Hi All
Thank you all so much for attending the London Gathering and making it the huge success that it was. It was so good to catch up with old faces and more importantly, to see fresh faces joining the fold. My apologies for being unable to respond to those of you that sent out messages to let me know that you were not going to make it, but as you can imagine I had my hands pretty much full. All the same, it was good of you to do so, and lets hope that you can attend future gatherings.
After getting settled in the hotel by late afternoon on the Friday, a few drinks were in order in the local pub, The Minories, followed by a gentle walk down to St Katherines Dock , taking in the views along the way. The evening meal was to be had in the Mala Indian Restaurant, and very nice it was too. I remember after leaving the restaurant we all walked around the corner , and there was the iconic view of Tower Bridge, all lit up in the still summer night, and I can tell you, a few gasps were heard, as it really did look amazing. A real hair up on the back of the neck moment.
The Saturday went very well, with the weather holding out for us. A nice stroll over Tower Bridge and along the South Bank to Borough Market, which is such a wonderful location for photography, then on to the Sebastiao Salgado exhibition, which was absolutely superb. A quick dash back to the hotel for a scrub up, followed by the Print Share, where as always, some beautiful work was to be seen. To me , the 'Print Share is what these gatherings are all about, as the final print is what we all strive for, so to share them with friends and hold them in our hands is such a great thing to do. Dinner was at the Minories, which was to become our local, and meeting place.
Sunday was a very relaxed affair, in which after spending a short time at St Katherines Dock, we took a trip on the Docklands Light Railway to Canary Wharf, and then on to Limehouse Basin, where after a gentle stroll around the water we all settled for a drink in the Narrow, the local pub. Sunday ended with dinner in the Minories, with general banter and chit chat, along with a few laughs.
All in all, I feel it was a very successful weekend, and although I would like to take all of the credit for it, we should not forget that Jon Butler put in a lot of legwork with me, and without him I feel that we would all have been lost. Unfortunately he could not make it due to family commitments.
Thank you all once again, and see you on the next one.
Cheers
Stoo
