'Fun At My Writing Club's Christmas Reading Evening'

I have been a member of Shorelink Community Writers now for almost 10 years. The club has achieved a lot in that time and is now home for quite a few published Authors. Its amazing what a bit of mutual support and encouragement can do for a person and the whole ethos of Shorelink has always been about helping people find their 'voice' in this world. On the back of joining Shorelink I have gone on to write a novel, write regularly for a local magazine AND record 6 albums with my old mate, Harvey Summers. That's not a bad return by anyones standards in 10 years, is it? 

Shorelink Community Writers meet up every Monday evening at 7.30 at the WRVS Centre in St Leonards. Last night was a special 'Christmas Reading Evening' and we had all been asked to come up with something festive for it from a while back. I was going to read my 'Santa's Tale Of Woe' story from this blog but in the end was asked to give them  a repeat view of (I Think) my best Christmas song to date - 'If Santa Was A DJ'. 

I really think this song could be a big hit record for me if I had the means and know-how to promote it. The song is basically autobiographical because I used to be a DJ for many years and 'Santa' is my alter ego so it was easy for me to come up with some kooky lyrics to marry the two professions together!
The little boy dancing in the 'funny bit' of the video in the middle is a lot bigger now. He was trying desperately to impress some girls his age at a Christmas party with his dancing and like all little boys do, (yes, I did too when I was his age!), he overdid it to hilarious effect. The  rest of the video was shot in Hastings Town centre. The council have been in the habit of making the shopping area of Priory Meadow a haven for outdoor events of late and I have to say that they have done a grand job. The skating rink is back again this year - complete with mirror ball and disco music!

Coming back to last nights 'Christmas Reading Evening', there were some great stories read out and some wonderful performances. 

This guy is Anthony Berry, he writes a lot of rather camp stuff but has a delicious sense of humour and his observational comedy is very sharp indeed. I do feel that Tony (as we all know him) occasionally goes a bit far with some of the things he makes fun of but you can't knock the guy for performance value! Tony really gets into his stories when he performs them and brings a breathe of fresh air to any evening if it starts to get a bit 'stuffy'. Mind you, thats very rare at Shorelink because we thrive on keeping things light-hearted and fun.  Here is  a photo of another 'Shorelinker' to take up the Christmas challenge...

For most of the evening we sat in the dark with a Christmas Tree blazing away and read by the light of one desk lamp. It made the whole thing just like when you was a kid and your Dad came in to your bedroom to tell you a bedtime story. My Dad was a great story teller - the only thing was he often couldn't remember what he had said to us the night before! Me and my brother, Geoff, often had to remind him of last nights story and where he had left it - I guess that's why I love stories so much...
The lady with the Christmas hat on is called Sian Turner. Both she and Tony (Anthony J Berry) are published Authors with books available on Amazon.com so check them out!

A Shorelink Christmas Group Picture From Last Night

If you fancy yourself as a writer but have never had the confidence to really give it a go, why not come along and meet all of us in Shorelink next year? You will have a lot of fun whatever and a nicer, more caring lot you will have to search far and wide to find. You can find out more about Shorelink Community Writers here...http://www.shorelinkwriters.org.uk/index%202.html