Chairman's Chat January 2012

Now Christmas is over we have the New Year to look forward to. What a difference to last December when we had all that snow and ice, much milder this December but perhaps we will pay for it in the early part of this year. I hope you all had a good Christmas and enjoyed yourselves. We had a bit of a quiet Christmas due to my wife Barbara going down with a particulary nasty cough and chest infection so our plans to go to our son in Wimborne were scuppered.


A bit of Christmas Eve turkey hunting saw us with a bite for Christmas Day (and Boxing Day and the next day and ..... - just how many ways can you do cold turkey leftovers!!!).

My daughter and her husband had a very hectic  Christmas Day with her four children (ages almost 5 to 17). The eldest got a provisional driving licence for his birthday early December and some driving lessons for Christmas. On one of her children's  Christmas wish lists (have you noticed how long they are nowadays and how many really expensive things appear like a Blackberry?) there was a zachzoomer  - eventually determined to be a satsuma so not everything was expensive! However this was later substituted for by a Terry's Chocolate Orange - must have inherited his granddad's love of chocolate, talking of which we caught a bit of one of Jamie Olivers Christmas treats programmes - Epic Hot Chocolate drink seemed like a really good idea. It is made with grated organic dark chocolate, Horlicks, icing sugar and cocoa and cinnamon. Tasted really good and it is a thick consistency so you could dip in to it. Recipe here - Jamies Epic Hot Chocolate. 

Here are some pics of a recent afternoon walk along edge of the Fleet with Ollie.

Ollie (and Portland!)

Wonder who will be off for a row?

A wonderful afternoon with that lovely winter sun light

 Ollie guarding the Xmas Tree






Anyway having had a surfeit of turkey and mince pies (and hot chocolate!) it is now time to get down to some more crafting. I had a set of glassline pens for my gift from my nearest and dearest so time for some experimenting. They are used for writing or painting on glass and the design is fired making it permanent.I am looking forward to making use of them in my fused glass work. I am also experimenting with a microwave kiln for small pieces - up to about 2 - 3" diameter . The big advantage with these kilns is the really short process times - 10 - 15 minutes for firing and about about hour and a half cooling time. This is really quick compared to conventional kilns - even the small ones can take 8 - 10 hours for a cycle.Two or three layers seem to fuse well.



Barbara had a try at needlefelting and produced this as her first attempt at three dimensional work

















Look forward to seeing you in the New Year - why not make a resolution to try something new this year - we have lots of workshops booked as well as our regular groups and we now have a new monthly group on the second Saturday of each month from 1 - 4pm. They are focussed on textile work and are planning needlefelting and wet felting as well as other things. Needlefelting can be very creative as you can make 3 dimensional objects as well two dimensional pictures and objects - take a look on our website under textile group for a 3D santa and snowman - follow this link RMW Textile Group 

We are always pleased to help beginners to crafts so if you want to have a go at something just come along to the appropriate group.

Martin

Chairman's Chat 24th November 2011

Been in driving seat for just over a month now. What a month it has been - so busy think I might go back to work!!

Marilyn and I have been extremely busy setting up a brand new web site. We think it is a great improvement over the old one , cleaner and no ads and more information.

I have had quite a few feedback comments - all positive. If you haven't already visited it, have a look by following link in "Links" box.

We have started on a new programme of events for next year - lots of good things to come - we are trying as far as possible to get a good spread of workshops and talks to appeal to members of all groups. For workshops already booked with the tutors see the programme section of the website. We are taking bookings from January for these new workshops, although if you want to book the 23rd January you can do so now - places are limited so please contact Babs Budd (contact number on web site)

The newsletter will go out late December hopefully just in case you need something to read over the holiday break!

I have to say that it is quite nice not to have to walk round the fields in the dark with the Ollie (our Golden Retriever - age 8 and 3/4) , no invisible badger dug holes to trip me up. Ollie doesn't seem to mind whether it is light or dark as long as he gets his biscuit treat (or two) on the way round.

This picture is grandson Sam chasing after Ollie along the edge of The Fleet (for those of you who don't know the area it is the narrow brackish inlet between Chesil Beach and the mainland). It is such a wonderful place to walk with wild deer in the fields and lots of birds (hundreds of skylarks singing away for most of the year) kites and terns and sea gulls and the fields are a picture in spring and summer with a profusion of wild flowers.

This another I took in September walking along the fleet foreshore - it is interesting to see how this wreck has decayed over the 30 years I have been dog walking along the beach

This was it just 7 years ago - more or less intact - now the bow section has almost disappeared.

Talking about photographs the winners from the annual Island of Portland Heritage Trust Photographic Competition can be found on their web site - link in side bar. Some really stunning photographs and a very difficult decision for the judges with 593 pictures to choose from.

We also have a new section on the web site - so if you want to share a favourite photo with us email it to us.

Also we would like some more recipes - perhaps something hearty to beat the winter blues. Today (23rd November) was a taste of what is to come - scraping ice off the windscreen and walking  through a frosty field along the edge of the Fleet  - Brrr!

Anyway  I think I have rambled for long enough - don't know if I am going to
blog again before Christmas as next job is the newsletter - if I don't - have a good Chrismas and New Year

Martin

November 2011 - start of a new membership year