Ripon Writers' Group

Eric’s cheerful presence is still missed at our meetings and we’re all delighted to hear of his recent success.

The competition, formerly known as Theatre in the Round was won by Andrew Burns, seen here exchanging a warm handshake with screenwriter Ann Gallivan. Wearing her adjudicator’s hat, Ann gave us her carefully considered thoughts on each of the fourteen entries. As a bonus, she shared with us some of the highlights of her long career in television, including her current work on BBC Scotland’s River City.

Andrew’s winning entry was a humorous story about an eccentric man whose life was completely taken over by the piece of modern sculpture he created for an art exhibition. Maggie Cobbett came second with a look back at the career of fan dancer Phyllis Dixey and Caroline Slator took third place. In Against the Odds, an autistic young man’s obsession with numbers and his job in the theatre come together with disastrous consequences.

We are looking forward to hearing the remaining entries with their very varied selection of subject matter, at our next Open MSS session.

We welcomed local author Gary Dolman to this week’s meeting. Gary’s first novel, The Eighth Circle of Hell, deals with issues surrounding ‘defloration mania’ (child sexual abuse in the 19th century), mental illness and self harm. Some aspects of the book were inspired by the author’s own experiences and those of his family and what started out as a manuscript written to help him through a difficult time developed into a full length novel.

Gary talked about the plot and characters and read some extracts to illustrate the points he wanted to highlight. One of the key questions asked throughout the book is when (if ever) is murder justified? He also explained key aspects of the writing process, the way in which he came to find a publisher and the hurdles that a writer has to overcome finally to get into print.

After a break for refreshments, Gary answered many questions from members and outlined his publishing plans for a series based on his first book.

A round of applause from a very appreciative audience concluded the session.

The first meeting of 2013 saw the presentation of the Twinks Perugini Kenyon trophy to Kate Swann for her winning Mini-Saga. As Kate was not able to attend the adjudication in November, the trophy was presented by our Chair, Maggie Cobbett.

The rest of the well attended meeting was devoted to discussion of the 2013 programme, catching up on members’ news and the reading of a wide variety of manuscripts.

We hope to have the new programme ready to hand out to members at the first meeting of the New Year. Details may appear even sooner on this website.

In the meantime, please note the following:

08 January 2013 Open MSS and Book Sale.

22 January 2013 New Beginnings. (600 words max or 40 lines of poetry)

A good time was had by all at the final meeting of the year. Held in a beautifully decorated YMCA Lounge, there was food, drink, fun, frivolity and … more food, drink, fun and frivolity.

The Committee had worked hard on the programme for the evening. A picture quiz about well known (and less well known) television series served as an ice breaker. The Chair’s Challenge, based this year on cryptic clues leading to book titles, was hotly contested and a game of charades led to much hilarity.

‘Literary’ contributions took the form of festive limericks written for the occasion and the President’s Cup, awarded for the greatest number of points accumulated during the year, was presented with due solemnity by Audrey to a rather embarrassed recipient. (See below)

It only remains to wish all our members, former members and anyone else reading this, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.