The 50th Anniversary Weekend
01st May 2026
In: Short Stories, News
An Early Review - The Leica Fellowship Spring Weekend, 2026
by Gareth Lewis
The spring weekend gathering of the Leica Fellowship took place between 24th and 27th of April 2026 at the Stanton House Hotel, near Stanton Fitzwarren. This hotel was selected for its central location in the southern part of the Cotswolds and its beautiful scenery, plus good links to lots of places of interest.
As usual, many attendees arrived very early and by Thursday 23rd, nearly half of us were already there. Since this was also the 50th anniversary meeting, we did “push the boat out” a little bit, but it was well worth it!
The weather gods smiled too - we had almost continuous sunshine for the whole weekend. There were also the usual competitions - the “Audrey Bury” and the “My Day Out”, the results for which will be announced in the full weekend report in the newsletter. However, the standards were high and nobody could argue with the final decisions.
We had attendees from Florida - Bill and Mary Caldwell - and the Northeast - Roger Finney and Jon Lawler - plus many from the south of England and Wales and a record (in percentage terms) attendance of over 50% of members, so a red letter event. The actual attendance was 41 for the entire weekend and two more for dinner on the Saturday night - Harry and Catherine Craig, who we hadn’t seen for a long time, so it was good to catch up.
Given the weather, people went out as much as possible and with no organised coach trip, everyone pitched in to offer transport to those without their own. Visits were made to Highworth, Cricklade, Lechlade, Marlborough, Cirencester and Avebury to name a few and everyone seemed very pleased with the location, the surroundings and the amenities too.
As always, we took a group photograph, see attached and there seemed to be less gentle ribbing of the photographer this time, or perhaps that is my imagination. The AGM went off with minimal fuss and there were no real issues, especially since we have now gained a new event organiser elect, which pleased many of us, so there future of the weekends seems assured - a marvellous feeling.
Also on Saturday evening, Don Morley was elected to Honorary Member, for his immense services to both photography in general and the Fellowship in particular. I have never seen Don so quiet and Jo has never seen him lost for words either, so a brilliant night and another first too. Well done Don, I doubt there has been a more worthy honorary membership bestowed.
Please look out for the May newsletter for more details of the event and those in attendance, please remember to send the editor a few words on your thoughts of the weekend and a photograph or two to show what you felt about the meeting. The newsletter may well be a number issue this time, but then 50th anniversaries don’t come around that often do they?
Please send your reflections and memories to the editor (email address on the back of the newsletter) and I hope you had as good a time as I did, thank you.
Gareth Lewis
by Gareth Lewis
The spring weekend gathering of the Leica Fellowship took place between 24th and 27th of April 2026 at the Stanton House Hotel, near Stanton Fitzwarren. This hotel was selected for its central location in the southern part of the Cotswolds and its beautiful scenery, plus good links to lots of places of interest.
As usual, many attendees arrived very early and by Thursday 23rd, nearly half of us were already there. Since this was also the 50th anniversary meeting, we did “push the boat out” a little bit, but it was well worth it!
The weather gods smiled too - we had almost continuous sunshine for the whole weekend. There were also the usual competitions - the “Audrey Bury” and the “My Day Out”, the results for which will be announced in the full weekend report in the newsletter. However, the standards were high and nobody could argue with the final decisions.
We had attendees from Florida - Bill and Mary Caldwell - and the Northeast - Roger Finney and Jon Lawler - plus many from the south of England and Wales and a record (in percentage terms) attendance of over 50% of members, so a red letter event. The actual attendance was 41 for the entire weekend and two more for dinner on the Saturday night - Harry and Catherine Craig, who we hadn’t seen for a long time, so it was good to catch up.
Given the weather, people went out as much as possible and with no organised coach trip, everyone pitched in to offer transport to those without their own. Visits were made to Highworth, Cricklade, Lechlade, Marlborough, Cirencester and Avebury to name a few and everyone seemed very pleased with the location, the surroundings and the amenities too.
As always, we took a group photograph, see attached and there seemed to be less gentle ribbing of the photographer this time, or perhaps that is my imagination. The AGM went off with minimal fuss and there were no real issues, especially since we have now gained a new event organiser elect, which pleased many of us, so there future of the weekends seems assured - a marvellous feeling.
Also on Saturday evening, Don Morley was elected to Honorary Member, for his immense services to both photography in general and the Fellowship in particular. I have never seen Don so quiet and Jo has never seen him lost for words either, so a brilliant night and another first too. Well done Don, I doubt there has been a more worthy honorary membership bestowed.
Please look out for the May newsletter for more details of the event and those in attendance, please remember to send the editor a few words on your thoughts of the weekend and a photograph or two to show what you felt about the meeting. The newsletter may well be a number issue this time, but then 50th anniversaries don’t come around that often do they?
Please send your reflections and memories to the editor (email address on the back of the newsletter) and I hope you had as good a time as I did, thank you.
Gareth Lewis