1993/1994
The Year Book of 1993/94 shows that Geoff Nevis, Tanya Richardson, Jean Lazarus and Elizabeth Wright all became members. At the Anderida Writers 1993 August garden party, there was a limerick competition, on the theme of writers or writing. The winner was Mike Harris who wrote:
A young professional fighter
Retired to find fame as a writer.
But the strength of his yen
Wasn’t matched by his pen,
And he died unpublished, poor blighter.

The Annual Writing Competition evening was held on January 4th, 1994 at Chaseley Homes. Given a line that had to include ‘But answer came there none,’ an audience of 17 voted Frederica Say’s entry first, Tamara Babadi second and Elizabeth Wright third.

Mike Harris was elected as the club’s new Chairperson at the March AGM which was attended by 14 people. There was £402.14 in the bank account.
At the April meeting guest speaker Brian Darby talked about short stories and how to write them. A workshop followed with members writing an outline of a short story using one of the everyday objects on a list.
In May Sharon Searle and Tamara Babadi spoke about ‘Viewpoint.’
The June meeting was about play writing and dialogue by guest speaker Michael Morley.
At the July meeting, which featured short stories, articles and poems, Liz Wright read out an article on a local coastguard “Gary Russell - A Real Cliffhanger,” which, following members’ suggestions was tightened up and accepted for publication in ‘Downs Country.’

Attendances at the added satellite groups had dropped down to single figures, and a slight touch of apathy appeared to have crept in. A lot of recent readings had been written some years previously and new work was in short supply.

At the October Afternoon Meeting there was lively discussion about the use of bad language, followed by a calmer approach to the subject of suitable names for ships and people. In February 1994 Michael Morley of the Sussex Playwrights Group gave a talk and retiring Chairman Sharon Searle wrote in the newsletter: ‘Although the theme was generally on playwriting and the disciplines needed to convey character and story line through the medium of dialogue there was much enlightening thought for all our short story and novel writers.’
Michael Morley returned in June and new Chairman Mike Harris commented in the newsletter: ‘He concentrated on the way that Harold Pinter successfully used words within dialogue. The way he [Pinter] would have character repeat one word to express their feelings…he had a unique economy with words which tended to help his plays rather than hinder them.’