At the recent meeting of Probus a new secretary was elected to take over from Bruce Hewitson, who stood in at the beginning of the year.
Marion Clegg has agreed to take on the secretarial vacancy, she will be ably assisted by one of our newest members, Angela Greenslade. Both have extensive experience as secretaries. We wish them well in their new roles.
Probus Westbury is also to have it’s first web site in it’s 40th anniversary year. By the time the next report is published the website should be live. Watch this space!
The same meeting opened with a wonderful talk given by Felicity Herring MA. Her subject was Sir David Wilkie, painter of everyday country folk. Felicity talks with great enthusiasm and knowledge and had, indeed, been to the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace the day before our meeting and, of course, had fresh recollections of Sir David Wilkie’s work , as many of his paintings hang in the gallery, at the moment.
David Wilkie was born and grew up in Scotland before moving to London in the early 1800’s. So skilled was he that his paintings started to sell at prices around £5 – 6.00’s and increased to many thousands of pounds later in his career. Felicity said that he paid great attention to the detail in his pictures.
Also, it was interesting to note that many of the details such as specific pots and chairs were repeated in later paintings. Felicity was also able to tell us the stories behind the images that Wilkie had painted.
All in all it was a fascinating talk brought to life by someone who knows her subject so well. Chairman Chris Saunders thanked Felicity for her presentation and she received a huge round of applause from an appreciative audience.
