Minutes |23 October 2025

Minutes of the meeting at La Rosa Hotel on the above date.

Present: Harry, Ian, Jan, Jenny, John, Laura, Magda, Michele, Pip.

Apologies: Adele, Gill, Jonathan, Magda, Suzanne.

Topic: Members’ work-in-progress.

NB: Names and phrases formatted like this stand-in for web-links. See the section: Links at bottom of this page for the actual links. If you are cautious about following inline web-links (and perhaps we should all be…!) then you can either accept this site’s assurance that the link is exactly as shown – and click it; or else type the text of the link yourself into the address bar of a fresh page in the good-old-fashioned way.

Matters Arising

Ian reminded attendees that this was the last meeting before Whitby Lit Fest. At the last meeting we had hoped to have a Q&A session on WWG involvement in the Lit Fest, but unfortunately Adele (who knows all the answers) needed to send apologies today because of a clashing surgical appointment. Instead please email your questions to Ian, who will collate and send them on to Adele.
Meanwhile follow the link below: Get Involved with Whitby Lit Fest 2025.

Ian congratulated Harry on releasing his latest seafaring memoir: No Right Turn at Gib on Amazon, Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. This is the culmination of the instalments we’ve been hearing from him this year, going by the working title Sea Wife.
Ian showed off a proof copy of Harry’s book, and reminded members that (since ours is a self-help co-operative) we should consider posting a review of our colleagues’ newly-published books on Amazon and Goodreads.
A brief but informative discussion ensued on both Goodreads (plus its Author Page) and Kindle (plus KDP – Kindle Direct Publishing).

Members’ Readings

John — read a further instalment of Bugle Blast, his 3rd novel. The young hero, whose weaver family has been impoverished by a burglary, is making a living selling song sheets. He makes a new strange friend, James. One day James produces a pocket watch that can only be the hero’s dad’s. The latter holds his peace, but starts collecting evidence to convict the perpetrators.

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. But this time they go back to 1890, to meet Bram Stoker at the Royal Hotel during his one and only visit to Whitby, during which he conceived the idea for his world-famous novel: Dracula, based on venues and events he saw and heard about in the town.
The children visit the Dracula Experience in the town before making their journey into the past, and contemplate a curious fact about Hudson’s Folly, the miniature railway tunnel off Khyber Pass which points straight at Whitby Abbey.

Jenny — continued reading from her period novel in-progress based on the historical figure of Mary Eleanor Bowes, the heiress of a vast fortune from the Durham coalfields.
Irish adventurer Andrew Stoney has married Mary Bowes and cheerfully changed his name to Stoney-Bowes as legally stipulated. He meets with Mary’s solicitor Joshua Peel, who painstakingly clarifies that he will only be getting the income from the Bowes estate, and cannot sell the estate itself, which has been held in trust. Angered, Stoney attacks the solicitor, who is only saved by his new young clerk, who manages to overpower Andrew and eject him from the premises.

Ian — continued reading from his latest (2nd) draft of Anitra’s Petition, his sequel to The Titan Kiss. Peter Zwillinge, guardian of the “star children”, receives dreadful news from Durham police. The family bus, driven by foster mother Gaby taking Anitra’s twin brothers for a jaunt up-dale, has crashed through the parapet of Newton Cap viaduct into the river Wear.
Peter and Anitra hurry to the scene. Gaby is still alive, but trapped in the wrecked bus. There is no sign of the boys. Peter manages to exchange a few words by wristlink with Gaby, who tells him it was no accident: the bus was attacked with an electrostatic grenade: a uniquely Martian weapon.

Harry — distributed copies and read a poem: Lost Ship, which commemorates the loss with all hands of the SS Minocher Cowasjee (launched in 1920 as the Parisiana). The author is bound in memory to the lost ship, as he, the “sparks” on board the SS Marwarri, personally replied to the lost ship’s distress call, conversing with its radio officer in morse code.

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 is invited to a grand dinner in honour of the Governor of Cape Town, at which he meets Mrs Pringle, who boosts with recomendations his private practice which he pursues in addition to his main occupation as Army Surgeon. Fryer captivates his fellow diners with an account of coming face-to-face with a cobra while out walking with his botanist friend, Mr Mackerel.
The governor’s daughter has completed her paintings of the botanical specimens brought back by Fryer, who shows them to Mr Mackerel. At last the latter has found the illustrator he’s been looking for.

The meeting closed at 1:15 PM.

Links
(in order of occurrence)…

Contact https://whitbywriters.com/contact/

La Rosa Hotel www.whitbywriters.com/venue

Harry www.whitbywriters.com/harry-nicholson

No Right Turn at Gib https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FXBMFT97

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

Anitra’s Petition https://whitbywriters.com/anitras-petition/