February 1st 2005. It was with some trepidation that Huw and I agreed to chair this very special book circle.
There were, after all, so many first class acts to follow.
The first thing we want to do this evening is to record a big, big thank you to all of you, and especially those of you who are committee members, for your constant support, friendship and loyalty, always remembering that while the committee does its best to make the programme as varied and as much fun as possible it is your contributions that make it come to life.
Certainly for us it has been a good year.
February.The 2005 Spring programme was launched by Bertrand Lewinson who gave us an in-depth resumé of modern French Literature reinforced with an excellent handout.
In March Letters, Journals and Diaries inspired some fascinating contributions.
Then, with her usual impeccable research, Jane Sargent introduced an evening of Spanish Literature and at the end of the month we were fascinated by Alma Dorndorf’s nostalgic visit to Vienna 1900 including some entrancing family photographs.
April, at a particularly lively meeting with the strange title of April Showers members were asked to bring along a book that if not actually life changing had had a significant effect on them. That night we seriously ran out of time!
At our next session we discussed The Historical Novel led by Huw Griffith.
In May by popular request we held another Poetry Please. There was some modern poetry but it has become obvious that we just love to recall the poetry of our childhood.
The following meeting we were delighted to welcome a friend of Christopher North’s, Terry Gifford who read us some of his own work and talked engagingly and sometimes provocatively about the modern school of post pastoral poetry.
June John Othick gave us an inspiring insight into Canadian Literature and at the next meeting Evelyn Adams and Sue Mercer had fun with Drama Queens.
The summer ended with dinner at the Bonbonerie with after dinner speeches around the theme of Gourmets and Gourmands. An attempt at community singing revealed that perhaps we should stick to the written word!
After the Summer break we resumed in September with our now traditional Summer Reading - and what prolific readers you all prove to be.
In October we were pleased to welcome local author Leslie Lunt, pen name Jack Oakey, who read to us from his latest book The Ghosts of KG49 and shared with us some of the trials and tribulations he experienced when writing it.
At the next meeting Mike Lawson told us about a book that really did change his life, Iron John. It provoked some lively reactions.
Because of problems with the use of the Centro Social due to Fiestas we had to re arrange our November meetings. But it is an ill wind that blows no good, and our winding coach trip through the beautiful mountain villages of the Marina Baja turned out to be one of the highlights of our year.
We stopped for a late coffee in La Sella where Terry Gifford regaled us with a brief history of the village and read us some of his poems inspired by the drama of the surrounding countryside. Then on to Ruella and a warm welcome from Marisa and Christopher North at their delightful old Olive Press. Marisa served a delicious spread for what we fondly called a literary lunch.
Guest Samantha delighted us with a sensitive guitar recital, Huw told some amusing literary anecdotes and Christopher read us excerpts from his recent prize winning work. Time just flew.
At our next meeting, again thanks to Chrisopher, we were honoured to welcome Teresa Gomez from Alicante University. This modest but erudite young woman charmed us all as she described the joys and pitfalls she had in translating Edith Wharton’s work into Spanish.
Our final meeting of 2005 was again very special. After months of work, supported all the way by Alma and Nina, Bertrand Lewinson presented an evening with Jules Verne. In conjunction with the Ayuntamiento, the presentation took place in the town library, followed by a small reception. An exhibition of Bertrand’s rare collection of Jules Verne first editions together with other memorabilia was on public display for a further ten days. Congratulations and many thanks to Bertrand. Our thanks too to the town hall and the library.
The year ended with an evening of fun at a Christmas party with a theme of Crackers held at Javea Golf Club.
So to 2006.
Our first meeting was the usual Christmas Reading.
The following fortnight we welcomed Terry Gifford, now an old friend. This time his subject was Mountains in Literature, and Terry spoke with verve about the two subjects nearest to his heart, mountaineering and poetry. Once again there was just not enough time.
We are very grateful to the Ayuntamiento for allowing us the use of these premises and to Jésus for his patience when we are frequently late in leaving.
To end we would like to lavish praise on our secretary Nina Davies and on our treasurer, Sylvia Cresswell, who with Hugh Donnachie’s help is a veritable rock of a treasurer. Thank you Hugh and thanks too to Owen O’Reardon for his services as auditor.
You might have picked up that at most of our meetings time is of the essence. We are accutely aware that this is a problem which needs to be managed. If we spend 10 minutes on business and allow our lead speaker 45 minutes this leaves less than an hour for our individual contributions. (Officially we should vacate the room by 9:45 pm. After this time Jésus is on unpaid overtime.) The number of members attending a meeting is almost always in excess of twenty but the time factor means that at best only 12 members can each make a five minute presentation. Could we try and make 5 minutes our magic number, while still remaining flexible. If you have planned something which takes a little longer just give Huw or me the wink.
Two other ways to help might be 1) a prompt start and 2) a limit of just one contribution, at least for the first time round.
One thing we are not going to do is return to the era of ‘the bell’.
Again thank you all.
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