Minutes of the meeting at La Rosa Hotel on Thursday 18 October 2018.

Present: Adele, Jonathan, Mike, Pip, Louise, Jenny, Ian (chair).

Apologies: Roy, Louise, Graham.

Topic: Members’ work-in-progress.

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Matters Arising

Jenny announced that on Saturday 11 November (Remembrance Day) she is reading from her poem-cycle Voices of the First World War in St Mary’s Church (at the top of the 199 Steps). Ian will circulate precise details in the next meeting reminder.

Adele is going to the Ted Hughes Literary Festival at Hebden Bridge, Hope Baptist Church, on 19 October, and we hope to hear from her about it next time.

Jenny enquired about the Christmas Party menu, and Ian promised to make it available.

Members’ Readings

Mike — continued with Aladdin, his novel of backstage goings-on at a provincial Christmas pantomime. The show itself is underway: evil wizard Abanazer has summoned the Spirit of the Ring, who whisks him off to Peking where they encounter Widow Twankey and her pure-and-innocent son Aladdin. Just the kind of boy that Abanazer needs for his grand scheme to Rule The World.

Adele — brought along scripts for the penultimate scene (Scene 7) of her 2-Act play of domestic intrigue. Ray and his daughter Sandra return home unexpectedly to find Carly there with Sybil, both engaged in what is evidently more significant than a passing social call. Anxious questions ensue from Sandra, which Carly parries with unlikely explanations. When Sandra and Carly exit for a deeper conversation, Ray launches into a long apology to Sybil for neglecting her. But it is clear that Sybil (suffering from Alzheimers) hasn’t registered a word of it.

Jenny — read-out two entertaining poems:
• After the Funeral, in which the poet and her spouse, in a conceivably life-affirming gesture, contrive to hang a picture high-up in the stairwell in a manner apt to invalidate their life-insurance.
• Stopping by the Pet Shop on a Sunny Morning. It’s one of those why-me days.

Ian [Anitra’s Petition] — handed out a reminder of where the story was up to, then discovered he had left his Kindle on the breakfast table. In lieu of a reading, a fascinating discussion ensued about the nature and experience of autism.

Pip [Caicos Moon] — our heroine realises she has lost half a stone in weight: not for any medical or emotional reason, but due to the busy absorbing life she had started leading on the island. However monthly pains not responsive to paracetamol drive her eventually to the island’s doctor, who grows concerned. An offer to talk through any lifestyle problems she may be experiencing ensues, plus a prescription for The Pill  to control dysmenorrhoea, and she becomes the owner of a demanding plastic box with dated compartments.

The meeting concluded at 12:50 PM, the next meeting being scheduled for Thursday 1 November 2018.