Twilight - Speaker Jim Donahue

AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER’S TALK TO ROTARY     

Jim Donahue was brought up in Chicago and other parts of the U.S.A. but, since 1997, he has lived in the Thames Valley and has been active in the local community, as well as having published books of photographs of Whitchurch-on-Thames and Pangbourne.

He was winner of the Rural Category in the 2015 British Life Photo Awards and also last year published his latest book Portrait of Henley-on-Thames, about which he spoke at the Henley Literary Festival.

Jim and his partner Claire were guests at a well-attended ‘twilight’ meeting of Henley Rotary Club on Tuesday at the Red Lion Hotel and he gave a slide show of several of the images printed in his book on Henley.

He emphasised four main reasons for producing the book; the wealth of fascinating history, the community spirit, traditions at the heart of Henley and the beauty of the countryside. Among the many stunning photographs which he showed on Tuesday were a meeting of Henley Town Council, the rolling Chiltern Hills at Stonor, a misty autumn morning rowing scene taken from the grounds of the Henley Business school, a pub quiz at the Bird in Hand in Greys Road and a meeting of the Greys Women’s Institute.

There were several pictures showing the range of sporting activities in the area, as well as a number of pictures taken at the Henley Festival, also showing the hordes of boats on the river during the event.

Peter Thomson thanked the speaker for his talk and illustrations, commenting that it was interesting to see how outsiders view this area.

Earlier, Peter himself had been congratulated by the president John Grout for being the chief organiser of last Friday’s jazz concert, featuring and largely sold by the club’s beloved honorary member, Ken Fitt.