Christmas is coming and soon Fordingbridge will be alive with colourful lights and the bustle of last minute shopping. On Saturday November 30th Fordingbridge will be switching on the Christmas Lights for Late Night Shopping from 4–8pm and jolly Santa Clause will be arriving for Late Night Shopping.

At the Fordingbridge Camera Club all will be happy and jolly also. All the old corny jokes will be swapped again. What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney? Claustrophorbia! Who hides in a bakery at Christmas? A mince spy! What do you call Santa when he stops moving? Santa Pause!

Our website, www.fordingbridgecameraclub.org.uk lists our programme for the year. 29th of January features “Perfect Exposures Landscape” by Slawek Stazscuk. We meet at Avonway Community Centre at 7.30pm most Wednesdays of the season for a mixture of talks by visiting top photographers coupled with opportunities to show your work and have it commented on by experienced photographic judges. Visitors are always welcome for a small fee (£5). In addition to our regular meetings we are devoting many evenings for those who want, as a group, to set themselves new challenges and then to review the results collectively. Experienced member of the club also give their personal advice on aspects of photography. On 8th January we will benefit from their experience of “Photo-editing Hints and Tips”.

I don’t think I have quite got the Christmas Spirit yet – I am doing my bit to help the homeless this Christmas; I’ve got stacks of cardboard boxes to give away. A little saving tip – If you work from home, you can save a fortune on Christmas presents. Just wait for the postman to deliver your neighbours’ parcels to you when they are out. And a final internet twist to a popular Christmas song - ‘He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good... Because you share too much on line.’

Merry Christmas to all our readers!