1. Mike Pearcy with Scooping A New Future Down On The Farm

2. Jenni Heward-Craig with Hidden Vintage

3. Lee Taylor with Paley Street

   Fourth place was awarded by the judge Janice Raycrost to Wally Smith for A Village Passed.

   

   From the left: Lee Taylor (third); Mike Pearcy (winner); Jennifer Heward-Craig (second); Wally Smith (fourth).

   The competition judge, Janice Raycroft, attended the meeting to give the results and present the prizes. Janice has worked on the Bucks Free Press; was editor of the Slough Observer; worked for Trinity newspapers; and is now editor of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Life magazine. She said that the standard of entries was very high and judging was a difficult task.

Following Slough Writers' 2011 poetry competition, we're very pleased to present a video performance of the winning entries. After the Wedding features Sally East's The Bridesmaid, Jenni Heward-Craig's The Marriage List and Terry Adlam's After The Wedding Is Over, all read by competition judge Jonathan Steffen.

Additional performances by the authors themselves.

Video produced and directed by Mike Pearcy.

Monday 31 October - Halloween - was the night for the results of the Summer Competition with the theme of Horror.

1. Mike Pearcy with An Unexpected Act of Mercy

2. Sally East with All That I Am

2. William Campbell with Angel's Trumpet

Picture shows Sally East, Mike Pearcy and William Campbell.

There were 9 entrants and the entries averaged 4,600 words. Seven of the nine entrants attempted the ‘guess the author’ competition. Six of the entrants correctly guessed that Wally was the author of ‘Solo Descent’. Jenni and Mike identified five authors correctly; Wally identified seven authors; Sally E was awarded a bottle of wine for identifying all nine.

There was a maximum possible score of 80 points. The leading 5 entries were separated by 10 points. The result was: In joint 2nd place with 49 points were William (‘Angel’s Trumpet’) and Sally E (‘All That I Am’). First place with 53 points was Mike (‘An Unexpected Act of Mercy’).

Entrants commented on the quality of the critiques. While some people found it difficult to write the critiques, others said that the workshop evening on critiquing led by Wally earlier this term was very helpful. The entrants had a range of ways of going about the task of judging – some read all the stories through first to gain their first impressions, while others read them through more than once, before moving on to the next.

Monday 11 July We were joined by Jonathan Steffen our judge for the annual poetry competition. After a few introductory remarks about himself and his writing he said how he had enjoyed judging the poems. How different and quite surprising they were and all of the utmost high quality. The Theme was After The Wedding. The results were as follows.

1. Sally East with The Bridesmaid

2. Jenni Heward-Craig with The Marriage List

3. Terry Adlam with After The Wedding Is Over

He gave a special mention to Dave Smith, William Campbell, Mike Pearcy, Sally Clarke, Tony Matthews, and Wally Smith whose poems he enjoyed very much. Mike took photos of the Judge with all the winners.

Sally East (front) came first, Jenni Heward Craig (left) was second and Terry Adlam (right) came third. The judge Jonathan Steffen is standing behind.

At our recent AGM held 11th July we honoured three members with awards for their writing achievements and contribution to the well-being of the group over the last twelve months.

• Writer of the Year award to Mike Pearcy.
• Taylor Award (for services to the group) to Wendy Naylor.
• Newcomer of the Year Award to Kay Woods.

Kay, Wendy and Mike.