Founded in 1998 by Val New, Riverside Writers has recently been experiencing a dramatic increase of membership. A year ago, the group was on the verge of being disbanded due to poor attendance, but this is most certainly not the situation now.

AGM Elections. After many years of service, Val New has retired as Treasurer. We thank her for all her hard work. Our new Treasurer is Peter Hurd, who writes poetry, non-fiction and fiction in several genres.

Tim Hulme was re-elected as Secretary. Tim's humorous stories have been broadcast on Radio Merseyside, and his work has been published in The New Cauldron magazine.

Adele Cosgrove-Bray was re-elected as Chairperson. Adele has been published by Hadley Rille Books, Dark Moon Press, Prediction Magazine and others. For more information visit:- http://www.adelecosgrove-bray.com . Or try her MySpace site:- http://www.myspace.com/whimsicalpixels .

Summary of "Words from Wordsmiths" Riverside Writers presented Words from Wordmsiths on April 7th, as part of Wirral BookFest. Everyone who took part in this well-attended evening of readings enjoyed the experience and considers the event to have been a success. West Kirby Library has invited us to hold a similar event next year, which is excellent news.

Summary of Group Writing Projects. Each month, Riverside Writers set a project wherein everyone in encouraged to write either a poem of short story (of any length) to a particular theme. The theme might be a specific location, or inspired by an unusual photograph or phrase, or there might be a required opening sentence. Sometimes a random bunch of words (eg. potato, cuckoo clock, ballet shoe, Lamborghini) might have to be used within the same written piece.

Participation is not mandatory, but everyone who has taken part has found the exercise worthwhile, both in terms of improving their writing skills and confidence, and in providing them with a body of work.

The projects have also given the meetings a focus.

Group Purpose (in no particular order)

a) To encourage people to write.

b) To offer constructive, polite criticism of each others' work.

c) To offer useful advice about the publishing industry.

d) To encourage use of the internet as a networking tool.

e) To provide a friendly and informal atmosphere where writers of all genres and abilities can socialise.