Our Word for the Month is ‘Afflated’. This comes from the now-obsolete verb afflate which means ‘to inspire’.
How apt this is as a description of the Fordingbridge Camera Club website at www.fordingbridgecameraclub.org.uk It has a range of wonderful photographs, all taken by your local friends and neighbours; they will inspire you to develop your own skills. It also includes our programme for the season. This is a mixture of talks by visiting top photographers, coupled with opportunities to show your work and have it commented on by experienced photographic judges.
We are a friendly group meeting at Avonway Community Centre at 7.30pm on alternate Wednesdays. In addition to our regular meetings, we are devoting many evenings to Practical Photography, a group to help members who are new-comers to photography. These sessions have proven to be very popular but are only open to club members.
If you decide to join after 1st February our subscriptions for this club year are halved. March used to be the beginning of our calendar year; we changed to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 since when the year began on 1st January. The Anglo-Saxons called March ‘Hlyd monath’ which means Stormy month. The blustery weather of March allows photographers, from a high viewpoint, to capture the cloud shadows casting a moving pattern of light and dark over the landscape. After the cold, dark days of February the one bright light on the horizon is that British Summer Time begins this month, 29 March.
Unfortunately this also brings us closer to a new tax year.
I believe we should all pay tax with a smile. I tried – but they wanted cash! Whilst we are talking about the meaning of words – does Flabbergasted (adj) mean being appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained?