Art on the walls of Lansdown Gallery

I have just got home finally at 10-30pm after another evening meeting. I have been on the go all day but it has been worthwhile. I've written reports and emailed them, made arrangements for today and tomorrow, when I've agreed to attend the start of the big public appeal process against a massive waste incinerator which the town council opposes adamantly. The mayor and a few other councillors are turning out to be 'counted' as the press are likely to be in attendance.

I also met the mayor and the clerk today on the way to see Andrew, the ceramic sculptor, briefly for a cup of tea and to find out how he is coping. Then it was on to a meeting with Camilla, my fellow trustee, who is also the chair of Stroud Preservation Trust, at Lansdown Hall and Josephine who had come to give us advice about how to funds the various restoration projects we are involved with. At Lansdown Hall, I was wearing my councillor hat as Josephine knows all about applying to the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as many other such funding bodies. Her advice was invaluable and Camilla and I will have to seriously reappraise our next steps with regard to raising money and what we spend our current funds on.

After a couple of hours I got my camera out to try and take a picture of Josephine and Camilla for our archive, but it didn't really work out as they had to rush off. Instead I ventured into the ground floor Gallery of the Hall which was where we spent the first of our money on making it fully accessible and in enlarging the space. The Gallery work won't be finished until the upstairs work is completed for various reason, but already the resulting space has been really well received and artists love to hire the space. Today Alan was in the ground floor gallery setting up his photos on the end wall of the gallery while his friend had started hanging her paintings on the other walls. They will open the gallery to the public tomorrow for a week. Alan it turns out is a photographer of many years standing but has never exhibited before so this must be very exciting for him. He is also one of the many volunteers who help to run the hall and gallery venue. I shall return to see the exhibition properly when it is fully open. I took a couple of pictures as I had to hurry away myself, and this blip is the result.

I had to drive to Gloucester to buy my tofu and other foodie bits from the Chinese wholsesaler, before going shopping at a supermarket, and then on to my doctor's appointment at their 'other' surgery in the outskirts of Gloucester. Then it was home for two hours, a bite of supper with Helena and then off to my evening trustees meeting which lasted another three hours. But it was well worth it, as we had good discussions and there seems to be a lot of activity again for us to get our teeth into, including saving more old buildings which are endangered, our raison d'être.

I also heard that Camilla is very happy with my thirty portraits for the book project that the trust is producing, and that it will be printed and available by the first week of December!