Retired primary school teacher Jill Freeman arrived at the meeting with a selection of favourite books from her own collection for us to look at. Although Jill isn’t a writer herself, the lifelong love of reading that she has shared in the classroom as well as with her own children and grandchildren, has given her an excellent insight into what makes an engaging story.
Having explained the criteria she used to come to a decision, Jill commented on each entry before announcing the results as follows:
First – Maggie Cobbett with the prose fiction piece ‘Sami and Smiley’
Second – Sheila Whitfield with the poem ‘Eating the Week’
Third – Peter Page with the prose fiction piece ‘Wildlife’
Jill presented Maggie with the Daphne Peters trophy, after which all the entries were read out by their authors. Refreshments followed and then there was time for Jill to talk more about the books she had brought along. This led to a discussion of those that members had enjoyed as children and how changing times and attitudes had made some of them no longer acceptable.
At the close of the meeting Jill was thanked and given a small token of the Group’s appreciation.
