Minutes of the meeting at La Rosa Hotel on the above date.
Present: Harry, Ian, Jan, Jenny, John, Michele, Pip.
Apologies: Adele, Gill, Jonathan, Kaz, Laura, Suzanne.
Topic: Members’ work-in-progress.
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Matters Arising
Jenny is organising the Christmas Lunch at the Magpie Cafe again for us this year (4 December).
Thank you, Jenny!
She asked who wanted to go. All those present replied yes.
If you are a member and would like to go to the Christmas Lunch on 4 December, tell either Jenny Burns or the Chairman (use the Contact form).
Towards the end of the meeting, several members reported their acquaintances telling them that they knew absolutely nothing about Whitby Lit Fest.
Ian said he would minute the matter.
It’s not clear whether those complaining want to make any serious effort to find out, or are ready to use the internet to do so. It seems they are expecting to see more posters in shop windows.
Whether there is any point in the organisers trying to reach such people is also up for debate, since enquirers would need to use the internet anyway to book tickets for sessions.
However it is a reminder to us that internet savvy cannot be taken for granted among Whitby residents. Maybe the people most interested in books are the very people least confident in using the internet?
Attendees said they would welcome time spent at a future meeting to discuss how our Writers Group could or should get involved. The only suitable meeting is the next one, on 23 October. Ian agreed to append a note to the reminder sent out before that meeting. The meeting after that, on 6 November, is too late, being the very day the Lit Fest starts.
Meanwhile Ian could only recommend members to carefully study the page: Get Involved with Whitby Lit Fest 2025 (see link at bottom of these minutes).
Members’ Readings
Jan — continued with her timeslip story for children, about a family of Whitby youngsters that can travel back in time to 1905, when a bakery in Sandgate becomes a bookshop. The children are trying to prevent the Whitby-Loftus railway from slipping into the sea. They go with Mr Morris to Mulgrave Castle to see the Maharajah, Dilip Singh, who has rented it to live while he is in England. He goes out with them to see the railway damage for himself, and lends them his two elephants to help the workmen repair the damage.
Michele — continued reading her new novel Beneath the Surgeon’s Coat, recounting the career of the fictional Dr James Fryer, who is based on the historical personage of James Barry (born Margaret Anne Bulkley in 1789).
Dr Fryer goes out hiking to the Table Mountain with his new naturalist friend. They discover specimens of flowers and birds, and encounter a cobra, which Fryer finds a new and disturbing experience. His friend wishes to contact an artist to paint pressed flowers for him: Fryer thinks of Elizabeth, the governor’s daughter.
John — read a further instalment of Bugle Blast, his 3rd novel. The young hero, his family having fallen on hard times, now works at the Mill. He practices hard for a quoits competition, the prize money being tempting. He finds himself competing against “Mr Glum”, and comes to folks’ notice as an able player. But he is secretly warned that “Mr Glum” is the mill owner’s nephew, and if he wants to get home safely he ought to let his opponent win.
John, observing the Inuits’ fifty different words for “snow”, comments on how many different words for “rain” that North-Westerners have.
Harry — distributed copies and continued reading his 1960s seafaring memoir, Sea Wife. The SS Marwarri has now reached its home port of Birkenhead. Customs officers swarm over the ship looking for contraband. Four days earlier an English court has lifted the ban on Lady Chatterley’s Lover, destroying the value of the hitherto illegal copy being smuggled into the country. The author learns that his next tour of duty will be back on the Marwarri. He confronts the radio superintendent from head office with the dire state of the radio equipment in the run-down vessel that the Marwarri has become.
A lively discussion ensued about matters arising, which ran on till the close of the meeting.
The meeting closed at 1:00 PM.
Links
(in order of occurrence)…
Contact https://whitbywriters.com/contact/
La Rosa Hotel www.whitbywriters.com/venue
Jenny https://whitbywriters.com/jenny-burns/
Michele www.whitbywriters.com/michele-randle
James Barry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_(surgeon)
John https://whitbywriters.com/john-ogden/
Ian www.whitbywriters.com/ian-clark
Harry www.whitbywriters.com/harry-nicholson
The ban on Lady Chatterley’s Lover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Penguin_Books_Ltd
Whitby Lit Fest www.whitbylitfest.org.uk/lit-fest-25
Get Involved with Whitby Lit Fest 2025 https://whitbylitfest.org.uk/lit-fest-25/get-involved/
Whitby Writers Group 