Mountsorrel Townswomens Guild

LES Forrester, ARPS, DPAGB, EFIAP, BPE3*, from North Yorkshire, was the guest speaker at the Zoom meeting of Sileby Photographic Society held on Monday, October 18, when he presented digital images under the title ‘ The Art in Architecture’.

Architecture has a particular appeal to Les and his presentation covered various aspects of his architectural photography with the emphasis on modern architecture and the occasional cityscapes.

He based his style on visualising architecture as an art and not as a record image, often emphasising shapes by focusing on his artistic skills to produce creative abstract images and a changed end result.

Les gave a short introduction prior to covering various locations visited around Europe. These included the Railway Station at Liege, the Government buildings of Hamburg, the University Library in Berlin, and Valencia, the City of Arts and Sciences.

He had also visited Munich and Stuttgart, with a few further afield. He spent some time describing how he would edit his original image, and how light, shadows and shapes could transform record shots into graphic style images, and many examples of his work were projected emphasising his reasons for doing what he did and the effects produced..

Throughout the presentation, Les gave many hints, tips and information regarding his interest in buildings, which enabled him to use his photographic talents to re-create appealing artistic images.

John Hoogerwerf, President, thanked Les for a fascinating evening which had provided much interest.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, November 1, when Mandy Sherrington, one of Sileby’s long-standing members, will present digital images under the title ‘Serendib 2019’.

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.

THE Mountsorrel Heritage Group ‘s newly re-opened museum has seen a steady stream of visitors keen to learn more about the village green,its inhabitants, shops etc.

The exhibition on The Green features 20 display panels, the production of which has been made possible by a grant from the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society

Another first for the group has been their involvement with the “History Detectives” an after school club from Christ Church and St Peters Church of England Primary School, they have paid a visit to the main War Memorial on Castle Hill and then visited the museum to look at the military exhibits on show at the museum, a follow up visit is planned to look at the history of The Green.

The speaker at the October meeting was Pat Neal who gave a talk on “Pats Mountsorrel

Memories Revisited” where he reminisced of his life in the 40’s 50’s and 60’s .

He appealed to the audience for pictures of The Rock Cinema The Annual Fair on the Playing fields .

The November Meeting is “Place Names” by Dr Julie Attard to take place on Tuesday November 9 at Mountsorrel Memorial centre at 7.30pm, Members £3 non members £4.

PRESIDENT Sue Wainwright, welcomed everyone to the October meeting of the Thorpe Acre WI that was held at the Thorpe Acre Church Hall on Tuesday, October 12. She extended a warm welcome to Rachel, our third new member.

September’s home and away coffee mornings were held at Sue Y’s and at ‘ The Public’ café respectively. The home meetings are proving so popular that numbers will have to be limited, especially now that the weather is on the turn. On that note, Jean A. thanked Sue Y. for continuing to play host as this allowed those unable to travel into town a chance to meetup for a good old natter! At this meeting Sue’s and June’s handmade greetings cards were on sale in aid of MacMillan’s Nurses. The donations collected at Sue’s and at the ‘ The Public’ combined with those raised at September’s gathering of the Woolley Women will be forwarded to the MacMillan charity. The next meeting of the woolly women will be at the end of October as will be the next coffee morning. The away venue will be at an old favourite, T and C’s.

The tickets for the ghost walk were handed out and six intrepid ghost hunters will be wandering around Leicester looking for, and maybe hearing, things that go bump in the night. Well at least it’s not happening on Halloween or else they might not get home!

Now here’s something to really look forward to. Carole has booked our Christmas lunch at Longcliffe Golf Club. The menu hasn’t been finaliSed yet but we know, from past experience, that it will be yummy.

Notification of the darts competition has arrived. As we would like to hang on to the lovely Rose Bowl trophy that is adorning our top table, practice sessions will start at the beginning of the New Year. There’ll be three months to hone those hand/eye skills and, in the early days, work off that extra helping of Christmas Pud.

Thanks to Francesca, the Culture Club will resume in the New Year. Members were asked to let her know of any upcoming events.

Sue W. brought business to a close and went on to introduce Pamela Martin, a practitioner and instructor of Tai Chi. Firstly, she began with a brief history of how Tai Chi evolved from its martial arts roots into the reflective form it is today. There are many styles of Tai Chi and the one that she practices is the Yang style.

The second part of her talk involved a demonstration of part of a Tai Chi ‘form’ followed by the Qigong Shibashi, a series of slow movements that gently exercises all parts of the body. She invited members to stand and join her in the Shibashi. Those that wanted to remain seated could still participate by doing just the arm movements and breathing techniques. Many agreed that it was harder than it looked!

Little by little things are getting back to normal as we did have refreshments this week, orange squash and, more importantly, a biscuit. Not a cuppa but very welcome especially after all that exercise! Also there was a raffle and the lucky winner was Carol N-B. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 9, at 7.30pm in the Thorpe Acre Church Hall.

It will be our Annual Meeting and for the most part will be concerned with annual reports and the election of the Committee. Members will also be displaying examples of their lockdown craft items. If you would like to see how our WI functions and what a wealth of talent that lays within you’ll be very welcome if you drop in.

NOW the

have finished their 75 Anniversary Celebrations they are about to start their winter season of talks and activities at the Parish Rooms

The first talk will be “Pat’s Mountsorrel Memories Revisited “which takes place on November 5 at 2pm Their November meeting will be a Quiz night.

The guild is always looking for new members who will be warmly welcomed