News from Newark & District Photographic Society
Peter Yeo FRPS,DPAGB,APAGB
Greetings from Newark once more. A variable summer is now with us, not as warm as one might hope, but not as wet and windy as some turn out to be.
As the normal programme has ended we are into “summer break” mode and having a trip out once a month. We have visited a “stately home” in Nottingham, attended Wickenby “Wings and Wheels” weekend aircraft and flying show east of Lincoln. On Monday 18th July we are to meet at a Japanese garden and meditation centre for a relaxing evening as a group. The Nature Photography Group meets regularly to show and discuss their pictures, and has trips to places where it is known good nature pictures can be taken, if you have the skill and patience. I am beginning to realize that I am not one of the worlds natural “nature photographers” and will have to get my satisfaction from other areas of the hobby we share.
I was delighted to get an invitation from the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) a few weeks ago to attend two days of training with a view to becoming a member of a Panel of Assessors for the award of the RPS Licentiateship. The Licentiateship is the first step on the ladder of Distinctions leading via Associateship (ARPS) to Fellow (FRPS). I spent two days, 6th and 7th July, at the RPS HQ, in Bath, sitting-in as an “observer” whilst 50 print applications and 10 DPI applications were assessed by one of the existing Panels over the two days. The demands on applicants are stringent, as they must be for the worlds oldest and most highly-respected photographic body, and I was pleased to see that so many submissions were recommended for the Licentiate Distinction. The quality of work displayed was generally excellent, and many successful applicants clearly have potential to progress to higher levels of Distinction. As for me, I have to attend further Assessment Days as an observer, and will be asked to “observe” Advisory Days where potential applicants can have their work looked at by experienced Panel members before deciding whether to proceed with an application for Licentiateship.
It shows that we continue to have opportunities and challenges placed in our paths, and this is one I intend to work very hard at.
Clark Springman has been keeping me informed about activities at LCC, and I am pleased to learn that Bob Hilsabeck has recovered well from his medical problem of last year ……. Frances and I visited him in hospital when we were over there, much to his surprise I think.
The pictures were taken at Wickenby “Wings and Wheels Airshow” recently. Wickenby is an old WWII bomber base and was the home of Wellington twin-engined bombers. Nowadays it is simply a small airfield for light aircraft, the “Thruster” micro-light aircraft are manufactured there, and you can learn to fly them too, and there is a company rebuilding vintage aircraft with a view to them flying again.
The “JUNGMAN” is a pre-war German trainer aircraft, and this particular one is adorned with the Olympic “rings” showing that it actually took part in celebrations for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
The bright yellow aircraft is a de Havilland “Tiger Moth“, one of the many hundreds used for training RAF, Commonwealth and other air force pilots. Itr is a contemporary of the Jungman.
The Airco Be2 was a WWII fighter aircraft, and this replica celebrates the memory of the pilot, Major Hawker VC, who won the first Victoria Cross ever awarded “For Valour” in air-combat.
The yellow helicopter is the air-ambulance of the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Service. The aircraft in the foreground is a high performance aerobatic aircraft and has the wing and tailplane shape of the famous WWII “Spitfire” fighter.
