Minutes of the meeting at La Rosa Hotel on the above date.
Present: Gill, Harry, Ian, Jenny, Laura, Michele.
Apologies: Adele, Jan, John, Pip, Tim.
Topic: Members’ work-in-progress.
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Members’ Readings
Ian used his spot to announce that his stock of Anitra’s Petition, the 1st Edition of 100 numbered copies, is now down to one copy. He then outlined his plans for setting up a “base camp” at our venue: La Rosa Hotel, to fly the flag, sell a few books by WWG members, and as somewhere for members and festival attendees to chill out during the four days of Whitby Lit Fest (19-22 November 2026). It will be billed as The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
Ian is on the lookout for a suitable top hat, and Gill conjectured she might be able to put in an appearance as The Queen of Hearts.
Gill — read us two humorous poems:
Face-lift. The poet bewails the cost of a facial makeover and wonders if it is value for £50,000.
Born To Run (A Sheffield Greyhound). Dog Racing owners were apt to turn their dogs loose in the city if they weren’t showing any signs of being winners. One greyhound is determined to stage a public protest against such abuse.
Harry — distributed copies of Chapter 9: City Of Dreadful Night and read from his memoir in-progress of his time as First Radio Officer on the SS Marwarri.
It is 1961. The ship bakes in heat, smoke from cow-dung cooking fires rasps the throat and a vulture roosts in the rigging. The crew admire the newest air-conditioned Brocklebank ship, SS Mathura, moored nearby: their own vessel destined to be scrapped in 2 years. Harry exchanges his name and “home village” (Hartlepool) with a young boy struggling to learn English: the boy’s eyes shine: to him Hari Krishna is a divine name! The chapter closes with prophetic ruminations on the likely fate of the British Merchant Navy as newly-independent India and Pakistan continue building their own cargo ships.
Laura — continues with her diary of an opinion pollster, describing her experience of conduction Exit Polls, explaining how they work and how they keep within the law. Being remarkable predictors of election results in England, they were able to sell their predictions at a high price to the BBC, to allow David Dimbleby to adjust his programme to report the Will of the People in timely fashion.
Michele — has concluded that entering short stories for competitions might be an excellent way of promoting her latest book. She read us a short story entitled The Gravedigger, about a black man burnt out of his home during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 who earns a crust digging graves for a disease-riddled concentration camp. He witnesses an altercation between a black inmate and a khaki (British soldier), which ends with the black man shot dead. Uncharacteristically, the white camp doctor, soon on the scene, loudly demands the arrest of the soldier. This duly takes place, to the latter’s whining protest.
But the War is not over yet.
Jenny — continued reading from her period novel based on the historical figure of Mary Eleanor Bowes, the heiress of a vast fortune from the Durham coalfields.
Andrew Stoney, “The World’s Worst Husband”, takes Mary and selected members of the household to the family farm in Ireland to show off his new acquisition, a rich countess. Unexpectedly for Mary, the whole family take Mary to their hearts. The servants fare less well: being cold-shouldered by the farmhands and servants who, perfectly able to speak English, talk in Irish among themselves.
Andrew’s youngest sister, who he remembers as a fat plain child, has grown into a beauty of 19 years. Andrew’s scheming mind sees the opportunity to take her back to England and sell her to his rivals. Her aged father wants her kept safely at home until she is married, but is overruled by the rest of the family, who view the prospect of moving among high society in England as an unmissable opportunity.
But once back at Gibside, the bedroom key is firmly turned on both her and Mary, while Andrew hastens to Newcastle to catch up on his debaucheries. Now he has not one but two prisoners to abuse for his diversion.
The meeting closed at 1:05 PM.
Links (in accession order)…
Contact https://whitbywriters.com/contact/
La Rosa Hotel www.whitbywriters.com/venue
Ian www.whitbywriters.com/ian-clark
Anitra’s Petition https://whitbywriters.com/2026/05/07/clark-nida-anitras-petition/
Jenny https://whitbywriters.com/jenny-burns/
Mary Eleanor Bowes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bowes,_Countess_of_Strathmore_and_Kinghorne
Harry www.whitbywriters.com/harry-nicholson
Whitby Lit Fest https://whitbylitfest.org.uk
Whitby Writers Group 