OUR BOOK IS WELL AND TRULY LAUNCHED
Yesterday saw the launch of our new book “Tales of Eastenders”.
As our guests arrived to the Beatles singing “Paperback Writer”, they slowly gathered from all over at our understairs hide-away in Oxford House.
After a few drinks and a welcome from Sarah, Jan (pronounced Yan) gave the audience an explanation of how the stories were written as part of our Creative Writing Group classes, and how the Writers and the Digital Photography classes combined to work on this project.
Following Jan, Mark explained how the stories were converted from hand written individual works into a uniform typed format ready for the final conversion into the book.
Sarah then explained how the funding was raised, the printers and photographs were selected, and the work done by Alistair (Al) our designer was carried out.
Once these explanations were over, Mark thanked the funders individually. This included:
Small Grants for Pensioners Groups, arranged by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, who donated £500.
The new management of the Sundial Centre, led by Tunde Taylor, who donated the final £500.
Shelagh Ainslie, who provided the remaining funds. The actual amount was requested to be confidential, but it was believed to be around or more than 3 times the other individual donations. The gathering was also informed that sadly, shortly before the launch, Shelagh passed away. She did manage to see the book, and was delighted with the results.
It was announced that the writers had all agreed that:
Following Shelagh’s massive support and confidence with the book and those compiling it, in the event of there being a second print of this book, (or a second book produced by the group), a dedication in her memory should be inserted onto the inner front page.
Our designer, Al, was thanked for his work on this project over the years, and was presented with a small token of our appreciation.
Sarah was presented with a bouquet by Dorothy from the writers for her constant help, dedication and support.
Then began the readings.
Sadly Sally Flood was recently hospitalised, and so one of the Sundial Centre Golden Girls, Violet Davis, did her readings on her behalf. We all wished Sally a rapid recovery. Although Ann was present, she was unable to do her readings, and Sarah Ainslie stood in for her.
The readings were all very well received, with Barry being asked to read an extra one of his catchy short stories. Dorothy certainly seemed to enjoy herself much more than she had expected to
.
Following the readings, the books finally went on sale (at the reduced price of £9.99p – retail price £12.99p), and the writers and support team were inundated for autographs. Ann was flabbergasted at being a celebrity, and having people asking for her autograph.
We would like to say a big thank you to all those who attended and helped us to make this a day we will always remember. (No matter how much like celebrities we become!)
The books will soon be hitting the shops, the first of those hopefully being Newham Bookshop, and Brick Lane Books. There are plans afoot for a wholesaler to take on the sales, for an e-version to be available soon, and for the book to be available via Amazon.
In the meantime, if you would like a copy, but can’t find one, fill out the contact form below and we will do our best to get a supplier to contact you. Please DO NOT send any money or payment to this site. An approved retailer will contact you. We will not pass on your information to anyone else, for any reason.
The next stage for us is the scheduling of readings to be carried out around the East End of London, with these readings being launched at the Sundial Centre.
Other readings will hopefully be in Idea Stores, Libraries, Book Shops, Community Centres and Schools. We should be coming near you sometime soon.
Keep an eye on this site for the schedule once we have confirmed it.
We wish you – GOOD READING!
Only if you cannot find a copy of our book, please leave your details below, and we will forward it for you to an approved outlet.