At the November meeting of Loddington W.I.,Richard Adams, well-known local photographer, made a welcome return to Loddington WI to present a programme called " A Camera in the Garden". Richard pointed out that keeping a record of how your garden looks at different times of the year helps when planning the next year's planting. As well as showing pictures of his own garden, he showed a lovely sequence set to music of pictures taken in the Marjorelle Garden in Marrakesh. Finally a sequence called "Flora Photographica" set to The Air on a G String had the members in a thoroughly relaxed mood at the end of a most enjoyable programme. Jo Jesson thanked him on behalf of everyone for giving such a delightful presentation.
The competition for a member's photograph of their garden was won by Janet Rowe and Jean Powell was second. The two winners of the raffle were Diana Wright and Eileen Rowden. More »

The church at Loddington has now been added to the Leicestershire & Rutland Church Journal. With over 50 churches now online and more added every week it has high quality photographs and historical text. Also includes printable PDF's and interactive map.

At the September meeting of Loddington WI , President Diana Ford thanked Jo Jesson for organising the very successful visit to Kilworth Hall to see the production of "Crazy for You " which was a most enjoyable evening .She also thanked Rachel Crisp and Diana Wright for the excellent picnic they provided at the earlier visit to Tolethorpe to see " Oliver Twist ".

The speaker at the September meeting was Geoff Rowden, the husband of committee member Eileen. Geoff regaled his audience with tales of his adventurous holiday on a sailing ship, The Barque Europa, from Sao Paolo to Tierra del Fuego in the Southern Ocean. The ship was 180 feet long and 25 feet wide with a main mast 100 feet high. There was a professional crew of 14 mainly Dutch people and a guest crew of 48. The guest crew had to quickly learn what their tasks would be and this included being on watch for 4 hours and then 8 hours off on a regular rota. The food provided on board was excellent and the accommodation though confined was comfortable. The weather varied from brilliant sunshine with fabulous skies to severe winds and high waves in the roaring forties and particularly the furious fifties, which Geoff found quite scary. There were photographs of the wandering albatross, fulmars and dolphins and after 12 days at sea views of distant Arctic scenes.They travelled through the Beagle Channel arriving in Tierra del Fuego. They visited Ushuaia which was used as a penal colony by the Argentinians but is now a wildlife haven.There was a train which took the convicts there known as The Train at the End of the World.
Geoff returned home tired but exhilarated by the experience. Diana Wright thanked him on behalf of the members for sharing this exciting account with them. More »