Village Fetes, Events and Exhibitions

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 Iron Age Museum, and in the town centre. In 2026 we will have an exhibition in the Chantry Centre. Timings to be confirmed. All of our events and exhibitions are free and we welcome the discussions our images might promote.

Upcoming events

Sunday 20 July 2025 – Andover Carnival
Monday 25 August 2025 – Appleshaw Fete
Saturday 6 September 2025 Abbots Ann Fete This is still to be confirmed.
Exhibition in the the Chantry Centre – January 2026 more details to follow.

Saturday 21 June 2025 – Chute Fete.

The day dawned with 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).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhJG7kbwv9g

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.