1996
The 1996 Year Book, priced at £1.50, contained 25 contributions from club members. Shirley Bloom, Carol Pankhurst, Richard Wares and Tarn Morgan joined. Anderida’s Vice Chairperson, Tamara Babadi (later known as Tamara Lee and Tamara McKinley) hit the publishing jackpot with her thriller, ‘Reap the Whirlwind,’ which was acclaimed as “one of the most exciting books of 1996.” It took six unpublished novels, seven years of trying and stacks of determination before this was snapped up in a two book deal with an option on a third, by publishers Hodder and Stoughton. Another thriller followed, ‘Queen’s Flight.’

The January Writing Competition was a short story of 500 words which had to contain all ten of the following words that had been picked out with a pin from a dictionary by the Chairperson: ‘Seriously; Unzipped; Energetic; Bloated; Embrocation; Noisy; Tramp; Olive; Allure; Reversed.’ Liz Wright winning entry “Ricki” centred on a rock star and a tramp.

To cope with a rapidly expanding membership, the back-up of smaller workshops, a Novel group for those writing books, a Shorties group for articles, short stories and poetry and an afternoon group on all forms of writing, began to pay off. Members were seeing publishing successes; Harry Bankcroft’s article, ‘The Long Man – An Irenic Pilgrim’ was accepted by ‘Sussex Life’ magazine. Sharon Searle and Robert Crouch continued to have articles published in local and national magazines, but Elizabeth Wright went one better and became international with a three-page, illustrated feature in ‘Australian Birdkeeper.’ Ann Botha penned ‘The Crumbles Story’ which was so popular a second print run had to be organised. Guest Speaker Amanda Wilkins, a feature writer, specialising in the arts and show business interviews, told members: “Keep ploughing on – don’t give up.”

Nicky Hartle, from radio station Hope FM, came to the February meeting with a request for poetry readings to be broadcast. The format of the Newsletter changed from an A4 size to a smaller A5.

The Novel Group was continuously supported by a small number of dedicated writers who were unfailingly determined to see their books through to completion. These included Ralph Ashton – ‘A Family Affair;’ Harry Bankhead – ‘The Delear Affair;’ Robert Crouch – ‘A Shadow Inside;’ Roy Johnson – ‘Waiting for a Bus’ which prompted publishers Andre Deutsch to ask to see some sample chapters; Mike Harris – ‘A Tangled Web;’ Tamara Babadi – ‘Queen’s Flight,’ which was published; Alan Crozier’s first novel, ‘Sexwolf’’ started with a hail of bullets; Sharon Searle – Paper Heart’.
Tamara started another thriller, ‘The Evil Men Do’, while new member Alan Edgar began ‘The Yellow Leather Sofa,’ a dark, comedy thriller. Liz Wright read a chapter from her autobiographical novel ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down,’ which 16 years later was eventually published with a new title, ‘From Fancy Pants to Getting There.’
Robert Stevens spoke about his self-published four books on local ghosts and how he had taken them all around the bookshops on a sale or return basis. Due to pressure of work, Mike Harris was forced to step down as the Club’s Chairman. Tamara temporarily took over until the AGM.
The Christmas Party was a roaring success, the highlight being a Trivia Quiz; the teams batted it out with their collective IQ’s. The limerick competition produced a bumper entry of festive rhymes.