Jeff emphasised that to be successful, a good travel piece must grab the reader’s attention and imagination from the start, must be readable and interesting, and must make us want to visit the place in question.
A
small number of pieces were singled out for special mention. Yvonne
Zackim’s piece about a sea voyage on a cargo ship, ‘Ecuador on the CCNI
Anakena’, was highly commended. In fourth place was Eileen Masters,
with ‘Where there is no Plumber’, about a visit to Pakistan.
Jeff particularly liked Eileen’s glimpses of family life in Pakistan –
as well as the plumbing! For the third place piece, we came right back
home, with Steph Gaunt’s light-hearted ‘Good Scone Guide to Hastings’.
This reminded us that good travel writing does not necessarily involve
visits
to far-flung places – part of the point is to give new perspectives on
places we already know.
Jill
Fricker’s thought-provoking piece, ‘New York – First Bite’, came
second. Jeff felt that Jill had brought out yet another aspect of
successful travel writing – exploring the inner journey of the traveller,
as well as the physical journey. In first place was Mike Walsh, with his
riveting ‘Lost Highway’,
describing a classic road trip along Route 66 in 1968. Mike’s skill
in bringing the location to life as well as capturing the incidents – and
individuals – encountered on the way, made him a worthy winner.
We
were grateful to Jeff for the hard work he had put in to read all our
efforts and to comment on them so thoughtfully and constructively.
The
Group meets fortnightly at the White Rock Hotel. If you are interested in
joining (there is currently a waiting list), or in finding out more about our
activities, please contact the Membership Secretary, Amanda Giles, on 01424
442707 or e-mail membership.hwg@gmail.com.
| Report by Steph Gaunt |
 |
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