We knew we were in for some fun when Allan Green FRPS from Forest of Galtres Camera Club started his wonderful AV presentation ‘Listen to the Pictures’ with Scott Joplin tinkling on the piano, indicative of Allan’s own tongue-in-cheek style!
With the sound of crows, we were transported into the heart of the Lake District’s daffodil-clad banks, kept company by the completely unexpected overlaid cartoon figures of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher, Squirrel Nutkin and gang!
Allan toyed with our senses, taking us down memory lane with steam trains (magical sound effects) and a history of York Minster. Marble cherubs were heralded in by choirs; with Ian Peel’s voice-over the story featured the fires, both accidental and arson-led and with images taken from the 1984 newspapers and Allan’s brilliant crackling flame sound effects, we could almost feel the heat!
Then, in Green’s own words, from the sublime to the ridiculous, his sardonic take on the words ‘being green’ – with Sinatra crooning Joe Raposo’s lyrics "it isn’t easy…" and shots of Allan’s grinning green face in a cauliflower and on a Ł5 note!
‘The Tree’ was celebrated next, while Paul Robeson sang "I think that I will never see" etc. Allan’s slides were breathtakingly beautiful; but not one to take himself too seriously, he overlaid cartoons of himself dressed in different guises, a jester being one, a striped blazer, flannels and doffed straw hat another!
There followed the intriguing story of the Wesley family in the 17th and 18th centuries and how the Methodist Church was formed.
To lighten our mood, Allan ‘tinkered’ with famous paintings, putting skyscrapers in the background of Constable’s ‘Haywain’, making the ‘Mona Lisa’ wink and to the tune of ‘Hi! Ho! Hi! Ho!’, Disney’s seven dwarfs marched over Monet’s bridge!
Finishing with a serene winter ‘collage’ to ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ with hoar frost and red berries, the stable and its star above and C.G. Rossetti’s poem ‘Remember’, this was a topical and fitting end to an extraordinary evening’s entertainment!
Kay Aldcroft LRPS
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