We've got write stuff

After much discussion, a constitution was drawn up and Greenock Writers" Club was launched on 20 March 1968.

Today, the club is still going strong - much to the delight of one of the founder members, Eleanor Fraser, right, who will be 100 next month.

Although she has not attended a meeting for 10 years, Eleanor keeps in touch with some of the writers and continues to be a regular reader.

Eleanor, who lives in Greenock and is a former clerk with Fleming Reid, said: 'The creative writing classes were held in the Greenock Arts Guild in 1964. When these were disbanded in 1967, some of the members suggested forming a writers" club.' The club continued to meet in the Arts Guild up until a few weeks ago, when it moved to the Waterfront Leisure Complex. Eleanor said: 'I am an honorary president now, but I am too arthritic so I can"t attend.' The club started with 17 members and the first president was Janetta Bowie, who held the role for seven years.

Many of the club"s members went on to enjoy success and see their work in print, including Eleanor, who had articles printed in specialist magazines.

She said: 'I wasn"t good at writing fiction, but I would enjoy writing about something that had happened. It was great having something published. Sometimes a scene would just come into my mind and I would write about that.' She added: 'I used to write articles in pencil and take them to the club and have them criticised. They would tell you what you should change and you would take it back the next week and read it out. They criticised one girl - Jean McMillan, from Kilbarchan - and said "do this and do that" and she said: "It has already been published!"' Eleanor enjoyed some success in club competitions and recalls one night when she was presented with a club trophy and a fellow member said: 'Did you not bring a bag to take it home?' Eleanor said: ' I said why would I? I didn"t know I was going to win.

'Members of the club were under no obligation to publish and many came to enjoy the sessions and writing for art"s sake.

'Another feature of the club was the hospitality. We always believed a warm welcome was important for all visitors.' Two years after the club was formed, Janetta came up with the idea of contacting other clubs in Scotland and the Scottish Association of Writers (SAW) was formed.

The secretary at the time, Alistair Walker, wrote to 27 towns in Scotland and found that just five had writers" clubs. Clubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the Highland Writers" Club in the north east were all delighted to be invited to be part of the new Scottish Association of Writers which the Greenock club believes was one of the greatest contributions it has made to writing in Scotland.

Twenty years on, the association had 16 affiliated clubs. One of the highlights of the year was a weekend school, held in Pitlochry for 18 years, before the event moved to Peebles.

Today, Eleanor does not do much writing. She said: 'I can write in my mind but I can hardly hold a pen now because of arthritis.' However, she still enjoys books and is working her way through a Meg Henderson novel. When she is not reading she enjoys crocheting baby jackets and pram covers.

Eleanor, who said she never imagined she would reach the grand milestone of 100, attributes her long healthy life to having always walked a lot - The Greenock Cut was always a favourite route - and a diet of fresh salads.

She was born in Holmscroft Street and also lived in Bruce Street. She was in Kelly Street for 60 years before moving to her current home in a Greenock sheltered housing complex.

Eleanor is looking forward to her 100th birthday on 19 November and has asked friends to join her for a "no gift day". Instead, she is asking that friends donate to charity and she started the ball rolling with �100.

A family party at the Tontine Hotel is also on the cards and Eleanor has already chosen a new outfit for the occasion.

A widow for 25 years, Eleanor was married to George, a policeman. She has a daughter Margaret and two sons - John, who received the OBE for work in Hong Kong, and Islay George, who lives in North London, as well as six grandchildren.

Top children"s author Catherine MacPhail who lives in Greenock, regularly visits Eleanor.

She said: 'She is a real inspiration.' And Silvie Taylor, president of the SAW, said: 'Eleanor is always charming. A perfect lady and a very good writer.' FOR years, members of Greenock Writers" Club have been in the habit of meeting in Greenock Arts Guild. However, this season they have moved to a room in the Waterfront Leisure Complex, where they meet every Wednesday evening, to get better disabled access.

President Marion Harris said: 'We want to get as many people involved as possible. Although we still have the traditional nautical story competition, we also have fantasy and 10-minute script competitions and these have much more of a mass appeal.' The club recently secured �4,000 in lottery funding thanks to the driving force of new secretary Andrew Orr. Now the club is moving forward with a new logo and new website.

A programme is also being drawn up of published authors who will be guest speakers over the coming months.

Marion said: 'The funding has allowed us to employ professionals to give us a whole new look and improve our website.

'We are also able to have a good number of well-known writers provide us with workshops, impetus towards publishing and help with improving work in progress. In a busy syllabus, we will cover fiction writing with competitions for nautical stories and fantasy, poetry, articles, both humorous and serious, and a short sketch or play.

'People don"t have to tackle all of these, or indeed any of them, but will still have the benefit of all our speakers" and members" wisdom over the years.

'Greenock Writers" Club has been meeting for over 40 years and was one of the founder members of the Scottish Association of Writers. As befits such a long-established club, we have several illustrious past members and associates who have gone on to great things: Cathy MacPhail, Evelyn Hood and Janetta Bowie to name a few.

'Now we"re attempting to generate the next generation. A good example of this would be Claire Scott, who had her first play published last year, after considerable success with it at both the SAW awards and the SCDA awards. David McKelvie has also just published a major epic of family history.' The club meets in the Waterfront on Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Email:greenockwritersclub@hotmail.co.uk or phone 634255.

AVID McKelvie joined the club four years ago after retiring from his Peterborough-based job as a production manager for RNIB, where he translated popular publications into Braille.

He had already started to write an autobiography when he attended his first meeting of Greenock Writers" Club.

David said: 'I came because I wasn"t sure how good my writing was. I wrote it in a year and I was stuck on the end.' After picking up some tips, David went ahead and published eight copies of the book which he distributed to relatives in Australia and New Zealand.

He continues to attend the club, describing fellow members as "a nice lot of people".

David also went on to win the club"s newspaper writing article and has recently been trying his hand at poetry. He said: 'The club is not about sitting back and listening to people talking about writing. You have to try it yourself and I have put entries into most competitions, including short story and sci-fi.

The club has about 25 members, with ages ranging from 20s to late 80s.

Ronnie Beaton, 37, who works for Amazon as a packer, is a big fan of sci-fi. He said: 'I tried my hand at poetry, but it is not my thing. I do a lot of research before I do anything. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn"t.' Ronnie, who lives in Greenock, has been a member of the group for 10 years. He said: 'I joined because it seemed like a good idea. I have always been interested in writing and a big reader, so it was something I wanted to try. I have not had anything published, but I would like to write a novel.' John McLean, of Wemyss Bay, was in the police and later ran taxis. He found himself with time on his hands as he came up to retirement.

He said: 'I always liked reading books, particularly adventure stories, and I like to write short stories and poetry.' He has lifted the club"s summer trophy three times for his short stories, with his most recent entry being a tale about African witchcraft.

Marion Harris said: 'It is a good hobby and you don"t need much equipment. We tend to use computers, but we still accept hand-written scripts from people.' Marion, who has had one of her plays performed, said: 'I joined the club eight years ago because I was writing yacht club articles for the Tele and it seemed a good idea to write better articles. I found I was good at writing stories.' Marion has also had success in competitions, winning the Scottish Association of Writers" unfinished novel competition. She has also enjoyed success in a couple of short-story contests.

One of the club"s best known members is Catherine MacPhail who has written 27 children"s books. Evelyn Hood has also penned popular family sagas.

The club meets every Wednesday in a room at the Waterfront Leisure Complex in Greenock at 7.30pm.