A talented 76-year-old great-grandmother from Old Colwyn has snapped up an award for her stunning photography.
The pictures taken by Renee Williams are now on show at an exhibition at Venue Cymru, in Llandudno, in an initiative that’s earned the praise of the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales.
Renee was among a group of 10 older tenants from housing association Cartrefi Conwy who took part in a digital inclusion and photography course held at both Venue Cymru in Llandudno and the Oriel Colwyn photographic gallery, based in Theatr Colwyn, Colwyn Bay.
The aim was to encourage them to learn and develop computer skills while having fun and meeting new friends.
At the official opening of the exhibition the course was hailed as a huge success by organisers and those who took part.
The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Sarah Rochira, praised the initiative after a member of her team visited the ‘Silver Surfers under the Lens’ exhibition at Venue Cymru, Llandudno.
Sarah said: “For many older people, access to ongoing opportunities to develop and learn new skills is an essential element of maintaining their health, independence and wellbeing.
“Through teaching older people how to take, download and edit photographs as well as how to use the internet and social media, Cartrefi Conwy’s digital inclusion project has helped to reduce loneliness and opened up a new world to older people, as they are now able to increase contact with friends and family that they don’t get to see very often and use the internet to improve their knowledge of a wide range of subjects.”
Some of the most memorable images taken by the group are now on show in the first floor gallery at Venue Cymru in Llandudno where they will remain for the next month before being shown off at a Cartrefi Conwy family fun day at the Eirias Stadium in Colwyn Bay on August 27 and then at the housing association’s Passion for Life gathering at Kinmel Manor on October 1.
The exhibition includes 21 photographs – three each produced by seven of the tenants from the course – and at the end of the official launch ceremony Andrew Bowden, Chief Executive of Cartrefi Conwy, announced that he and a team of judges had decided that the work of Renee, of The Fron, Old Colwyn, was the most impressive.
Renee, who has 11 grandchildren and one great-grandson, came up with a trio of powerful pictures showing a young boy holding a red balloon and an authentically dressed air-raid warden, both from the Colwyn Bay 40s festival, and a shot of smiling Cartrefi Conwy staff at Happy Valley.
She said: “I can’t believe my pictures have been chosen as the best because there’s some really fantastic ones from everyone else here – but I’m very proud.”
The course was led by Paul Sampson, curator of the Oriel Colwyn photographic Gallery at Theatr Colwyn, and co-ordinated by Nerys Veldhuizen, Cartrefi Conwy’s Older Person’s Engagement Co-ordinator.
According to Paul, whose post is funded by Cartrefi Conwy, the Arts Council of Wales and Conwy County Borough Council, he used photography as a “stealth medium” to encourage participants to be more comfortable using computers.
He said: “Most people take and have photographs and have access to a digital camera. So, as well as learning a few photographic skills participants have been learning how to store, retrieve, manipulate and file their images on a computer. We also looked at how to share images on social media.”
“The group has come up with some stunning work and it’s wonderful how they learned new skills together. I’d like to think of it as a family and we had lots of laughs during the course.”
Fellow exhibitor, 66-year-old Eddie Bradley, of Maes Cwstennin, in Llandudno Junction, enjoyed the course so much that he was back at his computer alongside the rest of the group just a week after undergoing a knee replacement operation.
He has three of his pictures in the exhibition, including atmospheric images of a vintage military motorcycle and a group of re-enacters from the 40s festival and a steam wagon from the Llandudno Transport Festival.
Eddie said: “The course was really enjoyable and wasn’t just about taking photographs but also what you can do with them afterwards. I now take my camera everywhere I go.”
Another exhibitor Philip Batty, 77, from Parkway, Rhos-on-Sea, had his images of a skyline at sunset, a giant bulldozer at work on the beach at Colwyn Bay and his son Philip driving a digger in his garden on display.
He said: “The course was great fun and I’d do it all again like a shot.”
Philip will get his wish because at the exhibition launch it was announced that Cartrefi Conwy has secured funding from Arts and Business Cymru to run a second phase of the photographic and computer course.
Cartrefi Conwy Chief Executive Andrew Bowden explained that phase two means tenants will be commissioned to produce artwork to go on show at Cysgod y Gogarth, the £5 million development of 30 state-of-the-art apartments and houses for older people which the association is having built in St Andrew’s Avenue in Llandudno to replace two older sheltered blocks and is due to be opened next April.
Mr Bowden told guests at the exhibition: “I am delighted to say that our bid for funding has been successful and I would like to invite all those who were on the first course to join us on phase two.
He added: “I think it is fantastic that our tenants have been able to have their photographs on show at Venue Cymru and I would like to congratulate all those involved in the course on their remarkable achievements. I think they have learned a lot from it and learned it in a fun way.”
The Mayor of Llandudno, Councillor Malcolm Bullock, who was a guest of honour at the exhibition launch, said: “I’m extremely impressed by what the group has achieved and also at the short time it took them to learn so many new skills.”
Sarah Ecob, Venue Cymru’s general manager, said: “We thought it was an ideal way to teach digital inclusion. People want to take photographs and they want to share them. I’m delighted the course has been so successful and look forward to running similar events in the future.”
