Review

Only 11 members were in attendance which allowed plenty of time for the hot pen which was scheduled as this weeks theme.

In the absence of Nik and Rob, Ian took the chair

Prior to the readings, it was agreed that, through this blog, acknowledgement should be made of the work carried out by Nik on behalf of the members. At this time, members took the opportunity to raise some issues which they felt warranted further discussion early in the New Year by a greater number of the members. These included
(1) Should all people, with the exception of invited guest speakers, be asked to pay towards the weekly cost of the meeting irrespective of whether they have a drink or not?

(2) Perhaps more individuals should be encouraged to write whether they wished to be published or not.

(3)With a view to (2) above members should preferrably be given only one weekly topic on which to write
and that preference be given to those who have written on the week's theme to read out their piece. It was also felt that by adopting this approach, individuals may be more forthcomingin thier comments as there would be a direct comparison of subject matter. To enable more members to read their piece it should be made clear that individual items should be restricted to 1,000 words maximum. As a trial run for the aforementioned, the consensus of opinion was that next week's theme should be "Going Home".

(4) There always seemed to be a lack of feedback on those who wrote poetry and that perhaps occasionally there should be a poetry week to encourage members to try a different medium, either rhyme or  free verse as a challeng to their writing skills.

All of the above were presented for further discussion by the group.

Before commencing the hot pen Jenny gave us a flavour of Xmas Days  Past when meals were taken by family members in various eating establishments.

Mary K gave us a poem entitled "Ringing in the New".

Anne G provided an insight into the Writers Circle with her poem.

Cynthia also took Xmas as her theme for her poetic contribution.

Jane gave an account of how siblings reacted when their mother died.

After the break the group undertook the hot pen with the randomly selected word "Go".

Gerry told the tale of a parting at a railway station.

Cynthia gave us a story of parents telling their daughter's boy friend to leave after his abuse of her.

Mary M gave an insight into a couple breaking up.

Mary K's poem was about attending a ball.

Ann B told of coping with the cold and snow and how she prefers living in Spain.

Mary S told of how recently she decided to go to the UK but was met by a lack of  Xmas cheer and faced with nothing but doom and gloom.

Anne G gave us a story about children playing

Jane's contribution was about a family feuding at Xmas and was also about Granny not being there.

Jenny's piece was a poem about a prisoner.

Brenda wrote an item detailing her love of winter.

Ian told the story of a couple breaking up after a malicious office gossip tells on one of her colleagues.

Ian C