The Andover Photographic Club displays the works of our members throughout the summer months at local village fetes and events in the town.  We also exhibit our images at various locations in and around the town, including the Unity Arts Centre. All of our events and exhibitions are free and we welcome the discussions our images might promote. 

Upcoming Events.

Goodworth Clatford Fete Monday 31 August 2026

Abbotts Anne Fete Saturday 5 September 2026

Exhibition in the Chantry Centre. It is now looking like our next exhibition will be in January / February 2027. It is hoped that a slot will open up before that.

Wednesday 29 July 2026 – Twobirdexperience evening

This evening a small group of members spent some time in Finkley Down Farm under the care of James, from Twobirdsexperience. We had met James and his birds earlier this year at the Chute Fete and had arranged for him to give us a private show later in the summer.

We all met at about 1930hrs in the small car park outside the farm. James gave us a health and safety briefing (very important) and explained how the evening would proceed, from his perspective. He was very clear that this was our evening and he would do whatever we wanted to get the shots of his birds. There were also a couple of cows in the next field to the arena that made themselves known in no uncertain terms, but as you can imagine, our focus was on the birds.

James bought out the first bird, a spectacled Owl, who flew gracefully between two perches. This allowed us to understand how difficult it was to get shots of a bird in flight. The owl was well behaved and gave us all a display of its flying skill from point to point, for a small reward of course. James confirmed that its sight was superb at long distances but struggled to find food under his foot!!

Over the course of the next 90 minutes we saw a couple of hawks and a Burrowing Owl. All birds gave us a marvelous opportunity to frame our images and realise that we were not fast enough as they took off from one perch heading for another. Several of us got photographs of where the bird had just departed, or incomplete images as only part of the bird was in the frame. We all need a lot more practice, I guess.

Above you can see the Burrowing Owl, who danced rather than flew, not too much interested in the chicken that James had for him, but as soon as a worm was on offer, well, just watch him streak across the ground.

Below you can see some of the happy photographers, pleased with the weather, and the opportunity to be up close and personal with such amazing birds. The light started to fade at about 2100hrs so despite James offer to ‘get one more bird out’ we had to call it a night. Next year, weather permitting we will run this event, probably in June to take advantage of the longer evening light.

Sunday 19 July 2026 – Andover Carnival

The day started warm enough as Christina, Linda, Barry and Will set up the gazebo. This summer we had experienced several heatwaves -temperatures over 30 degrees – and today was expected to be at least as warm. We were soon ready for the opening of the carnival with time to spare. Our pitch, close to one of the footpaths leading into the park allowed all visitors using that entrance an opportunity to see our work. As the temperature increased so did the footfall of visitors. Will, Christina and Harry (Will’s relative) made their way to the start of the carnival procession while Richard and Barry continued to welcome visitors in the gazebo.

Above, Richard is with one of the Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) who toured the park keeping us safe. Thank you. Below is one of the many people who got into the spirit of things to ramp up our enjoyment. The procession wound its way through the town, finally ending up at Vigo Park by 1800hrs. As it reached the us, the park seemed to drain of all visitors (Almost like the plug had been pulled from a sink!) then as the procession ended the park was filled with returning visitors. It seemed as if the entire population of our town had come out to play. Wonderful.

Statistics:

Will went home with memory cards from Christina and Harry and reviewed a total of 3,945 images. (Last year there were 3,561 images)

Christina – 415

Harry – 1,895

Will – 1,635

Of these, 364, were sent to Kev, the event organiser and 80 were used in a montage that Will posted on Facebook.

This task took Will until 0130hrs on Monday to complete. He went to bed a very tired, but happy photographer.

Saturday 20 June 2026 – Chute Fete

With another heatwave forecast for the coming days, our expectations were high for a warm day for this years fete. The day started overcast as Christina, Paul and Barry set up our gazebo in what has become our familiar pitch, next to the coconut shy. Our usual neighbor, Two Bird Experiences were on a pitch on the far side of the field so we had plenty of space for our visitors to walk around our gazebo and admire our work. The images on display this year included those taken at the fetes we attended last year as well as some stunning images from last years carnival. As the time passed, the weather improved with the sun breaking through the clouds by midafternoon.

Footfall seemed a little light compared to previous years, but we still had some interesting conversations with a variety of visitors. It was good to see some current members dropping by for a chat and one or two previous club members catching up with the us.

The time seemed to pass quickly as the fete came to an end for another year.

Below Christina and Paul waiting for our first visitors.

Sunday 31 May 2026 – Soapbox Derby

This was our second year of photographing the Soapbox Derby for Andover Community Events (https://www.andovercommunityevents.com/), which once again took place on the West Portway Industrial Estate. It was a great fun family day out, provided as free entertainment but raising money for Raisingtwenty1 – a local charity creating opportunities, connection, and support for children with Down’s syndrome and their families in North Hampshire.

Will Delves, Christina Marsh, Rod Cotton, Paul Wheeler and Nick (a friend of Will’s) were given exclusive access to the track and between them they shot 10,117 photos – Rod in the lead with 3,692 – which Will whittled down to 855 to send to the organisers and about 180 used in the montage (finishing it at 0200 the following morning).

An exhibition of members work was on display in the Unity Art Centre in the Chantry Centre during the first part of 2026

The exhibition was very successful, with an increase in footfall over previous exhibitions held in the Iron Age Museum. One photograph, by Esther, was sold. Many complimentary comments were received for many others on display. It is hoped to mount a similar exhibition later in the year. More details will be announced as our plans take shape.

Saturday 6 September 2025 – Abbots Anne Fete

The day dawned clear and bright with no sign of rain or indeed, none forecast so we had a good feeling about the day ahead.  Our pitch was on the road adjacent to the Village Hall in-between Hampshire Police cadets, on our left and the TVBC Borough Council (Pointing out the benefits of the new bio recycling project for our kitchen wet waste).  We soon had our gazebo up and ready for visitors to flood in.  (Well, we can hope can’t we?)

With Eric providing a welcome smile (?) we spoke to all of our visitors.  Some visiting the fete from far away (Our country and from abroad) and others from the local environs.  There were a wide range of events to keep the smiles and laughter coming, from cake stalls (See the cake celebrating the 60th anniversary of ‘The Sound of Music) to face painting, a ducking stool ( A father tried to drench his young daughter by hitting a target with a ball – he missed and the stallholder, taking pity on him, released the water over a stunned young girl).

Our club stand	Eric on point
Sound of Music cake	Ted and his owner (Is that the correct term or is Mum more appropriate) wandered by with Ted wearing his third place rosette from the best dog competition.  Ted was the winner last year.

Numerous stalls delighted all visitors with their wares, cakes, drinks,  with one stall inviting you to create your own walking stick head!

There was a host of well preserved motors from a bygone era – as well as some from recent times – driven down Duck Street by their proud drivers and owners.

The police cadets had

a special visitor to keep them smiling..

The fete soon ended, or at least our part in it did as the programme showed that further entertainment would be taking place in the Eagle pub.  A fitting end to a day of fun in the sun.  This was our last fete this year and already we are putting plans together for those fetes we would like to attend next year.

Watch this page for further updates.

Monday 25 August 2025 – Appleshaw Fete

It was forecast to be one of the, if not THE hottest days of the year, and so it proved to be. Our image shows four of the five people team.  Steve, Eric, Linda and Christina.  With one more behind the lens.  We had a lot of interesting conversations with many leaving their email addresses so that they could be advised of the schedule for the upcoming season.  A lot of work had been done behind the scenes so that images from last years fete could be included in our display.  Some of our images have been with us for a while and we have plenty of new ones on display.  This shows how versatile our members are, with many thinking outside the box (or lens – see what I did there?) to give a really varied choice for prospective members to view.  During the afternoon two members went to visit the Goodworth Clatford fete that, which unfortunately takes place at the same time.  It was agreed that it would be worthwhile to have a presence at both fetes next year.  To do so would mean calling for additional volunteers to assist.

Sunday 20 July 2025 – Andover Carnival

Despite earlier rainfall, the parade was dry – unless you were in the path of our Fire Service crews.

Saturday 21 June 2025 – Chute Fete.

The day dawned full of sunshine promise as our intrepid team set up the gazebo. On display were members’ photographs taken over the last few years and a couple of rows of those relating to the same fete last year. (Thanks to Christina Marsh and Steve Govan for updating our images) This proved to be a good talking point for some visitors who had attended last year. The weather? Well, we did have some rain, but it was sporadic and light and soon passed and in the afternoon we were treated to a brilliant display of the sun’s awesome power.

We had plenty of interest from potential new members and some interesting discussions took place as our images were viewed and commented on. Below you can see Eric guiding our visitors and below that, one of the Circus staff is blowing bubbles on a grand scale.

Above are the team from Castledown FM radio. Kev, third from the left, interviews all stall holders (Who want to take part), and he was advised that one of our team was ideally suited for this purpose as he had a face for radio. (guess who that was?) The interview covered who we are, where and when we meet, the aim of our stall today and to advertise the caption contest. (The winner was Andy, and his winning caption was “You can’t park there, mate” referring to the image below – Thanks to Gavin Fisher for this wonderful image).

 Sunday 25 May 2025 – Soapbox Derby

While the club has photographed the Carnival on behalf of Andover Community Events (https://www.andovercommunityevents.com/) for many years, this year was a first for APC. We were asked to provide coverage of the Soapbox Derby, which took place on the West Portway Industrial Estate. It was a great fun family day out, provided as free entertainment but raising money for Koala, a local charity providing education and support for autistic/neurodivergent individuals and those with learning disabilities.
Christina Marsh, Will Delves, Steve Govan, Rod Cotton and a friend of Will’s were given exclusive access to the track and between us we shot 9505 images, which Will whittled down to 110 to make a montage (finishing it at 0200 the following morning).

Abbots Anne Fete Saturday 7 September 2024

Our pitch for this fete was in the entranceway to the village shop and we shared this area with the Charity Raffle stall and enjoyed a greater footfall as customers went in and out of the shop.  The forecast was for dry weather, alas that was not accurate, we did have some dry spells as the fete took place, so it wasn’t a wash out.  Below you can see Christina Marsh, Linda Gates, Steve Govan and Esther Gallimore laughing as Barry remembers to remove his lens cap!! Our new gazebo standing proud, displaying our work, did a sterling job.  At times four of us were out and about photographing the various events and stalls.  At one stage, as the veteran cars paraded down Duck Street, we were all out recording the event. We had a lot of interest in our members images, with many discussions and it is hoped that this will translate to new members in the coming weeks.

Above is club member Steve Randall helping to sell home grown honey. Very sweet!

Note: By the end of November our membership had increased by four new members, all of whom had visited us at one of this year’s fetes.

Appleshaw Fete Monday 26 August 2024

The weather was more seasonal for us this year, slightly overcast, warm but no rain. Hooray!  with our new gazebo we proudly displayed images from club members and these including those from previous fete’s and the Andover Carnival.  We had a lot of interest from passers-by and some very interesting conversations about photography, either using SLR or phones.  One of us had a conversation about the benefits, or not, of solar panels and wind farms.  Once the rant had concluded the visitor smiled and said goodbye.  With so many people attending the fete it is hoped that this will translate to new members for the coming season. Below are three of our First Aider heroes talking to Richard Shepherd, Steve and Christina.

Chute Fete Saturday 15 June 2024

The weather at this years fete proved a real challenge.  The rain had eased up earlier in the day but the hurricane type wind really hampered us as we strung up the club members’ images.  We were keen to display those images taken at last years fete to encourage passers-by to come and chat.  Our poor, ten year old, gazebo, finally took one hit too many from the gusting wind and has now been replaced with a new model ready for the next fete.  Below is one of the ferret’s that took part in the Ferret Racing competition.

Museum exhibitions

Ove the years, under John Randall’s stewardship, we have been honored to display our works in the town’s Iron Age Museum. John had arranged our tenure with the Museum staff, organised us to delivery our framed images and attended on most weekends during the time period allocated to us.

Below are images provided by Steve Lindley from the 2016 exhibition.

Andy Hellyer with Old Glory

Chas Clark with Bald Eagle

Dave Charlton with Tortured Soul

Ellie Taylor with Heron

Esther Gallimore with Buddhist Monk

Ken Denney with Firework

Margaret Charlwood with Wash Day

Mike Hanson with The Brooklyn Bridge

Richard Shepherd with Venice by Night

Sandy Wilson with Broken Ellipse

Steve Amey with Tower Bridge Sunset

Steve Davies with Hurst Point Lighthouse

Steve Govan with Horses of the Camargue

Steve Hunter with Fire Eater

Steve Lindley with The Test at Dawn

Steve Randall with Early Morning Mist

Sue Morris with Puffins in Flight

Will Delves with Oyster Beds