Annual General Meeting - 18th January, 2016

At our Annual General Meeting, the group's Chair, Eileen Masters, gave a summary of the year, covering such topics as stabilising the membership, reviewing the constitution and continuing to publish an annual anthology. Then Sam Davey, the Treasurer, presented her financial report, which showed the group to be in good shape and showing a small surplus. There will be changes to the committee this year: Marica Woolf will become Membership Officer while Amanda Giles will take on the role of Programme Officer. We then moved on to choosing a cover for this year's anthology, which will raise funds for Hastings Pier Charity and will have Hastings as its theme. Finally, Marcia Woolf read her winning 3000-word Catherine Cookson Cup story, which received a rave review from the judge, a talent scout from a literary agency.

First Meeting - 4th January, 2016

At our first meeting of the year, 24 keen members staggered through the torrents and gales to share their submissions for this year's anthology. As always, there was a wide  variety of genres, styles and voices, all on the loose theme of Hastings, as all proceeds will be donated to the Hastings Pier Charity. We had Grey Owl and magical mermaids, stories set on the sea shore, a library and an art gallery, two tales of thwarted love and one about a man whose main love was drinking. We had poems celebrating, the pier, rain, beach and everything we have on offer in our quirky town. We finished off with a light writing “splurge”, extrapolating paragraphs from prompts inspired by words connected to Hastings. Watch this space for the further adventures of Arthur, the East End seagull, who could well turn out to be our most celebrated 'Down from London'-er ever. Huge congratulations to Marcia Woolf, who has secured a publishing contract for her dark crime novel, Road Kill, on her first attempt.