Part Business & Part Writing

In the absence of Nik and Rob, Ian was asked to chair the meeting.

Apologies were tendered for John Edwards, Chris and, for the first half of the meeting, Lisa.There were 19 members in attendance.

Due to the impending changes regarding chairman/vice-chairman it was agreed that the first part of the meeting should be dedicated to resolving the various administrative issues.

It was first of all agreed that we should publically acknowledge the contribution made by Nik to the success of the Circle over the last few years.

Discussion took place on the appointment of the various office bearers, duties to be carried out, the general running of the group and it was agreed that:
(a) Ian should be chairperson,
(b) Anne F should be vice-chairperson with Anne's proviso that this would be reviewed after 3 months,
(c) Ann B would continue to collect the weekly fees and be responsible for finance.
(d) Different members should assist by writing the weekly blog.

It was also agreed that, largely speaking, the meetings would continue to be run as they are at the moment, with the venue and fees remaining the same, suggested weekly themes would continue to encourage all members to write as well as provide feedback, good and bad, to those who read each week. The suggested themes would include the use of "hot pens" and would, very occasionally, include weeks specific for poetry.

Some changes agreed were that the lottery should be discontinued, the suitcase of books was no longer required as English books were now readily available at various venues, a decision to be taken later as to the subscription to various magazines.

 All of the above took up the first half of the meeting.

Jane started the second part of the meeting with a reworked version of her story "Banged Up Abroad", in which she is incarcerated in an Albanian jail for alleged spying.This was a shortened version of the original and although much more tightly written the general feeling of the group was that it could be easily expanded with more description, speech and personalisation.

Gerry then gave us "The Failed Poet's Lament" which detailed the problems encountered in writing poetry. Again this was a piece well written with the use of good rhyme.

Anne G read her contribution "The Gift Of Life". Feedback on this was good but had to be curtailed as we exceeded our time frame.

Ian C