ON Tuesday, members of Prestwich Co-op Camera Club were treated to a visit from Alan Barber from Oldham. He is not in any club but has been taking pictures for almost 50 years. As he is a keen walker, he has taken pictures in many different localities.

He called his talk "Rivers" but this only formed the link to connect his slides together. They had not all been taken at the same time, some were recent but others ten or more years old.

He started with the River Mersey and some of its tributaries. The River Roch led us to Blackstone Edge with its so-called Roman road, near Littleborough. He reminded us that Daniel Defoe, in the 1700s, mentioned coal-mining in this area. There were still traces left when Alan was there.

He liked to connect places with history and literature. He showed us a slide of Peel Tower and nearby Grants Tower, now a ruin.He told us that the Grant brothers were supposed to be the model for the twin Cheeryble brothers in Nicholas Nickleby.

We progressed through Radcliffe, Ringley Road and Agecroft into Salford, occasionally seeing the river but stopping to take in the sights along the way, such as Radcliffe Tower, the old power station and Salford University building.

This pattern was repeated on the River Medlock from Oldham. There were children playing at Daisy Nook, the Moravian Settlement at Fairfield, and the Lowry Centre.

Alan liked to take slides of people enjoying themselves. There was the tea-room in Lumbutts Methodist Church, the rush bearing procession at Sowerby Bridge, sheep-dog trials, a gala in Mytholmroyd where there were two Scottish pipe bands from Lancashire, playing in Yorkshire and morris dancers at Rawtenstall. Mytholmroyd also reminded Alan of Ted Hughes, the former Poet Laureate, and his wife, Sylvia Plath, and he told us some of their story.

He showed slides of many more places and most of them had a story to tell. He said he enjoyed talking to people and taking pictures. He passed his enthusiasm onto his audience.

Earlier in the evening, Brian Proctor gave us the results of the print and slide battle at Rochdale two weeks ago. He said that in the print section, they thrashed us by 161 points to 145, but in the slide section we thrashed them with 161 points to 161.

Next Tuesday there is an Open Assignment with an outside judge. Bring your entries, or just yourself, to the side door of the Bridge Methodist Hall, behind Radcliffe Library, between 7.30 and 8pm.

G. E. WILSON