For their August outdoor painting day, members of Alton Art Society visited Medstead village green.

This is a large open area of grass surrounded by mature trees. There is lots to sketch and paint, with views across the cricket pitch to the village hall and the new cricket pavilion, views of local houses, and a duck pond. It was a very enjoyable day.

On June 20, with the support of many local companies, Broadlands celebrated its 70th anniversary with a party attended by 97 guests.

The evening included a drinks reception with canapés, entertainment by a magician, dinner, dancing and a fun casino.

More than £7,200 was raised, allowing Broadlands to begin searching for a new pony to train to RDA standards, supporting the future of Broadlands Riding for the Disabled as some of its current ponies age.

Liss In Stitches members are exhibiting their work in the Petersfield Physic Garden room from August 21 to 23 from 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.

The group's 40 members, who have a shared love of all things textile and needlework, come together once a month to listen to a speaker or to learn a new technique.

The Group Challenge was open to all members of the Surrey Border Movie Makers club from the four video making groups - Weyfarers, Pioneers, Oddbods and Pathfinders. There were three simple rules:

1) The videos could be about any subject but must include at least one image - an orange, a hat or a mirror.

2) The videos must also include at least one of the following sentences - ‘More Tea Vicar’; ‘Of all… In all the… in all the… walks into mine’; ‘Houston, we have a problem’, or ‘If you believe that, you’ll believe anything’.

3) In order to encourage group and team working, the videos must be made by at least two members from the club.

The videos had to be completed by June 27, and would be shown at the July 4 meeting. There was no firm restriction on the length of the film, but ideally less than 20 minutes. The groups were set the challenge in December, giving all the groups plenty of time to complete the project.

Four videos were shown on the evening, each with a supporting ‘Making of…’ feature. Three were created by the Pathfinders, and a fourth by Dave Skertchly, representing the OddBods.

In total, eight club members were involved in the making of these four videos - Paul Ashworth, David Dewhurt, Cameron Gilroy, Hugh and Kathy Le Fanu, Jim Reed, Dave Skertchly and John Thompson.

The club congratulated the video makers on their excellent work.

Jim Reed stepped in to present the evening and gave members plenty of opportunity to discuss the videos. He led a lively discussion about the use of artificial intelligence in video making, encouraging newer members to share their thoughts.

The evening was very well attended, with several new faces in the audience who seemed to enjoy their first session at the club.

Alton Camera Club has published its programme of events for the 2025-26 season.

It begins with an enrolment evening on September 3, which will include a preview of the new programme and field trips, a tutorial on preparing digital pictures to create projected digital images and prints, and a chance to ask questions.

On September 10, Caroline Preece will give a talk entitled Tools not Rules to introduce members to a different way of thinking about photography and composition.

September 17 will see judge Andrew Mills lead A Judge’s View, in which he will judge members’ pictures. There will be no scores and no winner - it will be just for fun and practice. Images submitted can be used in future competitions.

A brief extraordinary general meeting on September 24 - to approve last year’s accounts - will be followed by the Song Titles projected digital image competition. Up to two digital images can be entered for judging by Keith Newton.

September 28 will be a Photographic Safari, a family-friendly event in which members will drive around the countryside taking pictures and looking for clues. Car sharing is encouraged.

On October 1 Jon Hawkins will give a talk on wildlife photography, giving background on how he set up his shots of the UK natural world, mammals, birds, insects and a few landscapes.

Surrey photographer Richard Brayshaw, who concentrates on photography as a visual art, will give a talk entitled But how does it make you feel? on October 8.

Richard will discuss one of the goals of his work, which is to encourage an active awareness of and engagement with the physical world.

There will be two projected digital image competitions on October 15. The first will be a mobile phone competition. Members can enter one picture which must be taken on a mobile but can be edited in any software.

The other competition will see members enter two pictures for the first round of the league. Joe Bird will judge both contests.

October 22 will be a critique evening, for which members are invited to bring in their projected digital images so they and others can suggest what changes could be made.

Michael Berkeley will give a talk on the Before, during and after of sports photography on October 29.

November 5 will be a print competition, with round one of the print league and the first print challenge, which is on the theme of Within ten miles of Alton. Up to two prints can be entered in each competition and the judge will be Jon Mitchell.

On November 12 Suzie Kirkby will give an introduction on how to make an audio-visual sequence.

Round two of the projected digital image league - with two pictures per entrant - and the single-photo second projected digital image challenge Two of a kind will be held on November 19, with judging by Andrew Weatherburn.

November 26 will see Alton Camera Club host a round of the Southern Counties Photographic Federation Projected Digital Image League Division 4. The judge will be Paul Hendley.

Alton Camera Club members Steve Smith and Wendy Davies will give talks on Bird Photography and Capturing Everyday Life on the Streets on December 3.

The second round of the print league and the second print challenge - on the theme of Autumn - will be held on December 10, Up to two prints can be entered in each and the judge will be David Smith.

The autumn season will conclude with the results of the Photographic Safari and the Christmas Social on December 17, with the chance to enjoy a chat over mince pies.

In addition to the regular meetings, Alton Camera Club is also going on a number of field trips before the clocks go back.

These include an open day at Lambeth Palace and a walk along the Thames on August 29, the Alresford Show on September 6, a trip to Lymington on September 23, a fungi walk in the New Forest on October 13 and a hop-on, hop-off London river trip - passing by Comic Con Excel - on October 25.

Meetings are held in Holybourne Village Hall on Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Guests are welcome at talks for a fee of £5, refundable against taking out membership in the same season.

The complete programme for the 2025-26 season, which runs until May 6, is available on the club website at https://altoncameraclub.org.uk/seasons-programme-2025-2026/

Sheet Film Club’s screenings take place on the third Thursday of each month between September and June in Sheet Village Hall.

Screenings begin at 7.30pm but people are encouraged to come along a bit earlier - the doors open at 7pm - to enjoy a drink from the bar and order food for the interval, which is delivered from The Queens Head. It is a great opportunity to catch up with friends and neighbours for a fun and sociable evening.

The wide ranging programme includes old and new films, foreign films, comedies, dramas and thrillers. Details can be found at https://webcollect.org.uk/sheetfilms along with trailers to tempt people to come along.

There are two membership options – patron or member – but people can also pay on the door. The club has a cashless payment system at film nights, which makes the finance side of things much more straightforward.

The 2025-26 season begins on September 18 and the first film will be Lee (2023), a British biographical war drama.

Directed by Ellen Kuras from a screenplay by Liz Hannah, John Collee and Marion Hume, and story from Hume, Collee and Lem Dobbs, adapted from the 1985 biographyThe Lives of Lee Miller by Antony Penrose, it stars Kate Winslet as Second World War journalist Lee Miller.

The other films will be: October – The Outrun; November – Promising Young Woman; December – Blues Brothers; January – Blazing Saddles; February – My Favourite Cake; March – One Life; April – The Descendants; May – I’m Still Here; June – The Italian Job (1969 version).