The Written Word
We meet monthly on Wednesdays at 2.30 in Quayside Court.
We meet to discuss one book from a list of books , the latest ones, recommended ones, travel books, historical novels and a classic. Our method of choosing books for the list is very democratic: at the end of each term we discuss suggestions from all the members of the group and then vote for the ones we want on the list. At our meetings everyone gets a chance to air his/her views on the book just read, before the floor is thrown open for discussion.
Every third month we have what is called Free Choice. This is where members discuss a book they have read that they would like to recommend to others in the book club.
Link to Latest Booklist
This book club covers a broad spectrum - the group read an agreed book every four weeks and discuss it at the meetings. A list of books to be read will be discussed and agreed at the first meeting in the year.
The group meets each month and discusses books chosen by the members. The list of books for the 2009-10 session will be finalised at the first meeting on Thursday 1 October at 14.00. The group has set a limit of 10 on its membership
"Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow" (Lawrence Clark Powell)
As in previous sessions, members will be given a title on which to write a short story to be presented and discussed at subsequent meetings. There will also be tuition and discussion on three new topics.
Haikus - the Japanese art form which encourages writing with emotion and control while discouraging over-description.
Epistolary novel form - the art of writing a story through a series of short letters or emails between two or more characters.
Writing for the radio.
The Group meets every four weeks and is principally concerned with the languages and dialects of Scotland though topics often range into other areas of Scottish culture. Members are encouraged to share their experience and knowledge of words and phrases associated with a variety of topics
As this is a new group, the format is open to suggestion, but I intend to start off by having the group read and discuss the themes of a variety of short plays, published by the Third Age Press and advertised as 'ideal for reading in groups, written by and for third-agers'. This may lead later in the session to tackling well-known three-act plays, depending on interest and involving a small outlay of funds to buy printed copies.
The format of this large house group is expected to remain the same with the first half of each session given over to our study poets (last year they included Philip Larkin, John Donne, Carol Ann Duffy, Robert Burns and Liz Lochead).
In the second hour which we call Poetry Please each member reads a poem which is a particular favourite or has particular interest or meaning for them