Chorlton Good Neighbours Care Group has been active in Chorlton, Manchester since 1967. This blog aims to capture the experiences of our members, many of whom are in their 80's and 90's. It also documents the variety of events and activities that take place in our group each week. Take a look at our website at http://chorltongoodneighbours.org
On Thursday Nov 1st Ian Meadowcroft. a retired history teacher, gave a talk to the Good Neighbour's History Group on "Chorlton in the Middle Ages". Over 40 people came to hear Ian present his 'thought experiment' about what it was like to live in Chorlton in medieval times
Ian explaining how much of the Manchester area was covered by bog, peat moss and moorland, hence the preponderance of local names with 'moss', 'moor' or 'hulme' ( an old Norse word for a small island, or land surrounded by water or marsh).
Some of the audience who came to listen to Ian's talk
A short video clip from Ian's talk
Even though Ian's starting point was that we knew almost nothing specific about medieval Chorlton, he was able to give a very good picture of what life must have been like it what was border country, with the Mersey being the border between Northumbria ('the North') and Mercia ('the Midlands') and this area being one of the main route for invasion by the Scots - used as late as 1745 by Bonny Prince Charlie
Life was tough, with hunger and widespread disease. Famine was commonplace and there was little protection from a harsh climate and difficult terrain. On a cold, showery Autum day, we all went home grateful for simple things that we take for granted - like waterproof clothing and dry houses to live in.
Jennie Keegan came to Good Neighbours on Monday 29th October to give a session to users and volunteers on how to get the best out of their 'point and shoot' cameras. The session was extremely useful as Jennie explained what all the mysterious settings on the cameras were. She focussed on the most common and useful functions, and as each camera is different she went round to each individual to show them how their camera worked
so that's what the camera settings mean
As well as looking at the technical aspects of the camera we also looked at composition and getting the best out of the shots we took. So we all went round taking portrait photos of each other and pictures that illustrated the 'rule of thirds'. We then downloaded these and discussed the results
Jack Baker poses for a practice portrait shot
Jennie Keegan explaining how to get the best out of your camera
Anthony look on as Christine adjusts her camera
Everyone found this to be a really useful session and Jennie will be running a follow on session in the New Year where we will look at editing our photographs
