Newham Writers Workshop Anthology 1998

		Introduction By Dave Chambers Each year one of us is given an extra task. That is to write this introduction to the Newham Writers Workshop annual anthology. This year I am honoured to be the chosen one. In his last year, Conal Morgan wrote of a time, before the written word, when stories were told and remembered by the listeners. He wrote that story telling is a skill and even a good story is better for being told well. Taking my cue from Conal, and a newspaper article I read recently which looked into the future of the written word and concluded that we are some way off from abandoning books, I thought I would predict a possible future for the workshop. When Donna Franceschild started the workshop in 1986 at Forest Gate School it was a local authority night class. It had few members but grew as people got to hear of its existence. As budgets tightened it became a co-operative and moved to Lister Community School in Plaistow. Donna took a term off for maternity-leave in late 1991 but other work commitments meant she left us at the end of 1992. Derek Smith took over as co-ordinator. He has continued the tradition and ethos inherited from Donna of assisting the writer, new or experienced, to tell their story well and tell it their way. That future, I mentioned, will be shaped by the fact that we have now decided to adopt a written constitution. As writers you may think we should have done that years ago, but you've all heard the story of broken doors in the cabinetmaker's house. We do not intend to change the ethos of the Workshop, rather we wish ensure it does not change. We have also joined the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers. The FWWCP is on the Internet, and, now, so is the Newham Writers Workshop. You can find us at http://freespace.virgin.net/a.andc/newhamwriters/ We expect the anthology to survive in its present form for some time to come, and we will, of course, be keeping our pencils sharpened so we can tell the real story of the year 2000. We might be the only ones who can. Still, in today's brave new world of modems, laptops and the paperless office, we're not taking any chances; we are here to stay, figuratively speaking! This year we move the Workshop to Sarah Bonnell School in Stratford. More accessible than either Forest Gate or Plaistow, the hope is that more people will find us and feel able and confident enough to come along. See you at Sarah's. Newham Writers Workshop meets every Thursday during term-time, 7-9 pm, at Sarah Bonnell School, Water Lane E15. New members are always welcome. For more information take a look at our website to find out how we work: http://www.newhamwriters.newham.org.uk/