Cultural Pursuits
Report written by Tim Surtell for our September 2012 Newsletter
Saturday 14 July 2012 – Sunday 15 July 2012
Gerald Moore Gallery
Mottingham
Over the weekend of 14th–15th July 2012 the club was invited to take part in the ‘Cultural Pursuits’ event organised by artist Ruth Beale. The purpose of the occasion was to introduce local people to the wealth of independent clubs and associations operating in the Eltham area.
The free weekend workshops were held as part of a Summer School at the Gerald Moore Gallery. This is a new space at Eltham College which opened in April, given over to modern and contemporary art.
The Gerald Moore Gallery
Each day we were joined by many other clubs covering subjects such as photography, lace making, philosophy and history, and were treated to tea, coffee and lovely home-made cakes courtesy of the South East London Clandestine Cake Club.
Several clubs took the opportunity to give talks and demonstrations in the gallery or the adjacent lecture space. We watched performances by the Lewisham Banjo, Mandolin and Guitar Club, the bell-ringers from St John the Baptist Church in Eltham (with their hand bells!) and had a go at using a radio antenna to find a transmitter hidden by Bromley and District Amateur Radio Society up a tree in the grounds.
Chris Warrell attempts to lead us to the hidden transmitter
On Saturday Alan Wenbourne gave a talk on behalf of the club, describing the process involved in developing his model of Thomas Heatherwick’s Rolling Bridge and also giving a slide show of some of his other models such as the London Eye. Naturally, Alan had brought the model along for all to view after the talk.
Peter Clay showed one of his Meccanographs and supplied visitors with designs to take home.
Tim Surtell had his Lightning Leap buzz-wire game, the Spanish Knight designed originally by Andreas Konkoly, and two other models quite appropriate to the venue; Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and an Olympic swimming pool (Eltham College is an official Olympic training centre).
Chris Warrell displayed a large selection of models including a snowplough, railway breakdown cranes, two small cars and the Olympic torch. He also had a ‘hands-on’ table for people to try out some Meccano model building.
All in all, the weekend was quite a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of the exhibitions and events we usually attend and a great opportunity to meet other local clubs and societies.
Peter Clay, Alan Wenbourne, Felicity Surtell and Tim Surtell at our stand