Afternoon All

Wonderful weather, Butterflies emerging and rain on the way; thunder storms – images? And, Boris gone and Trump in trouble – who would want to be a politician?

Message from Stan

Stan says – “I would like to buy a Canon EF 100mm – 400mm f/4.5 – 5.6L IS USM Lens. Please ask our members if anyone has one they wish to sell.”

Stan’s contact details are:

Tel: 01772 864120

Email: stanley.pearson@talktalk.net

Message from Michael:

Exhibition

Please check out: Lancashire Photography Festival Exhibition in Preston from this June. The UK’s biggest outdoor photography festival launches in Preston this June displaying major projects from several internationally-acclaimed photographers.

All info on line – looks very good!

Wednesday 14^th June

Regrettably, I will have to scrub this coming Wednesdays’ meeting (14^th June), due to the Ainsdale Dunes trip being cancelled, for the reasons detailed below.

We were going to discuss this trip and show images, also I was going to put together some other items I have on my list, but fate has intervened! I have no internet connection; (I’m typing this at my son’s house); it’s a long story but the nub is we are waiting for a cherry picker to fix the wire from our house to across the road to the ‘connection-box’ and I have been told they will hope to do this by next Friday!

So, I haven’t been able to do research on the topics I was going to show! So, no preparation!

However, I’m sure we will be able to meet the following Wednesday 21^st June. Normal service will be resumed.

So, we have the 3^rd Events Cup destination (Gresgarth Gardens) and Lee Metcalf’s trip to Morecambe so if anyone would like to show any images, taken on these 2 outings, on the 21^st that would be great; either bring them in on a stick or send them to me but after next Friday, the 16^th June!

Unfortunately, the Ainsdale Dunes trip was cancelled due to very poor conditions; email below from Trevor explaining the reason why:

Hello Michael,

I trust you got my email earlier this week; as mentioned I expected the drought to be a problem but the following explains the situation I have found:

On Wednesday this week I did a full recce of the area to the north of the Ainsdale entrance to the beach. This is an area known as the “Green Beaches”. This area had several thousand Marsh Orchids last year and many bee orchids too. This year I found just a few stunted specimens. The area is also good for both Northern Dune Tiger Beetles and a number of rare plants and insects. Sadly, I found no NDTB and very little else. This morning I have spent hours in the dunes and slacks to the south of the beach entrance, and again the area is completely droughted. The dunes are usually good for a number of orchid species at this time but I found nothing.

I can usually find hundreds of bee orchids – sometimes thousands, and a lot of Southern Marsh and other orchids. They aren’t there at the moment. Even Dune specialists such as Hound’s Tongue are stunted.

We had just one day with recorded rain in May, and April was poor for rain here too. I can usually find any number of caterpillars and butterflies but both recce’s yielded almost nothing.

Under these circumstances I am going to recommend that your group should not travel; there is little of interest to photograph I’m afraid and I would hate for you to see this lovely area in this condition.

We have had a succession of spring droughts here in recent years. They are having a very serious effect on many of the wildlife species that live here. The Natterjacks Toads have failed as a breeding species for the past two to three years. Even the butterflies all seem small this year due to lack of food plant.

I am sorry to disappoint you since this has been looked forward to for a long time. I was scheduled to take my own Southport P.S. into the slacks on Monday and have had to cancel that for the above reasons.

Whilst holiday-makers and sun worshippers love these long dry periods, they really play havoc with wildlife, and I know our local farmers are almost desperate for rain.

Climate change, eh?

Up and coming programme of events:

• Sunday 11th June – Events Cup 3rd destination to Gresgarth Gardens. 11am – 5pm.
• Wednesday 14th June – No meeting
• Wednesday 21^st June – Various images perhaps from Gresgarth Gardens, Morecambe or other images taken by members during the last month. Please bring them in on a ‘stick’ or email them in – I’ll also bring my computer to use Lightroom/Photoshop.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Short and sweet today – grandchildren staying!

Events Cup

• Third Events destination
• Gresgarth Gardens
• Sunday 11^th June; Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm.
• Entrance: £12.00 pp

Address:

Gresgarth Hall, Caton, Lancaster, LA2 9NB

Directions:

Take the M6 to junction 34, then A683 to Caton (2 miles), turn right towards Quernmore, along the Quernmore Road and after half a mile you reach the entrance on your left on the sharp bend. There are, of course, other ways of getting there!

Telephone enquiries: 01524 771 838

Up and coming programme of events:

• Wednesday 7th June – trip to Ainsdale Dunes. So, no actual meeting in the Arts Centre – the ‘trip’ is the meeting. There are still places available if you want to come along – please email in now if you are interested.
• Sunday 11th June – Events Cup 3rd destination to Gresgarth Gardens. See above.
• Wednesday 14th June – review of trip to Ainsdale Dunes and review/presentation of images; use of Lightroom and/or Photoshop on the images.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Well, 2 phrases that don’t normally go together; Bank Holiday Monday and warm and sunny! Wow, warm and sunny weather at last!

Many thanks to all members who managed to attend last Wednesday’s meeting and to meet some of the members from Morecambe Camera Club.

It was judged an excellent evening and a good chance to mingle and chat to members from another club. Don’t forget we will be going on a reciprocal trip to Heysham in late August – details will follow in the fullness of time.

Also, HUGE thanks to Ian for, I hope, solving the sound system – proof of the pudding at the next meeting!

The zoom event was actually recorded. To watch please follow the instructions below – the volume is low, but hey, it’s our first go, so cut us a little slack please!

Recording link

The sound volume is quite low – but the pictures are the important thing 🙂

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/mtGY1dDODzXNsgGg9EuIB8bOteLAkHSKgB6WINoKD_L7itqfjk0ZQ0BDykkpPlsZ.__Qzqqmoq3MCzgX7

Passcode: jxPgv5p%

The recording will be available for a week – so finishes Tuesday 30^th May.

Events Cup

Gresgarth Gardens

• Third Events destination
• Sunday 11^th June; Garden open to the general public, 11-5pm.
• Entrance: £12.00 pp

Website says:

Visitors are very welcome to visit Arabella Lennox-Boyd’s own garden.

These stunning gardens will be open to the public the second Sunday of the month, between February and November.

The Garden, so our ‘boundary’: includes terraces, lakes, a small bog garden, a wild garden, an extensive kitchen garden, a bluebell wood, the Millennium Wood, the Rhododendron Hills, the herbaceous borders and a serpentine walk.

Guide dogs only: Most of the garden can be reached by wheelchair.

Refreshments: Are available to purchase from the wonderful Coffee Bug, which offers a great selection of cakes, savouries and refreshments.

Address:

Gresgarth Hall, Caton, Lancaster, LA2 9NB

Directions:

Take the M6 to junction 34, then A683 to Caton (2 miles), turn right towards Quernmore, along the Quernmore Road and after half a mile you reach the entrance on your left on the sharp bend. There are, of course, other ways of getting there!

Telephone enquiries: 01524 771 838

It will be busy! Lots of wildlife around and it is a huge and beautiful garden to visit.

Ainsdale Dunes – Wednesday 7^th June

Please don’t forget, if you want to come on the trip and you haven’t emailed in, please do so.

We now have 10 members booked on, still room for some more!

Members who have put their names down: Mike J, Freda, Robin, Michael, Adrian, Sue, David C, Claire, Rhona and Shelly.

If you have emailed in for this trip and your name isn’t on the above list contact us, please ASAP.

Actual details for the trip to follow very shortly.

Lee Metcalf – Monday 12th June – An ‘Evening Walk around Morecambe and sands.’

We will start at 6.30pm and finish after sunset (sunset at 21.44)

Essential gear: Camera etc and Wellies!

Cost – £10 per member

Members who have put their names down: Mike J, Freda, Robin, Mike F, John, Shelly, Paul, Terry and Brenda – this trip is now full. We have a reserve list so if you want to go, I can put your name on it.

Details for the trip to follow shortly.

Up and coming programme of events:

• Wednesday 31st May – no meeting.
• Wednesday 7th June – trip to Ainsdale Dunes. So, no actual meeting in the Arts Centre – the ‘trip’ is the meeting.
• Sunday 11th June – Events Cup 3rd destination to Gresgarth Gardens. See above.
• Wednesday 14th June – review of trip to Ainsdale Dunes and review/presentation of images; use of Lightroom and/or Photoshop on the images.

If any member has any thoughts/suggests/ideas what they would like to see during the summer months please get in touch and we will do our best to arrange.

That’s all folks Mike and Lewis

No Eurovision this week – I’m gutted! Still, Phil’s gone and Man City win third successive Premier League Title – Zzzzzz

Presentation Evening

Consensus of opinion suggests it was an enjoyable evening! Many thanks to all those who managed to spare the time to attend and HUGE thanks goes to Lewis for coordinating it all; from polished trophies to certificates in their right order for me to read to organising David and the showing of the winning images (photographs? – thanks David!), again in the right order! Thanks Lewis.

AND, of course, congratulations to all ‘winners’ and especially to John for being named ‘Photographer of the year.’ Well done, John.

Also…..

Calendar photographs

Many thanks to all members who managed to submit images and congratulations to those whom got an image(s) chosen. I hope you all realise that a purchase is now compulsory!  

Message from Jayne Balderstone

Message:

Hi

Garstang medical practice / pharmacy are having a summer Ball/Party on the 15th July at Wyrebank in Garstang I’m looking for someone that could come and take pictures of staff arriving on the red carpet, arrival time is from 6pm. Might there be someone in your camera club that may be able to help us out with this?

If you are interested in this please contact Jayne directly on: j.balderstone@nhs.net cheers.

Message from Terry

I thought this might be of interest… ‘I’ve never taken pictures with a phone’ – how to photograph strangers without getting punched and other lessons……

http://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/1339/reader/reader.html?social#!preferred/0/package/1339/pub/1339/page/162/article/NaN

Message (not photographic – no problem!)

Garstang Lionesses Walking Football

Location: Garstang Community Academy (outdoor pitches)

Time: Saturday’s 10 – 11am and Monday’s 8 – 9pm

Contact: Ian – 07914 044077

Email: GWWF@btinternet.com

Repetition:

Lee Metcalf

Following on from the very successful ‘Night Walk in Lancaster’ we are organising a similar event:

Monday 12th June – An ‘Evening Walk around Morecambe and sands.’

Will start at 6.30pm and finish after sunset (sunset at 21.45)

Essential gear: Camera etc and Wellies!

Cost – £10 per member

This trip is on a first come basis ‘cos numbers will be limited to about 6/8 members.

6 members now booked on – can take 2 more

Interested? Email to info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk

If there are many replies we could open another date.

Ainsdale Dunes

Please don’t forget, if you want to come on the trip and you haven’t emailed in, please do so.

We now have 10 members booked on, still room for some more!

Up and coming programme of events:

• Wednesday May 24th – Review of images from May 11th at the Arts Centre.
• Wednesday 31st May – no meeting.
• Wednesday 7th June – trip to Ainsdale Dunes.
• Sunday 11th June – Events Cup 3rd destination to Gresgarth Gardens. Details to follow soon.
• Wednesday 14th June – review of trip to Ainsdale Dunes and review/presentation of images; use of Lightroom and/or Photoshop on the images.

If any member has any thoughts/suggests/ideas what they would like to see during the summer months please get in touch and we will do our best to arranged.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

I’m glad I didn’t stay up to hear the votes for the Eurovision as we re-gained our normal position; still, it was an excellent show from Liverpool, full of eccentric and idiosyncratic performers and it’s off to Sweden next year, perhaps we will do better there; who knows; who cares! Hey ho!

Events Cup.

Events Cup, 2^nd destination, proved to be an overcast start but conditions did brighten up in the afternoon; we hope all those who managed to get out took some (perhaps) winners!

AGM

Many thanks to all those members who managed to attend the AGM last Wednesday at the Arts Centre and we are very appreciative of all the comments/suggestions made by members.

The committee were re-elected as follows:

Joint chairmen – Mike and Lewis

Competition Secretary – Lewis

Treasurer – Robin

Secretary – Freda

Programme Secretary – Michael

Publicity – Maurice

Facebook – Rhona

Committee members – Sue and Sarah

Also, thanks Robin for your great talk on Northern Ireland that rounded off the AGM nicely.

Combined photo walk.

Again, many thanks to all who managed the Thursday evening combined walk. There were 17 there in all, 9 from Garstang and 8 from Morecambe. We split into small groups and ‘explored’ Garstang with cameras. Review of images on Wednesday 24^th May.

Notices

• From Maurice – Maurice suggests it’s terrific fun to attend the PRESTON CARIBBEAN CARNIVAL on Saturday and/or Sunday the 27th & 28th MAY 2023; it’s huge fun and absolutely full of colour and Dancing to the Rhythms! Just make sure you take that camera!

       For full details – just type Preston Caribbean Carnival into a search engine.

• Do you remember? Big thanks here to Michael:

Michael said – “I have been in touch with Trevor Devanport, experienced photographer from Southport Club. He has years of experience of capturing insects, flowers and fauna.

He would be available to take out an ‘un-official’ small group onto Ainsdale Dunes. It’s about an hour in the car.

It’s one of the largest sand-dune complex in England covering an area of approximately 2100 ha; that’s around 5,200 acres.

It is a fascinating and ever-changing habitat with many photographic opportunities throughout the seasons. Spring / summer is usually when the dunes are richly rewarding for both botanic and entomological subjects.

• Well, Michael has emailed Trevor and we are on for Wednesday June 7^th. Trevor says “the rainfall has been good, so I’m positive about what we may possibly find.”

In an email back in mid-February were the following details:

There are a couple of options for meeting but I suggest we do so about 10:30 or even earlier if you wish. Parking is on the beach and costs £10:00 per car. Alternatively, you can park on the nearby Sands Lake Pub for coin operated meter at about £4:00 per day.

Meeting on the beach we can go into the dunes and look for images: Orchids, Dune Pansy, Hounds Tongue etc plus insects and caterpillars and anything worth a picture. Gear should be a familiar camera with a macro or close-focusing lens plus a lens for landscape work if conditions are right. A telephoto for dragonflies/butterflies is also useful.  Bring a packed lunch. If conditions are right, it’s worth staying a few hours.

Numbers are not a problem if you park on the beach. We can go into the dunes but it will be “unofficial” so not covered by any insurance nor by Green Sefton. The dunes are open to the public so it’s not a problem. I will brief the group concerning any potential health concerns but it is quite a safe area. I don’t charge for my time but a small donation to Butterfly Conservation is always welcome though not compulsory.

So, if you are interested, PLEASE get in touch on the usual email so we can start to organise the trip.

Up and coming programme of events:

• Wednesday 17th – Presentation of Certificates and trophies. Our guest, to present the awards, is David Pearson accompanied by his wife Pamela. PLEASE don’t forget, we would like some raffle prizes!

      Proceedings will start at 7.30 with the meal so please, if possible, meet at 7.15 – cheers.

• Wednesday May 24th – Review of images from May 11th at the Arts Centre.
• Wednesday 31^st May – no meeting.
• Wednesday 7^th June – trip to Ainsdale Dunes.
• Sunday 11^th June – Events Cup 3^rd destination to Gresgarth Gardens.
• Wednesday 14^th June – review of trip to Ainsdale Dunes and review/presentation of images; use of Lightroom and/or Photoshop on the images.

Details of meetings throughout the ‘closed’ season (June, July and August) will be sent out soon.

If any member has any thoughts/suggests/ideas what they would like to see during the summer months please get in touch and we will do our best to arranged.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Not a sentence you often write; Hope you all enjoyed the pageantry, pomp, splendour and history of the Coronation! If you didn’t, don’t worry, probably won’t happen again for quite a few years!

Many thanks to Stan for last Wednesday’s presentation on ‘Local Sports;’ thanks Stan for your time, effort and trouble putting it together – full of information, humour and you kept us well entertained!

Notices

From Michael:

It’s getting towards the deadline, but I only became aware of it a few days back.

It’s a photo competition with some nice touches, great prizes.

Members can upload up to 100 images, I think.

You have to register etc… but that is the only thing.  

Contact: https://contest.cewe.co.uk/cewephotoaward-2023/en_gb/

We have had a look and, as Michael says, great prizes!

From Barry:

A friend has sent me the following and I wondered if you could send it to Camera Club members to see if anyone could help.

“I have 4 small old black and white (2.5″ x 3.5″) photos from around 1949 – 1953 and they are particularly grubby.

Is there any gentle way of taking off 70 years of grime before scanning to digital”.

If you have any thoughts/suggestions please contact Barry on:  w.barry.till@btinternet.com

Combined Photo walk with Morecambe Camera Club

This is taking place on Thursday 11^th May.                       

We thought to meet up in Booth’s car park at 7.15/30, then split into small ‘combined’ groups and set off around Garstang until roughly 9pm. We would then review the images taken on May 24^th in the Arts Centre.

If you haven’t already spoken to Mike or Lewis, please get in touch via the email address ‘cos we need to know a rough number of members willing to take part – cheers.

Events Cup – 2^nd destination

The next Events Cup destination is on Tuesday May 9th – Cleveleys seafront, Cleveleys town centre and the Fleetwood Shipwrecks area, including The Fleetwood Marsh Nature Reserve.

High tide (as measured at Fleetwood) is at 2.34pm (8.61m); Sun rise at 5.20am and sunset at 9.10pm.

For The Fleetwood Marsh Nature Reserve and ship wrecks the post code is: FY7 8TW – about 30 mins form Garstang. We suggest you may want to take your wellies! Plenty of car parking available; we think it is free – Map attached.

For Marys Shell (FY5 1DW) and Cleveleys; parking next to Marys Shell – but fairly limited spaces (19) costs – Up to 1 hour – £1.00 and up to 2 hours – £2.00 – map attached.

Car sharing or want a lift?

Need a lift: PLEASE email in to Mike or Lewis (info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk) and we will do our best to sort out any transport.

Car share: Members can meet up at Kirkland and Catterall Memorial Hall (PR3 0HS) at 10.45am and car share from there. We will leave at 11am.

Weather – BBC ‘says’ – ‘Sunny intervals and a moderate breeze’ – could, of course, change though!

AGM

Just to remind you; this gives you, the members, an opportunity to put forward any ideas or thoughts you may have with regard to the running of your club. If you have any suggestions please email in and we can put it on the agenda.

Attached is the agenda, (still ‘open’), and the minutes of the last AGM, Wednesday 11th May 2022, for you to read.

Up and coming programme of events:

• Tuesday May 9th – Events Cup, 2nd destination; see above.
• Wednesday 10th – AGM – see above; PLUS – Robin has offered to give a talk, on Northern Ireland, for about 35 minutes after the formalities; so more of an incentive to attend!
• Thursday May 11th – Combined photo walks with Morecambe Camera Club here in Garstang. See above.
• Wednesday 17th – Presentation of Certificates and trophies. Our guest, to present the awards, is David Pearson accompanied by his wife Pamela; David’s competition number is 001 so you will realise how long he has been a member of the club! PLEASE don’t forget, we would like some raffle prizes!
• Wednesday May 24th – Review of images from May 11th at the Arts Centre.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Events Cup

Well done to those who made it to Kendal yesterday; the weather held-up and some interesting images taken – though, not necessarily winners!

Quiz

As I’m sure you all remember (!) we entered 2 teams, (both called imaginatively – camera club 1 and camera club 2) into last night’s quiz at the Arts Centre. Guess what – no, we didn’t lose! Camera club 2 (team comprising of Lewis, Lewis’s wife Anne, Robin and Freda) won and were presented with a cup – well done! The slightly downside is that we will be running it next year! But, hey-ho, I’m sure we will rise to the occasion!

Notices

New Bowgreave Residential Home.

Those of you who were present on last Wednesday will already know that the club has been approached by a representative, Sheron Hall, of Lancashire County Council to ask if we would be interested in providing photographs for display in the home, which is nearing completion. There was a good level of enthusiasm for the project from members on Wednesday.

The general idea at the moment is for us to supply prints, mounted or unmounted, which they will frame for display. They appear to have quite large areas of wall available. Some of the residents may have dementia and the idea is to make the home welcoming for residents and visitors. Suggested topics are landscapes, sunsets, old and new Garstang, plants, wildlife etc. The only stipulation is they must be reasonably local, no exotic holiday snaps.

We are waiting for more detail about how many, what sizes, how local is local and what the timescale is.

It would be great if we could help the wider community in this way and produce a really good selection for them to use as they wish. So, please can you be thinking about suitable shots in your collections of photos which may be suitable for printing, or mounted prints gathering dust that you would be willing to donate.

We will update you when we have more details from Sheron.

Calendar images

Following on from last Wednesday’s judging and vote, the top 37 images were selected and have been forwarded to the Arts Centre’s committee where we await their decision on the final 12 picked for each month of 2024. We will show these top 37 on Wednesday evening, after Stan’s talk. Everyone who submitted images got at least 1 image chosen; several members had quite a few chosen.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who took part and entered into this project and hopefully this will promote the club in the Garstang and District area and may encourage new members – we shall see.

AGM

Just to remind you; this gives you, the members, an opportunity to put forward any ideas or thoughts you may have with regard to the running of your club. If you have any suggestions please email in and we can put it on the agenda.

Robin has offered to give a talk for about 40 minutes after the formalities; so more of an incentive to attend!

2023 – 2024 programme

Attached is the final programme for you all, with all the up-dates and is now on the website.

Presentation evening

Many thanks to all who are able to attend the Presentation of Certificates and trophies on Wednesday 17^th May. We will, of course, be running a raffle that evening; so…… we are asking for raffle prises PLEASE! Thanks.

Combined photo walks with Morecambe Camera Club

Just to remind everyone: Combined photo trips. In essence this means that Morecambe members come to Garstang on Thursday May 11th 2023 and, with us, photograph Garstang and the immediate area.

Images are then submitted and a review of said images will be shown on Wednesday May 24th at 7.30 in the Arts Centre. The whole purpose of this is to mix with other members of Morecambe, help, if necessary, with location and technical ‘stuff’ and to socialise. It is not a competition!

Any member willing to support this new idea to make it a success PLEASE contact us in the usual way – if we don’t hear from anyone, we will have to cancel this venture.

Up and coming programme of events:

• Wednesday May 3rd – Presentation by Stan titled “Local Sports”. Calendar submission results; the 37 chosen.
• Tuesday May 9th – Events Cup, 2nd destination – Cleveleys seafront, Cleveleys town centre and the Fleetwood Shipwrecks. Details to follow shortly.
• Wednesday 10th – AGM plus presentation by Robin.
• Thursday May 11th – Combined photo walks with Morecambe Camera Club here in Garstang.
• Wednesday 17th – Presentation of Certificates and trophies.
• Wednesday May 24th – Review of images from May 11th at the Arts Centre.

On coffee/tea duty this coming Wednesday is Maurice + one!  – many thanks

That’s all folks Mike and Lewis