August 2020 'Socially Distanced' Garden Meeting

 Sun sets over August meeting in Marie's garden

Wednesday 26^th August 2020

We had to change our evening this month to Wednesday because of Storm Francis. Thanks go to Marie for hosting our meeting in her garden and making us so welcome. It was a lovely setting and a much calmer evening than the one before! Also present were, Adam, Liz, Jennie and me-Sue.

Our workshop activity was writing about a memorable meal.

 Adam wrote with humour about a meal he and his parents had endured at a local pub which was far too salty.

Liz created an acrostic poem about memorable meals she had served at Wimpy, when she was a waitress in Bournemouth. She included details of when some exuberant football fans had gone too far and tried to unzip the waitresses’ uniforms!

Marie wrote about a meal she had had with her husband at a local restaurant. They had previously enjoyed meals there but on this occasion it appeared that the soup had been watered down and the manager had not dealt with their concerns in a polite way.

I recalled a very special meal my Mum had prepared for my 18^th Birthday family meal. My Mum had never prepared an Indian meal before but she decided to have a go and I will always appreciate the thought and effort she put into the meal and how delicious it was.

Jennie took us to Tetyan, Morocco and described a memorable meal she and her husband had enjoyed with a local couple and their baby. They sat crossed legged on the floor and ate from a communal bowl.

We then shared the pieces we had written at home. The task was to take a book, turn to Page 10, read the 10^th line and write something inspired by the line.

Liz had turned to the children’s classic ‘A Bear Called Paddington’ by Michael Bond which inspired a topical story about migration, ‘A Boy Called Pabel al Bahri’ about a young man arriving in Kent from Iraq.

Adam used ‘The Time Machine’ by H.G. Wells for his piece exploring time travel on a train journey from Paddington to Oxford but ending up in Birmingham.

Jennie had been inspired by Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life After Life’, to consider the turmoil of a young painter asked to paint a portrait of Lord Arthur Balfour. The young man was from Gaza and Balfour’s views, one hundred years ago, can be regarded as the reason for the Palestinian people’s rights being ignored in 1948.

My writing was a poem ‘What Will Teaching and Learning be like in the Covid Era? prompted by a school’s pamphlet on Eyam – the village in Derbyshire whose inhabitants cut themselves off from the surrounding area in order to stop the spread of the plague of 1665-66.

Jennie also shared some writing by her granddaughter who had been inspired by one of our previous tasks. She had written some very interesting and vivid character sketches for her story. We hope to hear more next time.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 22^nd September 2020

September Writing Theme: write something inspired by a song or piece of music.