Sileby Photographic Society
SUE Wainwright started Thorpe Acre WI’s August zoom meeting with ‘What Happened in History’ looking at two or three historical events that occurred on each member’s birthday.
As she took us through the year we learnt about the roots of each month’s name, such as January named after the Janus the two faced god of the door, June after the Roman goddess, Juno and December, the tenth month of the pre Julian calendar. We also learnt about ‘Dismal Days’. These are two days out of each month when inauspicious things can happen.
The 25th May and the 3rd September are dismal days. It was a really interesting way to amble through the year.
Moving on to the business section of the meeting. There was great feedback concerning Sarah Purdies’ demonstrations on how she made some of her beauty products and members were looking forward to sampling her products at the December meeting. Marilyn reminded people to keep on collecting their ‘pennies for friendship’ as the ACWW will probably need them more than ever under the present circumstances. Carole had begun to organize our first outing! Christmas Lunch! Nearly another year gone! However, perhaps the most important piece of information was that September’s meeting would, if all went well, be a live event!
It was a long time coming but President, Sue Wainwright, welcomed everyone to the September meeting of the Thorpe Acre WI that was held at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall on Tuesday, September 14.
Yaaaaaay was the overwhelming reply from the floor.
She was delighted to welcome, in person, our newest members, Jennie and Francesca, and hoped they would enjoy our first face to face meeting.
She went on to thank our Secretary Linda L., who, with initial help from Jacqui, organized the zoom committee and members meetings as well as the ‘at home’ coffee mornings.
She also made sure that those members without computer access received minutes of these meetings as well as printing out and delivering issues of County News.
According to Linda, the climb up Rose Hill provided an excellent aerobic workout! Members showed their appreciation with a well - deserved round of applause. Sue Y.’s reorganisation and then re-reorganisation of the Speaker’s programme was acknowledged as was Dawn’s timely delivery of birthday cards.
Ruth Y. was thanked again for being our representative at the Annual meeting. In turn Sue Y. thanked all those who had supported both her and June P. in buying their hand made cards.
The proceeds were donated to Rainbows Hospice and to Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurses.
A sign that things are returning to normal is the increasing list of activities from WI house such as the Autumn Lunch at Greetham Valley Golf Club, the Goldwork Technique workshop in November and October’s Ghost Walks around Leicester. This has proved so popular that another date has been added.
Closer to home, the number of venues of our monthly coffee mornings have been reduced. We are not zooming anymore! However, Sue Y. has agreed to continue to host a get together whilst other members can meet at various establishments in town. The next one will be held at the end of September at the ‘Public’ at 11am.
Carole has made a provisional booking for Christmas lunch at Longcliffe Golf Club and, judging from the list of names, most of us will be attending! The Woolley Women will be meeting up again at the end of September.
The rest of the evening was taken up by that old favourite - a beetle drive! The rattling of the dice in their cups was a perfect cover for a good, gossip catch up accompanied by lots of moans, groans and laughter. Janice T. was the overall winner and Sue Y. presented her with a small prize.
As the evening drew to a close Sue W. had a surprise in store.
As we had missed the WI Day celebration held on September 13, she decided to make a delicious cake to mark the occasion.
So, hopefully, everyone left this momentous meeting with a little bit of joy in their heart, a smile on their face and a handful of cake!
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 14, at 7.30pm at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall. Pamela Martin will be exploring the ethos of Tai Chi.
So, if you want to know why this gentle form of movement is a highly recommended form of exercise then do glide in. We may not be able to offer you refreshments just yet but the welcome will be just as warm as a nice cuppa.
PETER Milsom, EFIAP/Gold, DPAGB, BPE4* was the guest speaker at the Zoom meeting of
held on Monday, September 20, when he presented digital images under the title ‘ The Power of Sport’.
Peter, from Stevenage, took up photography seriously in 2006 following 18 years of competitive athletics and coaching. His first photographic efforts were directed at the sports events with which he was familiar, but he gradually extended these to other sports to include canoe slalom, jet-ski racing, steeplechase, pole vault, hurdles, kite surfing, motor sports, and the disability sports of wheelchair racing and wheelchair basketball.
He was able to capture the athletes’ facial expressions and raw emotion showing the sheer effort required of them to excel in their chosen sport. He was also able to demonstrate the difficulty in obtaining the perfect shot in fast moving sports, using correct lighting, capturing the drama, action and power, and being in the right place at the right time. Often converting a colour image to one of monochrome served to enhance these qualities.
His aim was to capture those special moments during the highs and lows of sport and the efforts and emotions shown in achieving a world class performance, and he was able to use his experiences built over many years to achieve what he set out to do. He is often granted media accreditation to major events which allow him to capture images of world class athletes from the best vantage points.
His incredible efforts in achieving his goals paid off and his often dramatic images confirmed that he had nailed his aims to maximum effect. Peter’s images have consistently won competitions, and in his talk he shared his love of sports photography and just what it takes to achieve an excellent image.
John Hoogerwerf, President, thanked Peter for a very interesting talk which described how he was able to access major events and the vantage points he was able to adopt to capture the stunning images he was looking for.
The next Zoom meeting will be held on Monday, October 4, when guest speaker, Dr. Keith Snell, EFIAP, EPSA, LRPS will present digital images under the title ‘My Restless Lens’.
Anyone wishing to become a member of Sileby Photographic Society should visit the contact page on the SPS website, https://silebyps. org.uk/ when further details will be issued. The programme for the current photographic year is also available to view. It is hoped that face-to-face meetings will re-commence at the Sileby Community Centre towards the end of October.