September 2022 Meeting

Our first September meeting was boosted by the attendance of Reg the Cat xx

 Tuesday, 27 September 2022, 7.30 pm, the Spirit Room, Peepo

 

Present: [Deep breath…] Adam; Alex; Jayne; Jennie; John & Jane; Kath & Andy; Liz; Stuart; Sue

 

Apologies: Marie, Martin

 

Your host for the evening: Alex Swanson

 

Well, it was a well-stocked cupboard of an evening because 11 people turned up – the group is becoming more popular. Therefore, surely it is time for the members of Hightown Writers to cry out in unison, “Fortnightly meetings, please!”

 

Also, please remember to submit poems and prose aplenty to hightownwriters@gmail.com to see your work up in lights – and to have a profile created for you, if you don’t already have one.

 

The meeting started with our classic warm-up exercise: the “word maze”. The words chosen were crown, bicycle, autumn, procrastination, horse, Black Beauty, leaky, forest and sequin, which resulted in some seasonal, imagery-rich pieces.

 

We then moved on to last month’s homework project: to compose a piece of writing based on the origins of the names of Bridgnorth’s pubs (past and present) along Cartway (the Red Lion; the Kouli Khan; the Woolpack; the Beehive; the White Hart; the Ship & Anchor; the Coopers Arm; the Saltbox; the Forge & Hammer; the Tumbling Sailors; the Star; the Mermaid; the Britannia; the Severn Trow; the Compasses; the Bush; the Railway Tavern; the Cornucopia; the Horn & Trumpet; the Magpie; and the Black Boy).

 

Adam wrote a highly descriptive and imaginative piece about rum-carrying boats in 1790s Bridgnorth. Its language was rather poetic, and it very much appealed to the senses. Alex and Jennie urged Adam to submit it to the HTW email address (see above) so that it could be viewed on this blog.

 

Liz then read out a family saga-style rags-to-riches piece that focussed on the tales of “Samuel”, a well-travelled old man who had witnessed many important historical events from the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Jayne, one of our new members, read out part of a work that she had written. It had been inspired by the homework task and was about an old lady who had dementia. The piece described the condition’s impact on her family, and Jayne said that she would send its full version to the HTW email address so that it could be published on this blog.

 

Next up was Kath. She had written a well-researched and highly informative piece of non-fiction that detailed the background of each Cartway pub’s name.

 

After that, Andy recited a fascinating poem that he had composed, and this also explained the history behind the pubs’ names.

 

And then, John, our newest member, read out a first-person-narrated fictitious work that was from the perspective of a presumed-deceased victim of a wrongful police-shooting – an intriguing and imaginative take on the assigned task. John plans to turn his prose into a short story, which he will hopefully submit to be published here on the blog.

 

After John, it was Sue’s turn. She had written a London-themed rhyming poem entitled “Ode to Uxbridge Road, WV12” in the “second person”. Her poem contained details regarding the plethora of tasty multicultural food that is available in that area. (The piece is underneath this write-up.)

 

Stuart contributed a descriptive tale (“The journeyman”), which, like Adam’s piece, was rich in imagery, and language that appeals to the senses. It was about the experiences of the captain of the “Star” – a boat from long ago.

 

And finally, Jennie rounded off the evening with “The Bassa Villa” (the Bassa Villa bed & breakfast in Bridgnorth was formerly called the Magpie), a rhyming, anapaestic poem that recounted a Bridgnorth legend. Jennie is the group’s keenest poet, and Alex thinks that she should assemble her works into a book, which should then, at the very least, be self-published and available to buy.

 

So, this month’s homework assignment certainly produced some diverse and curious results, and we managed to fit them all in just before kicking-out time, at 10 pm.

 

Next month’s writing task is to compose an autumn-themed sonnet, haiku or ballad – and, if you’re really keen, you may even like to do two of the three, or even all three.

 

Once again, please send your poetry, prose, or both, to the HTW email address (see above) so that it can be published on this blog. And please send any corrections to the preceding minutes to that address – which of course includes any grammatical/presentational errors made by Alex.

 

Alex

 

Next HTW meeting: 25 October 2022, 7.30 pm

Host: Jennie, or Liz should Jennie fail to attend