Morning All
 
We had quite a busy (and warm!) coffee morning yesterday and raised £106 plus £20 in donations; all contributing to the coffers! 
Many thanks to all that donated edible cakes, and they were, and gave up their Saturday morning to help, it really is appreciated. 
Did anyone capture a photograph of the Northern Lights? Expectations were high, so I waited until 12.30 Saturday evening/Sunday morning but to no avail! As I was retiring to bed the internet told me that ‘just as darkness fell, geomagnetic levels fell below the threshold’ which left me rather disappointed, to say the least! Actually, the clue could have been that I couldn’t see the moon! But, heyho – tonight? 
As for the Eurovision contest – don’t get me started; on reflection, I must be approaching old age!
 
Notices
 
AGM: Below is the committee as proposed and voted on for the 2024/25 season:
 
Chairperson – Mike
 
Vice chairperson – Freda
 
Competition Secretary – Lewis
 
Treasurer – Robin
 
Secretary – Freda
 
Programme Secretary – vacant
 
Publicity – Maurice
 
Facebook – Rhona
 
Committee members – Sue, Claire and Elaine
 
Also, thanks went to Tim for his excellent work looking after our website – thanks Tim. 
We would like to thanks everyone who has contributed their time over the last year to help with the smooth running of our camera club – no committee = no club! 
Big thanks go to Stan for his continued support and for his frequent emails with his thoughts and suggestions – keeping typing, Stan! 
At this point I would like to say a huge thanks to Lewis for all the time and trouble he has put into the club over these last 4 years. We have met up on numerous occasions to discuss various aspects and thoughts about the club as well as the challenges, especially during covid! As Lewis said, he has been on the committee for over 40 years and now is the time to step back a little. Lewis is still Competitions Secretary, so we haven’t seen the last of him! 
Also, I know he is going away for at least 2 long holidays so I can feel some presentations coming on! 
So, thanks again Lewis for all your hard work, it really is valued.
 
John’s proposal: I would like to propose that our members review the scoring system for club competitions. 
This proposal was carried so from now on we will not be judging images on a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, HC and C scoring system basis. We will be adopting a Points out of Twenty system. So, each image, when judged, will be given a score of, probably, anywhere between 20 points to 12 points. 
The nitty-gritty details/changes will be discussed between John, Lewis and myself in the coming weeks and will be posted on our website and detailed in a newsletter.
 
Proposal from Mike and Lewis: We would like to propose that the maximum number of images submitted by each member for the 5 internal competitions is reduced from 9 to 7. This proposal was also carried. Again, further details will follow soon.
 
You will also have noticed that the position of Programme Secretary is still vacant; so, if anyone is interested, PLEASE email in – training will be given!
 
Back to Basics – Getting off Auto. These are sessions, presented by Stan, to help members with the fundamental aspects of how a camera works and how to use ‘aperture,’ ‘shutter speed’ and ‘ISO.’ To produce that ‘perfect’ exposure! 
You will need to bring a camera, so that, following Stan’s talk you can practice in the Arts Centre and then, weather permitting, we will go outside, to the river and playing fields. The following week, Stan will invite feedback on the session and will ask everyone to ‘show and tell.’ their photographs and how they got on. 
These talks will be advertised on the local Facebook pages and via posters around Garstang to hopefully encourage non-members to attend and maybe join the club. 
If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions or ideas PLEASE email in and get involved! 
The Three dates are – 12th June, 17th July and 7th August.
 
WhatsApp – as recently discussed, the other day, we have a WhatsApp group for what we would call ‘outings.’ 
This group is open to all members and to join please contact Adrian on adrianwhitaker@btinternet.com or phone on: 0771 331 0555. 
Please, everyone, this group is only for informing members that you are going out and about with your camera and does anyone else like to join you. It’s not for general chit-chat!

 
The 52 calendar images were shown on Wednesday and voted on by the members who were present. The final 36, to be sent to the Arts Centre committee for consideration for the 2025 calendar, will be shown next Wednesday just before the presentations.
 
Up and coming programme of events:
 
May 15th – Member’s Presentation Evening with the Presentation of Certificates and trophies. Usual start time of 7.30pm.
 
May 22nd – a general get-together meeting to set the plan for the summer months until September.
 
That’s all folks and please if you have suggestions/thoughts just email in!
 
Cheers
 
Mike and Lewis
 
PS Just looked on Facebook and people have posted Northern Lights images from 2.30am onwards!