Questers’ Visit to Southampton

Posted on 22/10/202108/03/2023 by Keith Saunders

Click/tap any picture to enlarge it

On 21st October, 14 Questers met on a bright late autumn day at the Tudor house in Southampton. Our guide, a knowledgeable historian, led us a fascinating 1.1/2 hour walk around the Old Town. Originating in Roman times and much expanded by the Normans, Southampton became an important gateway for commerce. Most of the produce in medieval England was the export of wool to the continent and its re-import as clothing and the import of wine.

We visited two of the existing wine vaults, one under a modern block of flats, our guide pointed out a small exit tunnel at the back of the vaults which was excavated during the 2nd world war as an escape when the vaults were used as air raid shelters.

The Old Town walls enclosed medieval Southampton and much of the land to the South including West Quay and the docks was reclaimed over the centuries. We learned the history of several more old buildings before ending with a walk around the Tudor house and the 800 year old garden.

AHA Group Visit: Behind the Scenes at Salisbury Museum

Posted on 22/10/202108/03/2023 by Keith Saunders

Eight members self-drove to Salisbury and met at the Museum café for coffee. We assembled in front of the museum for 11am when Roger our Guide joined us, and we commenced with the history of the building from the 13th century until its occupation by the museum in 1981.

Group with books

Group with guide

Victorian toy

Badges

We then moved on to explore the labyrinth of storerooms and corridors behind the exhibition areas. A vast array of items is kept as varied as a somewhat macabre Victorian toy to several thousand-year-old archaeological finds, which we were able to handle and view close-up. This provided us with an experience much more tactile and real than just seeing these items behind the glazed screens of the exhibition cabinets. It was quite bewildering learning of the volume of artifacts that the museum is holder of, not only in its rarity but the value relating to some of the raw material used in its creation.

The Group broke for lunch at the café, which was excellent and very good value.

Earlier our guide also discussed a lot about the history of Salisbury and why the Cathedral was moved from Old Sarum to establish Salisbury as we now know it. It is believed to be the first living space within the UK that created a drainage system (where to this day many items are still being discovered when repairs are in progress). The museum has created a new area dedicated to Salisbury History and some of us took advantage of this and found it most interesting. Over the years they have held various street parades exhibiting numerous things including the Giant Man, which represented the Taylors Guild as this played a big part in the local industry.

Salisbury man

Beaker C3000 BC

Scold’s bridle

Also, the museum was holding a temporary exhibition “Cutting It Fine” – which is The Art of the British Wood Engraver. This artwork is created by using tools traditionally made for metal engraving, resulting in unbelievable levels of precision and fine detail in the production of prints from wood engravings. This exhibition goes on until January and is well worth a visit. Unable to show an example of the final product as print is copyright.

We would like to extend our thanks and good wishes to Roger for a very informative and enthusiastic guide, which was much enjoyed by all.

Our visit ended around 4pm, with our heads buzzing with new knowledge.

Photography Group’s October Meeting

Posted on 16/10/202117/03/2023 by John Hawke

Best Picture – Pam Liberson’s “Memorial Bench”

The Group met at 10 a.m. on 11th October with the theme ‘Documentary’.
Rosemary Crumplin and John Clark had recently returned from a cruise of Coastal Spain to find that they had computer/printer problems – we viewed their portfolios (Hidden Andover/RAF Andover) in camera.
Of the two portfolios submitted, John Hawke was adjudged best set of four ‘Cooking Saltimbocca’ and Pam Liberson’s photograph of a WWII memorial bench was voted Beat Picture. (Click picture to zoom)

John Hawke led a discussion on Landscape Photography with an emphasis on composing the picture by analysing what was the focus of one’s attention that made one want to take a picture in the first place. He also pointed out that one had time to compose the shot and encouraged those present to take a minute to determine the focal point one wanted to highlight. He then suggested that, by moving around, (from side to side as well as forwards and backwards) capture the ‘best shot’ by including objects that led the eye to that focal point. During a lively discussion, various techniques were described including optimal aperture/speed settings, focus stacking and multiple exposure blending. (to ‘remove’ moving people from the scene)

Theme for next meeting is ‘Autumn’ – the above discussion is relevant for this topic! Future themes are on the Group’s web site.