanwick’, the Derbyshire village which is home to The Hayes Conference Centre, has attracted many of our members during its 66 years. To discover why, click on the link to the right.

Cathy Grimmer and Maggie Cobbett, regular attenders, always opt for rooms in Lakeside – and yes, there really is a lake – and aim to make the most of the literary, networking and social opportunities on offer.

Maggie was happy to be once again amongst the prizewinners, but this was definitely Cathy’s year.

Not only did she sing beautifully at Buskers’ Night…

… and perform so well in her own play Requiem that she was voted Best Actress, but she has also been elected onto next year’s Swanwick committee. Well done, Cathy! You did us proud.

Our first meeting in The Old Deanery was Anne Powell’s adjudication of our Mini-Saga competition, the brief for which was a story told in exactly 50 words (excluding the title). After a general introduction, in which Anne told us how much she’d enjoyed reading the twelve entries, she commented on each in turn. With such a high overall standard and wide variety of themes and styles, picking the winners had been very hard. The results in reverse order were:

Commended: Audrey for ‘Did She Fall or Was She Pushed’ and Joe for ‘How the Recent Floods near Glastonbury in Somerset Destroyed One Woman’s Livelihood.’
3rd: Caroline for ‘Can’t Stand Another Day’.
2nd: Julie for ‘Devious Strategy’.
1st: Cathy with ‘An Unwelcome Discovery’.

After the presentation of the Twinks Perugini Kenyon trophy, there was plenty of time for all the entries to be read out. A break for refreshments followed and then Anne treated us to her own take on Blanche Ingram, a character from Jane Eyre. We were all very impressed to hear that, when entered in a recent Bronte Society competition, Anne’s inspired writing had been commended by Margaret Drabble!

After many productive years at the YMCA, changing circumstances have dictated a move to a more suitable venue. From 24th June 2014 our regular fortnightly meetings will be held in The Old Deanery opposite Ripon Cathedral.