Please take a photograph of your group "in action." Don't forget to ask for permission from everyone for the photo to be published on the web. Then email it to the address below and we will upload it to the gallery.
Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
U3A Photo Group One - Jan 2020
by Tim Wright - 17:41 on 22 January 2020
Fifteen of us met in the old Computer Room at Dounby School. The weather made this a very good choice as it was wet and misty outside. We were treated to four presentations.
First was myself with a quick run down on the Islands diametrically opposite us in the UK, The Scilly Isles. They are about a tenth the size of Orkney with only 4 miles of road so walking is the preferred option. Small boats take 20 mins or so to ferry visitors to the 5 main islands all of which have their own characters. The most well known is Tresco with its semi tropical Gardens and Ship's Figure head museum. Others are given over to growing early daffodils and they were just about ready for picking when we were there in Early October. The weather is warm but not without its gales too.
Second up was Rod talking about Puglia in Italy. He showed lots of magnificent churches, squares, and towns. He also had great photos of various details such as large door handles and horse rings. However it was his fountain that was the highlight as he had studied it for over 1 and 1/2 hours with a guide and knew every statue on it intimately. Despite this he is keen to return to Italy but will avoid large fountains in the future.
Thirdly Steve took us on a Dog Walk around Burray. He worked out that he had taken his dog 3500 walks mostly in two directions. He showed the wonderful views from the top of Muckle Hill especially when combined with his sensational cloud scapes. His dog did not feature much except once when the expression on his face was obviously of "Not More Photographs. There are interesting smells along here that we need to get to first."
Lastly, Sally Hallam took us on a walk around Fair Isle. She had to stay in a croft due to the Observatory having burnt down. She showed lots of rock features, buildings and lighthouses but the birds were her main love especially the Puffins. She had wonderful photos of the latter some with very full beaks of Sand Eels .
Many thanks to all our speakers for a terrific morning of photographic entertainment.
Photos from the trip to St Magnus were perused before lunch arrived at the Smithfield Hotel. Lots of standard pictures of the Cathedral but also lots of close ups of the details to be found therein. These included carvings of Saints, animals and other beasts too. There were pictures of the stained glass windows in various guises. The mason marks and the pilgrim marks featured as did the carved grave stones. The most popular one was with the spirit of one person depicted departing for heaven (one assumes). Excellent photos all around from a place that always provides new photographic angles.
"Glass/Ceramics" was the project for the month. Glass again included glass windows, glass doors and reflections in glass among others. Ceramics had lots of tiles and figurines. The most interesting photo was the frost on a car windscreen that had swirled in to fantastic shapes. One for the group to look out for again and to take their own versions which they can for next month when the project is "weather". Thanks to everyone for the terrific contributions today for a really mammoth selection of great variety.
Lastly the dreaded chart of dates for this year's meetings went around ready for everyone to step up and take a turn at deciding where we are going to go and what we are going to do.
Keep clicking, Tim.
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