20th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION OF THE CRADLEY, MATHON AND STORRIDGE ART GROUP The Cradley, Mathon and Storridge Art Group (CMSAG) held its 20th Anniversary Exhibition at Mathon Village Hall on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th November 2022. It is 22 years since the club was formed. Looking back at the report of the first exhibition, I can see that we have five of the founder members still in the club; Margaret White, Bill and Margaret Crouch, June Cutler and Dee McKerracher. Very soon they were joined within in two years by David Partington, Di Poole and Barbara Hilton. Mary Vivian joined a little later. These nine members continue to form the backbone of the club, welcoming new members, setting a good example and providing them with support and encouragement. We kept together through the covid lockdown by sharing pictures on a website. This is no longer active because we have been able to meet up again. Numbers are gradually increasing, and we have new members. Mostly we ‘do our own thing’ with a variety of mediums, although watercolour is predominant. Ivan Jones gave us a challenging workshop using charcoal and rubbers! We had 65 pictures in the exhibition and there was a continuous flow of visitors, about 80 in all. Tea and cake were well received and there was a relaxed atmosphere, with friends, walkers and other interested visitors. As usual, we asked them to vote for their favourite picture. There were quite a number of different ones, but five paintings were each given five votes. These were: Bill Crouch with two pictures: 23a Mathon Church and 23b Robin Hood’s Bay, Jan Lober with 21 Romney Marsh, Liz Symonds’s 40 Autumn Woods and Carole Macintyre’s 10 Lower Brockhampton. Well done! Margaret White, together with Jeff, has been organising the exhibitions since the start and they have finally decided to hand on the reins to others in the club. On behalf of all of us, I would like to thank Margaret and Jeff for their hard work and I hope that we can maintain their high standard. I will finish with the message from the very first exhibition: ‘If you have always wanted to paint or draw but you’re worried what your friends and family may think, or you have no confidence in your ability to put pencil to paper, why not give it a try? We are a friendly group of all levels of ability. We meet so that we can paint and enjoy it as I am sure you will too. See you there?’ If you would like to join us, you will be made very welcome. Come along to a session at Storridge Village Hall on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month from 2 – 4 pm