Please take a photograph of your group "in action." Don't forget to ask for permission from everyone for the photo to be published on the web. Then email it to the address below and we will upload it to the gallery.
Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
U3A Photography Group One July 2015
by Tim Wright - 21:55 on 01 July 2015
Eight intrepid souls went down to the woods today looking for a big surprise but only found mud, mud, glorious mud, no teddy bears or hippopotamii ! The sun shone. It was warm and the green, dappled shade made interesting shapes on the burn. We found a few fungi and a blooming of Monkshood to add colour and after one and a half hours went to Judy O'Connor's for tea and cake. We sat in her conservatory with all the windows open because of the heat but within minutes, the wind went up and the rain came down. That, of course, is a first for this month but not for the summer as a whole !
We viewed the photos from our day trip to Sanday. A lovely profusion of summer shots with blue skies, white sands and seas of aquamarine. There were lots of photos of buildings from Stove, to Scar, to Start point and to the croft at Ayre's Rock. A few good photos of Sanderling as well as an interesting shot of round electric stove elements, arranged along a fence presumably to try and rectify our poor summer. They were turned off the day we were there.
"Flowers" was a popular subject with a mix of indoor and outdoor subjects. The Community Garden in Finstown seemed to have been much visited with a very impressive display. There were lots of excellent closeups of plants and flowers. A Dounby garden with an old fashioned road sign amongst blue Lupins was the pick of the bunch. Well Done to all who contributed to a great selection. Over tea, there was discussion over indoor techniques for photographing flowers to give max depth of field using AV setting at f 29 on a tripod, using delayed shutter release using the inbuilt camera timer.
The next meeting is at the Ness of Brodgar Dig, aiming to be there at 10.45 to hear the 11 am tour on Wednesday 5th August. Thence, to a suitable hostelry for lunch which will be decided nearer the day and the weather forecast. The project for the month is (No, not Rain) "Circle /Round "
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Keep Clicking ,
Tim
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