Ian Stanyon, our 2019 Chair opened the meeting by welcoming Peter Williams, talking about the donation that we’d given to Valley Care, and then giving details of forthcoming events.
Peter Williams’ illustrated talk on his wildlife adventures We welcomed Peter Williams as our speaker for the evening giving his print presentation on his wildlife adventures locally and further afield. Peter is well known in Castleton and as many of our members will attest he makes some wonderful homemade fudge which he sells in his village shop opposite the Cheshire Cheese.
Peter clearly has a passion for wildlife starting at a very young age. He went on to rescue amphibians and has been a bird of prey handler in his time. Peter is fairly new to serious photography having played with his Dad’s Box Brownie in his formative years progressing to digital cameras as recently as 2006. Peter was very generous on the evening passing his camera gear and prints around the audience.
Peter talked enthusiastically and with a style of humour that visitors to his shop will know. He clearly enjoys looking at wildlife all over the United Kingdom and has spent hours perfecting his skill in taking photographs of his subjects. Peter organises his year around the different bird migrations or deer rutting time and makes sure that he is well placed in visiting these spectacles. Peter’s patience clearly shows in his photography which the members really enjoyed. Peter delivered his presentation as if he was talking to the individual; it was personal and not delivered to a script. I think that this worked really well and I am sure that he audience really enjoyed the evening as much as me. Peter was generous enough to let us know the location of several local bird spotting sites, but please be respectful both of the birds and avoid sharing these locations on social media
Peter declined to take a speaker’s fee for himself in his not unusual beneficial style but agreed that he would contribute a donation to his favourite charities Great Ormond Street and to Crones disease research.
Charity donation to Valley Care
Following our successful coffee morning hosted in Hope during August, Ray and Keith paid a visit to Valley Care in Bradwell to pass over a cheque for £70, part of the proceeds of the day. Both Ray and Keith spent time chatting with the staff to express their gratitude for the support that they have recently been given. We can hopefully make similar contributions to other charity organisations in the future if coffee mornings or other similar fund raising events are as successful as this year.
