STONE AND DISTRICT U3A
Stone and District U3A’ s Star Photographer
The leader of the Stone and District U3A Photography Group, Bruce Evans LRPS, worked in his younger days as photographer for a news agency in London‘ shooting’ stars such as Bob Dylan, Diana Dors and the Beatles on a daily basis.
As a founding member of the Stone and District U3A, over the years Bruce has built up the photography group into one of the most vibrant of the 50 plus activities on offer.
In recent times the group have been asked to take photographs of St Chad’ s Church in Stafford, the oldest building in the town in which the photographs now hang in pride of place inside.
On another occasion they were asked by the Assault Glider Trust, which preserves gliders used in the Second World War, to supply them with a number of photographs for use on their website.
The group’ s current project is to help The Barracks Trust, in Newcastle under Lyme, to create a set of pictures of their historic building. All the photographs will be archived by Newcastle-under- Lyme Museum to be viewed by future generations, having first been exhibited in Newcastle Library and in the Art Gallery.
Due to Bruce’ s inspired leadership, the group like to think‘ outside’ the box. Last year for example, a Scene of Crimes Police Officer visited the group and explained some of the difficulties
of taking photographs at a crime scene and their legal implications. This resulted in a visit earlier this year to the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue HQ to photograph a number of their training exercises. The Fire Service subsequently requested permission to use some of the resulting images for publicity and training purposes.
In the coming months many more interesting activities are planned, including in November, an afternoon’ s talk by Mike Maloney OBE, Britain’ s most decorated press photographer and formerly chief photographer for The Mirror Group and the Queen Mother’ s favourite photographer.
Just like Bruce Evans, Mike Maloney has been lucky enough to photograph many of the worlds most famous people, including Frank Sinatra and Mae West. With such a programme and such a leader, it should be no surprise that the Photography group is extremely popular. New Groups The portfolio of pursuits available has been extended by the formation of the Birdwatching group which had its inaugural outing in mid-June while the recently formed Patchwork and Quilting activity has been a real success so it is great news that a second group will be starting in September aimed at beginners up to intermediate level. More details can be obtained from Gwen Steele on Tel. 01782 372976 or email gwendolinesteele @ aol. com.
Another possibility in the offing is Golf. John Morris has managed to arrange a concessionary fee at Stone GC enabling experienced players who ideally have their own clubs to play 18 holes for just £ 10. This activity can only go forward if there is sufficient interest; please contact John for further information on Tel. 01785 812660 or email him at Johnandmuriel _ 7 @ hotmail. com Group Leaders New group leaders are always being sought. These individuals are crucial to the U3A concept as they willingly impart their knowledge and expertise while often being learners and participants in other groups. At present, the committee is seeking someone to take over the popular Exercise group which is currently out of action. If there is anyone out there willing and able to take up the reins and re-start this popular activity then please ring Vice- Chairman, Gwynyth Hart on Tel. 01782 633179.
The appeal of course is not just limited to Exercise. Anyone recently retired or semi-retired who can help to lead a group, focussing on a subject about which they are passionate, might want to get in touch with Chairman Gareth Jones on Tel. 01782 372349 or email gareth. jones90 @ btopenworld. co m. To see which activities are already on offer check out the website, at www. stoneu3a. btck. co. uk.
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