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Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at Dancox House Club Room, St Clements Gardens, St Johns, Worcester from 7.30 pm to 9.30pm.
If you want to know more about Worcester Writers' Circle, please telephone Sue Round, Secretary 01905 619062.
Probably the oldest writers' circle in the country, we have grown from half a dozen enthusiasts in the dark days of the Second World War, to a thriving and productive group of people who share their experiences, successes and pitfalls at each meeting. We have a wide range of writers, some published professionals, some occasionally appearing in magazines, and many newcomers eager to see their name in print.
At a normal meeting, we read from our work, sometimes on a theme set for the evening and we offer advice and reactions. A cup of tea and a chat of course, and discussions about markets, successes and rejections. Sometimes we have a speaker from amongst our ranks, or a guestjoining us for the evening. Our interests are wide - stories, Westerns, nostalgia, poetry, biography, roofing and cats have all featured at our meetings. If you can get to Worcester, (that's the one in Worcestershire, England) give us a try.
Water Table
by Phyllis Handley
Fred Matthews had just began to read the morning paper when his wife, Maud, interrupted his concentration, to tell him about their neighbour.
"Karon has gone to the doctors again."
Trying to sound interested he replied "Has she?"
"She hasn't had a good nights sleep for weeks now." Maud continued. "It's no good you pretending things don't happen in her kitchen. Because they do. I've been round there when the cupboard doors just opened for no reason at all. They are new cupboards with good magnets on them. So they shouldn't open on their own like that. Even I'm beginning to believe her place is haunted."
"How many times have I tried to explain to you, that it is the water level. These three cottages are built on a water table." Then once again before Fred could explain further Maud deliberately interrupted him "Water Table. Whoever has heard of a Water Table. Your getting confused with a water bed. There's no such thing as a Water Table. The next thing you will be saying is, we've got water chairs at the bottom of our garden."
"You won't have it will you? I tried to explain it to the Browns before they moved out, but they were like you - wouldn't listen. So what's Karon going to do? Try and get a council flat like the Browns did? Well, if she succeeds, you do realise we shall then be living next door to two empty cottages, with their front and back overgrown gardens to contend with."
"She didn't say. But I did tell her to put her name down on the council list. Others have got council flats because of the ghosts."
"The council won't wear that tale for too long." Fred warned. "Doctor's notes are only taken any notice of for so long."
"The trouble with you Fred," his wife teased. "Is that you read too much. Anyway the Brown's cottage won't be empty for much longer. When old man Hopkins collected his rent yesterday, he said a young man would soon be moving in. I don't know how young because everyone is young to old Hoppy."
"Did he tell you the man's name or where he comes from."
"No. Never thought to ask that. But I do know he is divorced and works as a mechanic. According to Hoppy this bloke is going to make a new start here, and he doesn't believe in or give a monkeys about any ghosts. So I told Hoppy that I thought this new tenant sounded like the sort of neighbour you would like."
Karon didn't bother about getting a council flat, but decided to move out and within a week had gone to live with her boy friend.
Two weeks later Maud watched a young man quietly and carefully manoeuvred his white Ford transit van down the lane. When Fred came home from his shift at the Royal Mail, Maud gave him a minute by minute detailed account of their new neighbour's arrival. How none of his belongings had been packed in a suitcase or even a box.
"I couldn't believe my eyes" she said. "Just carried everything in by the armful. Even his clothes weren't folded. I could see a pair of trousers dangling out of a duvet. And he hasn't got much in the way of furniture. If he has got curtains they certainly weren't his first priority, because at the moment anyone can look through his windows and see everything he's got. Still to fair, I suppose he didn't have much time."
"So you did speak to him then?"
"Yes." Maud confessed. "Well you've got to be neighbourly. So I asked him if he would like a drink, a pot of tea or something, and he said 'Yes please. But, right now I'm in a bit of a hurry so could I just have a cup of coffee with milk and two sugars.'"
"What else did you find out?"
"Well his name is Michael Ruff. He is thirty two, and Hoppy was right, about the divorce, but Michael was the innocent party. Friday is their pay day. He won't be back tonight because he is going for a farewell drink and a meal, with his workmates. Nothing posh. Says it will probably be too much beer, followed by a fish and chips. But he will be back tomorrow with the last of his things. And that should be that, then."
"You found all that out over one cup of coffee?"
"Yes" said Maud proudly.
"You amaze me. Do you know Maud if he had said 'Yes' to a pot of tea, I would now know what his mother's maiden was."
"Morgan." she lied, with a smile on her face.
One day Mike came to their back door holding a wet cloth over his eye and asked "Maud have you got any ice in your 'frig please. I've just walked into a 4 xxxx cupboard door in my kitchen and I haven't got any ice. The only cold things in my 'frig is cans of beer and it's a waste putting beer on a bruise."
"It's the ghost again." Maud said as she banged out the ice.
"No it's not Mike." Fred argued "Just put a small bolt or a different catch on the doors. Get rid of the magnets."
For once Maud didn't interrupt as Fred explained his theory about the water table. "It only happens when the river is high or in flood. Then when any heavy goods train comes slowly out of the station and crosses over the river, the vibrations around the centre and end piers cause a mini earthquake in the water, which in turn has a knock on effect to these cottages. The reason why Maud always poo poos the idea is because she doesn't like top cupboards. She likes shelves in her kitchen and the bottom cupboards have sliding doors."
"Well we won't have that trouble for much longer." Maud conceded "Because it's not talk anymore, they really are going to close our railway station this coming June."
"I know" Fred said "And that's what worries me. When they stop using this link nothing heavy will use that bridge. In fact no trains of any sort will ever use that bridge again, so you know what that means. With no more ghosts, these cottages will be worth a fortune. The rents and their value will go up."
"There is talk about building a little housing estate at the station. Then converting the old bridge for pedestrians and one way traffic for their cars. I don't suppose that would be heavy enough, would it?" Maud asked
"No. Nothing like enough," and this time Fred sounded irritated with his wife's suggestion.
For a few moments they were silent. Mike sat resting his elbow on the table as he held the ice pack to his eye. Maud now realised that she had been wrong about the water tables. But for her, now wasn't the right time to admit that Fred had been right all the time.
Suddenly Fred said "Mike I know you can't afford to buy yours, but what if I bought all three properties, and you paid your rent to me?''
"Great. I wouldn't mind, but do you think Hopkins would sell?" asked Mike.
"Don't see why not. Look what he has got to put up with. Ghosts. No rent from the empty cottage. Can't sell because of sitting tenants. These days we have safety laws about tenants rights. So he couldn't just throw us out, and he wouldn't be allowed to put the rent up too much. Yes, I'm sure he will sell and at a price I can afford."
Maud remained silent the thought of moving from her beloved cottage and this area didn't bear thinking about. And what on earth was Fred talking about. Where was he going to get the money to buy three cottages, and before she could speak Mike asked for her, "Fred can you afford to buy all three?"
"No. Not at the moment. But I soon will. I'm sixty three next month. I'll take early retirement. I've been offered it enough times. In fact I know how much lump sum I would get and how much a month pension. I've always said 'No'I'll go when I'm ready. Maud has never bothered one way or the other. She has always said "Pack it up when your ready." Well I'm ready. I've worked for this lot since I was fifteen. In the days when it was called the GPO. So in their present state, I'm sure my superannuation will easily cover the price of these cottages. But not if Hoppy suddenly started modernising them. Giving us all fences, drives with garages, and suchlike."
Four months later on a Saturday afternoon in June, a large crowd gathered at their railway station to watch and waive the last train "Goodbye."
At the same time all three sat in Fred's garden enjoying a house owners celebration party. Suddenly Maud stood up and announced "I want to give a toast. Please stand up, raise your glasses and say after me 'Bye Bye ghost, it was nice knowing you.'"