Presenting our Challenge Winners and their Entries,

Paul Curd win the Chameleon, Cake, Seafowl challenge!

Paul Curd was the winner of the Chameleon, Cake, Seafowl challenge.  I hope that anybody who wasn't there on the night (and also those who were, perhaps) will read his story, and the others which will have been emailed to you.
Gary was a strong runner-up, but I really enjoyed every one of the thirteen entries, short and long, poetical and prosaic, and extremely varied in theme, subject matter and style, while all managing to incorporate the required elements, including plenty of Battenberg cake.

Jo Field

You can read the winning entry HERE

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Ruth Jones wins our Dog Story Challenge!

As ever we received a remarkable range of high quality entries including Dogs & Families, Dogs & Drugs, Dogs & Old Folk, Dogs & Dribbling  and, er, Dogs & Marmalade. One of our newest members, Ruth Jones, told an inspirational tale about an act of outstanding canine heroism on the wartime beaches of Dunkirk and her tale was judged the winner by a sentimental old-soldier who claimed to enjoy stories about courage, resilience, cocker spaniels and loose women. While the latter were not included in Ruth’s tale, Bob thought that three out of four wasn’t bad!

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Jonathan Lamb wins our Gost Story Challenge!

Our Members' Challenge for February was set by Bettine. The task was to write a ghost story that would give her a fright. Although there were many good stories among the entries, Bettine said it was Jon Lamb's story The Ghosts of Hawley Manor that was closest to the classic 'chiller' ghost stories.

You can read the winning entry HERE.

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Jo Fields wins Travelogue Challenge!

Our Members' Challenge for January was set by Lorraine. The task was to write a travelogue that conveyed a sense of place, gave an insight into local people and customs, and made the reader want to visit the area in question. Jo Field's account of a visit to Nepal was the stand-out winner. Jo's prize, donated by Lorraine, was a book of landscape-inspired poetry.

You can read the winning entry HERE.

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Jane Findley win the Mini Saga Challenge!

Our second Members' Challenge was set by Harry: write a short story in exactly fifty words. Well done to winner Jane Findley, who carried off a bottle of wine as her prize.

The winning Mini Saga, and a few of the contenders, can be found by clicking HERE.

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Alan Gleave Wins Inaugural Members’ Challenge!

Despite the wet and windy weather, a dozen writers attended the 6th December meeting and the first of our Members’ Challenge readings. The challenge was based on the following scenario adapted from Raymond Queneau’s Exercise in Style:

The narrator bumps into a long-necked man on a bus and later sees him in a train station in the company of a friend who pins a badge on his coat.

Members were asked to recount the above incident as a brief chapter in a romantic novel, a spy story, a detective story, a western, a Greek tragedy. The writers could choose one or more of these styles, all of them or none.

The six writers who shared their efforts with us took the same scenario in remarkably different directions. We had a crime story from Bob, a romance from Jane Findley, a comic-thriller from Bettine, a poem featuring Madonna from Jo, and a spy story that morphed into a vampire tale from Lorraine. The winner though was Alan’s tremendously creative east-meets-west tale set in 19th Century London and featuring Sherlock Holmes and haiku! Alan won a copy of Stephen King's On Writing.

Congratulations to everyone who took part - all the readings were of a high standard and very entertaining.

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