It may be small in number, but a group of Richmond seniors has plenty of stories to tell.
And each year, for the past 25 years, the members’ experiences, insights and imaginations are put down on paper to form an anthology of their writing.
“We have a very established group with 14 to 16 members,” said Denny Lalonde, group liaison with the Minoru Amateur Writers Group. “And we meet every second Tuesday of the month at Minoru Place Seniors’ Centre and we write virtually anything — memoirs, poetry, short stories, mysteries — whatever we turn our minds to.”
Lalonde emphasized the group is “non-critiquing” unless members specifically request feedback on their work.
“This way, when we print our annual anthology, called Perceptions, there’s a variety of material in there for the reader to either digest or ignore.”
And just as their written works are diverse, so, too, is their membership.
“We’re all seniors, of course, with our youngest in their mid to late 50s, and one gentleman who is 93 who was a mid-upper gunner in a Lancaster (bomber) and flew with the RAF during the Second World War,” Lalonde said.
The vast majority of the members come to the group with little or no prior writing experience.
“That’s the interesting part,” Lalonde said. “Some people have always thought that they’d like to write, but have never done it. So, we invite them to our meetings where they can sit and listen to comments we may have or advice and suggestions.”
Some members take to writing so they can produce a published work about their life experience for their family.
“That’s nice to be able to leave a very concrete memory behind written by a person who lived a life,” Lalonde said.
In Lalonde’s case, one of his stories follows a portion of his career when he got a new job as a district parts manager for car manufacturer AMC (American Motors Canada) back in the mid 1960s.
It was a golden age for the now defunct brand that was ultimately absorbed by Chrysler and Lalonde was responsible for car dealers from Wawa, Ont. to the Alberta-Saskatchewan border — an area covering 642,000-square-miles.
It was a big step up from his steel-toed workbook job as a heavy duty mechanic with the Manitoba Department of Highways. Things got better when his new boss at AMC called to say he’d got the job and discuss an issue with is wages.
In this excerpt from Clean hands at last!, Lalonde wrote: “‘Denny, you remember the salary we agreed on last week?’
My heart sank, as I felt sure that my new job would start out at even less pay than I had been making.
‘Yes, Mr. Clark. I remember.’
‘Well,’ he continued, ‘There has been a national realignment of salaries across the board, and we will be paying you approximately $300 more each month than we agreed. How does that sound to you?’
For many seconds I was speechless. I couldn’t answer.
Ray finally said, ‘You still here, Denny?’
I managed a shaky, ‘Yes, thank you. That’s wonderful!’
When I hung up the phone, Joyce and I were in shock, happy and excited all at the same time. I had been given a raise and hadn’t started work yet!”
Lalonde said it’s not just the writing group that benefits from their time together. Periodically, they link up with local high school students from the district’s Horizons group, an alternate stream for youngsters, aged 13 - 18, experiencing academic challenges.
“The idea being is that we sit down with them in a mini workshop atmosphere and they ask us what it was like when we were their age,” Lalonde said. “They seem to be quite interested in what it used to be like.”
That interaction generates a healthy exchange of opinions and hopefully provides some assistance as the students progress, Lalonde added.
For more information on the Minoru Amateur Writers Group, call Minoru Place Seniors’ Centre 604-238-8450.
