Monumental Women’s Ink, who caused a stir in both the town and nationally by including a chapter of erotica in their booklet ‘Once upon a time in Wellington WI’ , have presented a cheque for £1,700 for S.U.R.E at the Beacon Centre in Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital.
The group’s leader, Bridget Hodges, handed over the cheque to Friends for S.U.R.E [Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment] Vice Chairman Roy Hole and Sheila Tutt at the Beacon Centre this week.
The money was raised from sales of the booklet which features more than 60 pages of different styles of writing by the group’s members, all resulting from workshop sessions based on themes and ideas. But it was ‘The Conquering Gibraltarian Adonis’ that helped to generate interest to a level that surprised the group and led to coverage in regional and national media. Extra copies were printed to cope with demand and the group held a book-signing session in Coffee @﹟in Wellington. More than 400 copies of the booklet were sold with all the proceeds being donated to Sure.
Bridget Hodges said, “We’re delighted with the response we’ve had to our first publication, not only in terms of the money raised but because we’ve attracted more members to the group, doubling its size. We’re now running two groups of 12 writers, each meeting once a month in a member’s house in the town. There are some really talented new writers in Monumental Women’s Ink and we hope our next publication – due out next February – will attract the same amount of interest, if not more! We’re hoping this will become an annual event.” Bridget did not rule out the possibility of more erotica next year.
Whilst the identity of the writer of ‘The Conquering Gibraltarian Adonis’ is being kept secret, those whose work is featured in the booklet are Sam Austin, Erica Bond, Sue Bowler, Chrissy Burnett, Heidi Gains, Bridget Hodges, Janice Melmoth, maureen Norris, Judith Smith, Christine Tron and Lynda Wilkinson.