Clacton Arts & Literary Society

Archive for February, 2010

The Arts and Literary Society spent a very interesting evening with Chris Packham, the photographer, traveller and wildlife expert.  His aim was to show us 100 photographs and explain things about them.  This he did brilliantly.   We saw the most wonderful pictures of leopards, lions, cheetahs and elephants.  Lots and lots of elephants in all sorts of places, gorgeous baby ones as well as other members of the herd.   We were fascinated and amused at the antics Chris had to perform to get these incredible shots, although he told us that in every picture there was something not quite right.   Chris Packman is a perfectionist and that condition is hard to obtain.   We saw marvellous pictures of foxes, wolves, otters and many other species.   We learned of the hours he spent lying in mud or water just waiting for the right moment to press the shutter and get the picture.   There were the most impressive shots of birds in flight – albatross, penguins and others from the southern Atlantic around South Georgia together with icebergs.   We also learned some of the tricks used to present the perfect picture with imposed backgrounds.

It was one of the most interesting and exciting evenings and very much appreciated by the members and the sponsors Mark Mobility Centre of Holland on Sea.
                                                            Audrey Owens

                                                                Press Officer

Anything presented by `Clacton Arts and Lits` is fine by me-I know well,beforehand, that the high standard achieved in all areas will be preserved ,but, occasionally, there is something truly special,and that was just one of those times when Tim Kliphuis and his talented, ellow musicians came to town. “I’m from Holland”-he cheerily quipped -well ,so am I (just a minute difference of location!) so we immediately had something in common!  To see/hear musicians of this quality on a cold winter Monday evening in Clacton is absolutely extraordinary! We were treated to a concert, the likes of which you could not better anywhere in the world (and I say that with a certain amount of knowledge,`cos this girl is much travelled!) I have seen Len Skeate with other `outfits`, and he proved yet again,why he is amongst the handful of top bass players. Dave Newton-this fella is amazing-he `eats and breathes music`,and his interpretations are always thrilling. The guitarist I had not seen before, but his dexterity was breathtaking-and Tim is a worthy successor to the great Stefan Grapelli-he certainly could make that fiddle `talk.`(and his English spoken word wasn`t that bad,either!) His beautiful arrangements of music of all genres painted lovely images and when he confessed it was all improvised,it made it all the more remarkable. Another wonderful evening, thank you to Lesley Barlow for sponsoring it and the `team` for yet again astounding us for another evening of pure magic.

 Jennifer Kersey.