“Everyone has a book in them” announced actor and author Elizabeth Morton at Christ Church in March – and so our Short Story Competition was born. We were naturally expecting some good 1,000 word tales from Southport u3a, but Elizabeth was bowled over by the quality of written words that you produced. She wrote “Judging them was really difficult, so many absolute gems. Each one shone a light, so wonderful to read”.
It was a difficult task but Liz eventually elected 6 stories which she felt deserved special merit.
Phil McNulty won the competition with ‘The Awl’, a tender story of a late father’s possessions, which he read out at our May meeting.
The winners were:-
- First Prize – The Awl by Phil McNulty
- Second Prize – Rainz by Alan Williams
- Third Prize – Eve by Fiona Kapur
Runner Up – Matters of Life and Death by Keith Hammett
Special mention as a ‘springboard to a novel’ were
- 1 = 2 by Hugh Shollick
- Target by Patricia Duneen
All the stories are available below, for you to immerse yourself in. You are in for a treat. Well done to all our authors who put in so much time creating these funny, sad, thought provoking and enlightening pieces of work.
- 1st Tripper Out Of The Port Of Liverpool – Morris Murray
- 1=2 – Hugh Schollick
- A Walrus in the Fairground – Matthew Green
- Dear Jennifer – Carol Riggall
- Elvis is Alive and Well – Rodney Degnan
- Eve – Fiona Kapur
- Fate takes a Hand – Ian Homewood
- Forgiveness – Anon
- Gimblett Rock – Phil McNulty
- Green Tench – Pete Lammyman
- High Maintenance – Phil McNulty
- Hope – John Saville
- It will all be over by Christmas – Mary Borland
- Love Conquers Everything – Keith Hammett
- Malta 2 – Phil McNulty
- Matters of Life and Death – Keith Hammett
- My Friend Mona – Sylvia Miley
- Nick Nack Paddy Wack – Phil McNulty
- Norah – Margaret Parkes
- Peewits – Phil McNulty
- Rainz – Alan Williams
- Rescue – Barbara Hulme
- Stardust – Carol Whitehead
- The Awl – Phil McNulty
- The Day Didn’t Start Well – SP Franksson
- The Hole – The Hole
- The Outside Toilet – Liz Palmen
- The Ramblings of a Liverpool Dock Road Fitter – David Martin
- The Target – Pat Dineen
- There Was Something Missing – Ruth Lewis
- Waiting 1 – Phil McNulty
- When Lambeth Walked on the Russian Front – Jamie Gaskin