The group was founded in 1928 but it was the late eighties when I told my daughter that I was thinking of joining Leeds Writers` Circle. She was horrified.
     "Mum, it`ll be full of old ladies in felt hats!"
     But I went, nervously, to my first meeting. It was held in the V.I.P. Room of the Civic Theatre which sounded grand and somewhat daunting. I located the room and joined a queue - had the caretaker forgotten to unlock the door?
     "We have to sign in," a helpful lady told me. For a moment I thought she said "sign on." Was this the place where out of work writers collected the dole?
     No, it transpired that members were not allowed to enter the room until they had paid their attendance fee - 50p to the Treasurer. Signing in was a lengthy business. Having handed over the money we had to first PRINT our names before signing. Now I knew why the Secretary had told me to arrive early.
     As I waited for my turn I saw that my daughter`s prediction was correct. Lying on a table inside the door was a navy blue felt hat, a sensible one with a brim. Oh, well, in for a penny, in for ... fifty pence! Having been admitted I realised that the V.I.P. Room was not grand. Evidently any V.I.P.s who had the misfortune to be entertained there were not of the highest order. The red velvet chairs were torn, the curtains were threadbare and the room was cramped. In order to reach my seat I had to clamber over a coffee table at which sat a lady in a felt hat. There were two more hatted elderly ladies on the front row. One of them was asleep.
     Members, twenty in all, having been processed and squashed into the seating, the Chairperson banged a gavel and called for silence. The meeting opened with the reading of the minutes – not the once a year AGM type but the minutes of the previous fortnight`s meeting with detailed reference to the manuscripts read by each member. The Chairperson asked for successes. There were an impressive number of those – poems published, stories in magazines and reports in the Yorkshire Evening Post. The meeting continued with manuscript readings. Most members were competent writers and criticism was lively. At break we went to the theatre bar where discussions continued. Felt hats apart, I enjoyed the meeting and became a member.
     Those two old ladies always occupied the front row and one of them was generally asleep as soon as the proceedings began. The other lady proved to be an early advocate of recycling; she read the same three or four short stories year after year. After a while, Anna joined the Circle. Norah and her friend Margaret had been members for several years.
     The second meeting of each month was held at the old, run down Civic Arts Guild across the road. The room rents were cheap but seating was at a premium and each meeting began with a search for chairs. If we were lucky we were able to commandeer sufficient chairs which had seats and backs as well as four legs. This feat was generally accomplished by raiding rehearsal rooms before the amateur dramatic societies realised what we were up to. There were – still are – a lot of dramatic societies in Leeds and the building was noisy. We might be housed in a room with "West Side Story" being rehearsed next door and a troop of dancers hoofing their stuff in the room above.
     One evening we were allocated a very small but, we thought, quiet room which had a door at either end. We had settled nicely into our poetry reading when a group of actors walked in and asked to be allowed to collect some things from the inner room. They emerged solemnly carrying a black coffin. A few minutes later they reappeared to collect a stuffed parrot in a cage, a wicker skip full of costumes and armfuls of swords and spears. These interruptions continued throughout the evening, concentration on the poems was difficult and it was not long before we decided to search for more suitable premises.
     For a few years we met at Oxford Place Methodist and were generally assured of a quiet room except in December when we had to compete with a huge choir practising Christmas carols. The caretaker liked to have us out of the building by nine o`clock and he began to rattle his keys at ten to nine. We stopped using that venue when the rent went up.
     Our next meeting place was "The Victoria" and we had free use of the Albert Room. We enjoyed that until the night our Poetry Adjudication coincided with the Leeds Pub Piano Competition. The hostelry was packed, the pianists played with vigour and the audience, several hundred strong, sang and cheered with enthusiasm ... in the next room. Our adjudicator battled on gallantly as she awarded first prize to Anna and second to Ted, but we couldn`t hear her comments and she finally had to admit defeat. We sent her a bouquet of flowers the following week.
     Not long after that The Vic was closed for a refit and we were given the downstairs bar at "The George." That suited us well, except when the ceiling fell in. After it was repaired the room was wanted on Mondays for a jazz band and we found a new home at Carpe Diem across the road.
     A year or so later , our room there was given over to widescreen T.V. and a pool table. Once again we were homeless until Waterstones allowed us to meet on their top floor. It was not ideal. Having curious customers earwigging as we read our masterpieces was less of a problem than the fact that the shop closed at eight. We had to start the meetings at six and in order to avoid being locked in the store all night we were expected to leave the building at ten minutes to eight. Our numbers plummeted.
     Having exhausted city venues we moved out to the Community Centre in Headingley but struggled to retain members. Then we heard that in Great George Street the cellar bar of "The George" was once again available on Monday nights and we were glad to return, not just for the beer. The Circle flourished once again and membership grew and grew and grew. The long, narrow cellar bar was crowded and we realised that we needed bigger premises.
     We enquired at The Carriageworks. Luckily, Monday is a relatively quiet night at the theatre and after reapplying to join the Civic Arts Guild, we were welcomed here and now able to meet in superb surroundings and even hold workshops on Saturdays.
     If only there was a bar on Monday nights ....