Adrian – We need an original angle.
Bernard – No, we just need members.
Adrian – And to get members we need to be the standout poetry group in the town. And to be the standout poetry group, we need an angle. Or a slogan.
Bernard – You mean like ‘Poetry For All’.
Adrian – PFA is the Professional Footballers’ Association. Another?
Bernard – Poets Of Wibbleton?
Adrian – Prisoners of war.
Bernard – You’re being very negative. Okay, let’s forget the slogan for now. What about a gimmick.
Adrian – I don’t think we’ll attract the calibre of poets we desire with a gimmick.
Bernard – A free gift then. New members receive a pen. Or a notebook. Or a pen and a notebook. Everybody loves a notebook and you can never have too many pens.
Adrian – Now you’re thinking along the right lines.
Bernard – You could give every member a copy of your book.
Adrian – It’s called Poetry To Die For. I don’t think it will attract lively members.
Bernard – Well republish it with a new title, like Poetry To Live For.
Adrian – I would rather they bought a copy. They did cost me £11.99 each. I don’t want to just give them away. I could knock £1 off for every member.
Bernard – But we still need to attract members to the group in the first place.
Adrian – What about blitzing the town with posters.
Bernard – Done that already.
Adrian – Local radio?
Bernard – Done it.
Adrian – Press release?
Bernard – Done that too.
Adrian – And how many application have we had?
Bernard – One.
Adrian – One?
Bernard – Well there were two, but one was from me, so I don’t think that counts.
Adrian – And the other one?
Bernard – Your wife.
Adrian – She’s the last person I want in the group!
Bernard – Well I guess that’s it then. We give up.
Adrian – I didn’t get where I am today by giving up.
Bernard – Or we think of a different angle.
Adrian – Such as?
Bernard – I do like growing petunias. Let’s start a petunia growers’ group. We could call ourselves Petunias For All… or… Petunias Of Wibbleton.