My old mum used to say, “Never eat pork when there is no letter R in the month”. I have just discovered an even more profound rule, “Months with an A or E or U in them are good for eating chocolate; avoid months lacking any of these letters”.

September is obviously a good month for chocolate – and also for photographers. The new season for the Fordingbridge Camera Club starts on 14th September. We meet at Avonway Community Centre at 7.30pm most Wednesdays. Our website, www.fordingbridgecameraclub.org.uk contains some details of our new programme. It is a mixture of talks by visiting top photographers coupled with opportunities to show your work on top quality equipment and have it commented on by experienced photographic judges. Visitors are always welcome for a small fee.

In addition to our regular meetings, we devote many evenings to those who want, as a group, to set themselves new challenges and then to review the results collectively. These additional sessions have proven to be very popular but are only open to club members. Some subjects they plan to cover this season include: Composition/Basic Camera Functions/Workflow, the use of Flash and Light Sources and also Photography with a Model.

As I said, September is a good time for photographers. Autumn leaves ablaze with colour against a brilliant blue sky can produce an impressive picture or sunlight filtering down to the forest floor can throw brilliant highlights on low, leafy branches. These warm, autumn days are an invitation to get out and enjoy our wonderful countryside.

On another optimistic note - getting old is so much easier now that I can’t actually remember how old I am.

I’ve just read a list of a 100 things to do before you die. I’m surprised that “Yell for help” wasn’t one of them!