Hello friends. Here is the July/August newsletter 2025 of the Rugby Cafe Writers.
Life Stories Project
Fran is now proof-reading this project. We will shortly be in touch with contributors to check their chapters. The book is tentatively titled ‘That’s Life!’ Our aim is to have it published for the Autumn festival season. (If you have a suggestion for a different title, all contributions will be most welcome).
Future themes for our Friday meetings (at Art at the Alex, 10am)
August 1st – Transformations (memoir/story/poem)
August 15th – Childhood (memoir/story/poem)
August 29th – A Day in My Life (non-fiction challenge)
September 12th – Skills discussion on Writing from a Different Viewpoint (written contributions and ideas also welcome)
September 26th – (at St Andrew’s Church) Rehearsal for our Literary Festival event (see below)
Recent Events
Sat July 5, Rugby Library. A Morning With The Rugby Cafe Writers. There was a good turnout to hear five of our members talk about their books. We also put on a bookstall.
Wednesday July 9th, Talk to the Visually Impaired Club. Several members performed their work for this group which meets at Overslade Community Centre.
Thanks to everyone who made these events happen! They were much appreciated.
Forthcoming Events
Friday October 3rd – An Evening With The Cafe Writers, St Andrew’s Church, Rugby. 7.30pm. This is part of the second Rugby Literary Festival. We currently have 22 members taking part. More needed. Please let John know if you would like to read something. Tickets can now be pre-booked on this link. We will be asking you shortly to share links and posters.
Sunday October 12th – Southam Book Festival, 11am to 4pm. We are reserving one stall for Cafe Writer Anthologies only. If you would like a stall yourself, please contact the organisers on this link.
Saturday October 18th – Market Harborough Book Fair, 10.30am to 4pm.
December – Percival Guildhouse Christmas Fayre (morning). Date tba.
Send in your recent writing
Many thanks to those who have sent in pieces from recent Writing Challenges. I will keep all of these in folders in readiness for future anthologies and book projects. Keep sending them in please. You can also submit via the front page of our website.
Cafe Writers’ Book Sales
We have currently sold a total of 824 books with our first book, Get to the Point, our bestseller on 160 sales followed by our Autumn collection on 165 copies.
Recent Writing
Misunderstood by Wendy Goulstone
He thought it was tomorrow.
She thought it was last night.
I thought it was next Saturday
but no-one got it right.
He thought it was at 2 o’clock.
She thought it was at 8.
I thought it was at midnight
but that was far too late.
He thought it was on the village green .
She thought the old church hall.
I thought it was at the Royal Oak
but it wasn’t there at all.
He thought it was the village fete
The village dance was her decision.
I thought that it was cancelled
So watched the television.
The Keeper of the Castle by Angela Cassidy
The castle stands forlorn and defeated on the hilltop. Pine trees below cling to the steep, sandy soil, their roots scrabbling for grip and water.
Finn and Jeanne feel as if they’ve walked for hours. But it’s only taken thirty minutes to reach the cobblestoned road leading to the huge ironclad gates, where one stands open.
Inside, disappointment hits with only the foundations of buildings visible. Fallen sandstones lay where inhabited rooms once stood. The only intact staircase leads to an upper walkway where watchmen kept lookout for invading armies.
The couple haven’t anticipated the devastation. Keenly interested in medieval history, they both made the trip out of town full of excitement.
“They weren’t kidding when they said it was a ruin,” moans Finn, perching on one of the low walls.
“You can imagine what it was like, though, when it was occupied,” Jeanne replies, unwilling to crush their hopes so soon.
An elderly man in a white shirt and black trousers appears from behind the open gate.
“If you come this way, there’s a small exhibition of the findings from an excavation carried out in the 1950s.” He speaks in English, with a strong Spanish accent.
“Thank you,” Jeanne replies, walking towards him. Finn hurries behind.
A modern building looms behind the open castle gate which hid it from view. At his request, they stop to sign the visitors book.
“There are relics here from the different periods of occupation,” says the keeper as he points out the significant finds on display.
“I believe there’s something here which belongs to you.” Moving to the back of the room, he takes something from a metal box before locking the box and stowing it in a cupboard.
Returning, he invites Jeanne to hold out her hand and drops a solid gold ring into her palm. The large, dark red stone in the centre sparkles under the light above her head.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmurs. “There’s some writing engraved inside: ‘To my beautiful wife, Jeanne’.” She disguises the glint in her eyes by widening them in surprise:
“How can this be mine?” The man shrugs his shoulders and ambles past. “You’ll know soon enough,” he says turning round briefly, smiling as he departs.
Without Q Is There A? by Jeremy Scott
Without Black would we know White?
If there was no Love would Hate exist?
Would we know Darkness if Light wasn’t present?
What is Strength without Weakness?
If everything was Perfect would we understand Imperfection?
If Emotions didn’t exist would you know how you Felt?
Without Rainbows would we perceive Colours?
Could Positive exist without Negative?
If there were no Questions what would Answers be?
Would we understand Silence if there was no Noise?
What if there was no Cold, what would be Hot?
If we couldn’t See would we know we were Blind?
If there was no Wind would Speed be a thing?
Without North what is South?
Without the Young would we know Old?
If there were no Countries, would there be Dialects?
Can you Decide without Choosing?
Without our Senses would anything make Sense?
Who would We be if we didn’t Think?
What if Polarities were pointless, would we still Attract and Deflect?
If an Artist didn’t know Shade, could they still create Depth?
If all lived Forever, would we understand Death?
What if everything was Bland, would Taste be a factor?
If you didn’t Shiver would you know you were Cold?
If Philosophy didn’t exist would Curiosity still provoke?
And if there’s nothing to Understand would we still be Misunderstood?
Rugby Cafe Writers 
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