Exhibition News & Thank You!
After almost a year of planning, the big day finally arrived yesterday, on Sunday 13th September. Final preparations have been going underway for a couple of months now; ordering prints and greetings cards, making signs, designing and distributing posters, placing adverts - the list of tasks was seemingly endless. I am truly thankful that everything ran smoothly on the day, and that people were kind enough to attend and be so complimentary in their views of my work.
Final preparations started on Saturday 12th September, when I visited Strangways Hall to start setting everything up. Portesham Village Hall very kindly allowed me to borrow some display boards, which needed moving into the side of the hall I was using, and having tables set up around them. One half of the room, I decided to use as a seating area; with coffee tables and chairs, so that people could sit down and enjoy something to eat and drink, whilst looking at the photographs. My mother and grandmother very kindly spent a week prior to the event, making cakes, scones, and other delicious items; which were served on the day to visitors. On Saturday evening, I collected everything together, at home, and got the last few things ready for the early morning set for the next day.
Sunday morning started at 05:30 for me, although I didn't properly consider waking up until about 06:30! I reached Strangways Hall, with my parents, at around 08:00, which gave us enough time to set everything up, before tourists and locals started arriving in Abbotsbury. My grandparents arrived soon after us, to help set up. One of the first jobs, undertaken by my father and I, was to attach the large signs to the railings outside the hall; three white signs reading "Siân Lister Photography Exhibition Inside", that were very kindly made for me. After attaching those, we went back into the hall to start hanging the photographs and cover the boards with more images, information on myself and how to order prints and cards. The set up went relatively smoothly, except for a few panicky moments when the prints decided that they would rather not hang on the walls, and kept falling off. However, we managed to remedy the situation with the very useful tool of duct tape (big thanks to the inventor of that!). In the mean time, my mother and grandmother had set up everything in the kitchen; around 20 gorgeous cakes, plus scones, tea and coffee, and much more. My cousin then arrived just as I was finishing the set up, and stayed to help for almost the rest of the day, which was much appreciated!
The first visitor arrived at around 09:30, and the flow was steady from then onwards. Lunchtime fell quiet, but then a very hectic period followed, where the hall was absolutely packed with a variety of people. The atmosphere was really fantastic and everyone seemed truly happy to be there. Lots of people sat down to enjoy tea and cake, and my greetings cards seemed as popular as ever, which was lovely to see. Many visitors also stopped to speak to me about my images and work, and were very complimentary in their comments, which I am extremely thankful for. Another thing that shocked me, was the willingness of friends and family, who do not live locally, but decided to come down for the day; good friends from Southampton and even Cuffley, travelled down to support me on this very special day, and that means an awful lot to me.
At around 15:30, things started to die down a little. People were still coming in to sit down for food and drink, but overall the village was emptying, so we started the pack everything up, and ended up leaving at around 16:30, as we had planned to do.
All in all, it was an amazing day and I would definitely do it again. Everything ran relatively smoothly and it really was a fantastic experience that I will never forget! I would like to thank the following people for their endless support and good will, whom without, I would not have achieved this;
Sheila, Dale, and Owen Lister
Jean and Alan Folland
Rachel Folland
Kelly Marina Greening
Becky Musgrove
Laura Stopforth
Margaret Brayshaw, Angela Allen, and everyone at Oxfam Dorchester
Mike Furse
Dave Stevens
Marj Hutchings
Chris Broom and Nathan Kendall
Roy Dalley
Karen Garlinge
Anne Salmon
Caroline Pass - Caroline's Cards
Country Arts Picture Framers
ProFoLab Imaging Ltd.
1ClickPrint
Geoffrey Lacey - The Chesil Magazine
Portesham Village Hall
Bride Valley Farm Shop, Abbotsbury
The Dorset Echo
Guide2Dorset
Dorset For You
Wessex FM
Heart FM
Weymouth & Portland Borough Council
Dorchester Tourist Information Centre
The Marshwood Vale Magazine
I would also like to thank everyone that has added themselves as fans and friends on both Facebook and Myspace; along with everyone else that attended on the day. Without you, it wouldn't have been such an enjoyable experience for me, so thank you.
So that was that. I hope that those who came out for the day, enjoyed themselves and will continue to follow my work. I would love to hear from anyone that did decide to come along.
As always; cards and prints are available to order! Please contact me via the Contact page. Thanks again!
