Looking for Something to do this Autumn
Bideford Organ Club - The Organ Club starts its new season of entertainment on 7th September with a club night when members and guests entertain on the club’s own Yamaha EL90 organ. The club holds its meetings at the Bideford Football Club Robin’s Nest regularly at 7.30pm on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday each month from September through to April.
For more information and a copy of our newsletter detailing all our events and activities contact myself Mike Avis on 01237 475914 or email mike@mcaquality.co.uk
Appledore Singers - Appledore Singers will start meeting again on September 6th and thereafter every Monday night at Appledore School at 7.30pm for the new season.
On Monday September 27th at Appledore School at 7.30 pm we will be holding an Open Evening – everyone is invited to come along and join with us at rehearsal – if you are thinking of joining a ladies’ choir but can’t yet take that final step then this is the time to come along and give us a try – it is a very relaxed evening and there will be refreshments to tempt you as well as good music! Do give our Director, Pam Beechey, a ring on 01237 427004/421536 if you would like further details.
Bideford & District Cacti & Pot Plant Club - The club restarts its meetings at 7.30pm on 14th September at the Robins Nest Club, Bideford Football Club in the Sports Ground with a talk on Devon Wildlife by Peter Rendall from Okehampton.
Meetings are at 7.30pm on the 2nd Tuesday of each month from September to December and from March to July. During the other months there is invariably some activity for members to take part in. For more information contact Mike Avis (Secretary) on 01237 475914
Confessions of an Evening Class Junky
This is that time of year when many of us scan the new ‘Adult and Community Learning’ (as it is now called) brochures to see if there is a subject, skill, craft or health thing that we fancy pursuing.
I look back and realise that I have attended classes from A to Z – Art to Zoology. In between were pottery, philosophy, stained glass and theology – to name just some. Evening classes have come on a long way since I started them (in the 1960s) and I hasten to add a disclaimer: what follows does not refer to the present excellent services in North Devon – or, if it was local, it was a long time ago!
My first class was a ‘life class’. It has always struck me as odd that, to artists, ‘life’ means a human body - often naked - while ‘still-life’ refers to inanimate objects, nothing more alive than fruit. This was in the early 1960s and the model was a woman, fully dressed in nurses’ uniform. I was only drawing, not painting; and I finished in less than an hour. The teacher told me that I had produced a diagram, as opposed to a drawing. When he saw me sharpening my pencil with an old scalpel he commented: “Ah, the tools of your trade.” I was a biology student at the time.
My theology class was a university ‘extra-mural’ class. Perhaps it relates to the nature of the subject, but it was delivered as a top speed lecture. We were not expected to ask questions until the end. On occasion, the lecturer would announce “I shall go at dictation speed.” And she would slow down for the students (some of whom had experienced her before and knew what to expect) to take down verbatim notes. In fairness, the discussion at the end was good and lively and the lecturer a very pleasant person.
In complete contrast were the craft classes. Some of these, but not all, were delivered according to what I term the TITS-GOWI method: ‘there is the stuff – get on with it.’ Some of these tutors seemed to believe that anything more that minimal instruction would stifle our creativity. Mind you, they weren’t the only ones: there is the case of the maths tutor who used to set examples to be worked while he nipped off to play badminton.
One thing that has changed is the matter of paying the course fee. Years ago, when everything was more relaxed than now, there was often an attitude of MANANA - next week will do - but, not any more. I don’t blame them for tightening up on this. There was always that large number of people who turned up at the first session not to be seen again. Evening classes are well known as places where singles can meet persons of the contra-categorical gender – so, the first session was used, maybe, to suss out the talent and then decide whether to continue.
Whatever my motives, I have begun to peruse the brochures in the hope of spotting a new subject - something that looks intriguing, exciting, challenging – even something that might be good for me. And I wonder if I’ll meet anybody interesting …. E.J.R