This month during our Speaker Evening, the winner of our latest Student Competition was revelealed. The worthy writer was Gerry Savill with her entry, 'Sailing Away'.

This is an excerpt:-

'Theo entered the room in a haze of perfume and silk, a brightly coloured kimono billowing open to show lacy underwear.

"You didn't walk from the bathroom in that did you? There are men about." Lottie looked horrified. '

Well done Gerry!

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The winners of the Christmas Writing Competitions were announced in the midst of festivities at our Christmas Party and Awards night in December. Short excerpts of the winning pieces are published below:- 

 

Short Story (Resolutions) :-

1st - Thinking Outside the Cakebox- Francesca Burgess                                                                                               

2nd- A Fresh Start by June Crowe 

 

Formal Poem:-

1st- A Poignant Christmas by Christine Webb 

'I wonder if you know it's Christmas Day

You hardly touched the turkey on your plate...'

 

2nd- Sleigh Bells Ringing by Judith Webb 

 

Flash Fiction:-

1st-  Party Spirit by Michael Deal

'"This hotel is haunted," cried Steven waking, "I can hear those noises again."

                        

Ghost Story:-

1st- Christmas At Home by Christine Webb 

'"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas," the radio chirruped with syrupy sentimentality. Sally was tempted to hurl it across the kitchen. Outside it was snowing heavily and snow this Christmas Eve was a nightmare.......' 

2nd- Party Time by Richard Miller

'"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," the priest waved his hands over the coffin as it was lowered to its final resting place. The mourners watched, some tearfully, while handfuls of earth were thrown on its lid.'

Article:-

1st- The Write Place by Angela Johnson

'Dartford is not the kind of town you would expect to nurture creativity, yet Sir Peter Blake the artist was born here and the World War II poet, Sidney Keyes spent his childhood in the town; attending the local grammar school for a couple of years...'

Well done to you all. 

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'As twilight fell, Sebastian shuddered....' Plenty of scope for the imagination to run riot. We had some wonderful entries but the winner was Gerry Savill with a cold and chilling tale of vampires who walk amongst us. Here is the opening extract:-

' As twilight fell, Sebastian shuddered as though someone had walked over his grave. Which was entirely possible; he had been dead for 400 years after all. Not for him though a dank, dismal hole in the ground. His coffin had been relocated to this luxurious penthouse apartment years ago. His original burial site in some godforsaken backwater was long forgotten.'

  Congratulations Gerry!

 

*****

The deserving winner of the September Student competition was Angela Johnson.  This is the winning piece, a travel article reflecting the less well-traveled parts of Kent:- 

  Spring in N. Kent.

It is Spring and already the marshes are alive with the sounds of nesting birds.

North Kent might not be the most obvious place to spend a weekend in the Spring, but this part of Kent abounds with history and drama.

This after all is where Dickens spent most of his life, and his pages bring alive the area's unique character. In the churchyard at Cooling are the lozenge shaped gravestones which inspired Dickens to write Great Expectations and you can stand in the daffodil filled graveyard where Pip had his first encounter with Magwich.

The musician, Jools Holland lives in the remnants of the castle in the village . Nearby,  is the delightful mini city: Rochester with its bookshops and cafes and Cathedral and the fine motte and bailey castle overlooking the River Medway;  an interesting place to spend a Saturday afternoon browsing in antique shops or the fine museum.

Nearby is the Chatham dockyard charting centuries of naval history and the area's long connection with the sea. .

Adjacent to the dockyard is Dickens world, not to everybody's taste perhaps; more a theme park than literary shrine, but I can't help but think that the great man, never one to shun the possibility of a quick buck, would have quite approved of its schmaltzy bad taste.

Base yourself at The Manor Hotel in Gravesend . There are many apocryphal explanations as to the origins of the town's macabre name; one is that it was the farthest point from London for burial of victims of the plague. It is a fine town by the river, hints of the sea on its well preserved promenade with its pleasant café and the lovely Gordon gardens with its collection of exotic trees.

Near the river adjacent to an award winning and innovative information centre is the lovely Italianate St.George's Church ,well worth a look. Sit for a while in the churchyard and look at the statue of Pocohontas the native Indian princess who died of tuberculosis here.

Gravesend is a mulicultural town and has a multitude of Indian and Chinese restaurants. The best Indian is the Café Taj in Parrock Street and The best Chinese the well established Peking in New Road, with its wonderful old fashioned service; perfect for a treat.

Gravesend  is well situated for those whose interests lie perhaps not with architecture and history. It is close to Bluewater one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, and even if you are not an ardent shopper it is a place well worth a visit with its futuristic architecture and disorientating location at the bottom of a former quarry.

This might not be the Kent of oast houses and thatch covered villages slumbering in time. but it has its undoubted charms.

GETTING THERE. Close proximity to M2 and M25 motorways. Buses run frequently to Ebbsfleet International Station.

SLEEPING. Manor House Hotel. £75 per night for a double room with breakfast.

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Congratulations to Christine Webb, the winner of August's  Student Competition. She deservedly gained first place with the opening of a Mills & Boon novel, entitled 'Kidnapped by a Greek Tycoon.':-

  As the sleek open top sports car swept her away from the coast and up into the hills Pippa's initial exhilaration gave way to an uneasy feeling that she'd made a rash decision. She glanced at Theo's strong profile. His dark eyes never wavered from the road ahead, a narrow tarmac strip that twisted and climbed ever higher. His strong sinewy arms gripped the steering wheel with an easy confidence born of familiarity with the route they travelled. The wind ruffled his dark curls and wafted the exotic scent of his cologne towards her. She leaned back against the leather upholstery, pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes and was soothed by the purring of the powerful engine. She tried to relax, to forget that she'd impulsively agreed to have dinner with a man who was practically a stranger.

She'd first seen him soon after she arrived for a holiday in Crete with friends who owned a taverna in Rethymnon. She was sitting alone at a table by the Venetian harbour sipping ouzo and drinking in the sights. He struck a sombre note in his immaculate grey linen suit among the holidaymakers in their gaudy shorts and sundresses. Intrigued she watched him walk to the quayside and cast a single red rose into the water. Suddenly he turned and caught her gazing at him intently. His face clouded with anger as if she had unwittingly intruded on a private moment. Then abruptly a glittering smile transformed his brooding face and he strode purposefully towards her.

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• The winner of July's Student Competition- a Halloween short story- has been announced. The winner of the competition was Francesca Burgess. Well done Francesca! Here is a taste of her winning entry:-

   'Where are my friends?' said Jade.

   'They've already gone,' said Miss Floyd, switching on two table lamps. It was gloomy even with those on.

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• The winner of June's Student Competition was Ann West. Ann wrote a prize winning piece in a competition entitled '24hours that changed my life.'

A Day in the Life Of

Twenty-four hours that changed my life? But there are so many to choose from. Should it be the day I passed my eleven plus? Perhaps it should be the day my parents told me they couldn't afford university or the day I left school and found out that there was an even harder school of life out there?               

If it's traumatic events there are those in plenty. The day I realised my first marriage was doomed; the day I miscarried my only child; the day my father died. The result in each case is the same. You pick yourself up and get on with living, wallowing in self pity gets you nowhere.

             Then the good days. Passing my driving test opened up a world of independence, my bike test a world of pleasure and comradeship. I hate to think what life would have been like without those attributes. It's the days I achieved something that bring most satisfaction, like the first story I had published, then the first story I sold, not the same thing. If I ever manage to finish my novel or better still find a publisher for it that will certainly change things.

            Seeing a portrait I had painted printed in a newspaper I thought might change my life but it didn't seem to have much effect in the general scheme of things. But it was fun to do it.

            I suppose, if I have to pick out just one day, when my life changed more than I could have imagined, it must be the day when I married my present husband. We weren't going to get married originally. We'd been cohabiting for six years before he was able to get a divorce from his first wife. When the decree was made final we looked at it and put it away in a drawer.

            "That's that." We said and went on living the way we had been. Then the letter arrived from our employers.

            "Now you are classed as a single person." It said. "Therefore your pension entitlement reverts to that of a single person." This was precisely half the entitlement of a married man. We looked at each other.

            "Better get married." We said. So we did.

            The strange thing was that it was only when we got married that we began to appreciate that our unmarried state was something people were uneasy with. Friends became friendlier and more relaxed than they had been. Acquaintances became friends. Now we understand why, for we have several couples in our circle and when it comes to Christmas there is the vexed question of how do you address the envelope. Do you put Mr. Joe Bloggs and Sharon; do you put Mr & Mrs Joe Bloggs, do you settle for total informality and put Sharon & Joe Bloggs, or even just Sharon & Joe? Who knows? Perhaps they'll get married and resolve the problem for us.

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• The winner of May's Student Competition was Christine Webb, who wrote the winning limerick on the theme of 'Holidays':

A tourist who hailed from Westphalia

Bragged of swimming with sharks in Australia

He soon came to grief

Off the Great Barrier Reef

From the shark's jaws he sobbed, 'I'm a failure!'

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• The winner of April's Student Competition was Gerry Savill. The competition was to write a piece of flash fiction in no more than 200 words based on the theme 'A New Start':

  The heavy steel gates swung open, invitingly. She was free. She had served her time, done her penance. But there was no-one there to meet her. Why would there be? Her family had disowned her years ago, too ashamed to be associated with her. She breathed in deeply. The air seemed so cleaner this side of the wall. A battered plastic carrier bag held all her possessions. Not much to show for a whole life but it was all she had.

She took a few hesitant steps forward. Suddenly freedom did not seem so inviting. Where would she go? What would she do? She did not know this world, this time. Things had changed so much.

She looked longingly back at the prison. It had been her home for the last 30 years. But there was no going back. She took a step forward. The future was hers to choose.