Beach Snaps in Bradford

Bradford may not be the first place that springs to mind when beaches are mentioned. But that fine city is home to the renowned National Media Museum which, from June 20, hosts Sunny Snaps - Beach and street photography in Britain. Why do I mention this? Well, our own Alun John, who teaches our Digital Photography courses, is featured. Alun started his photography career as a teenager on the beach front at Barry Island where, accompanied by a small child in a slightly scary teddy bear outfit (pictured c1965 with Alun’s parents), he would attempt to eke out some pocket change by parting holiday makers from the odd shilling or two. Alun went on, of course, to be the launch picture editor for The Independent, winning two international awards for photojournalism and authoring two books on photography.

You can find out more about the exhibition by clicking here. Alun has also written an article on his humble beginnings for their magazine this month.

Peppering the Countryside

What better way to unwind after a hectic week running a busy corporate communications department than to saddle up and take to the Hertfordshire countryside? Especially when the woods are full of bluebells and you are raising £3,000 for charity.

That was what Julie Hollings found herself doing recently. Julie teaches our courses on such high-flying subjects as Representing PR on the Board and How to Audit Communications. She is Director of Communications at the Royal College of Physicians.

Julie’s essential collaborator in this venture was Pepper. They are pictured on the right. Pepper is only six, so can be a bit unpredictable, walking calmly past a working tractor then skittering at a parked wheelie bin. But this outing was his idea of heaven. There were wide fields to gallop across, logs to jump and deer to race. And, at the end of it, Pepper was well-exercised, Julie was physically exhausted, but mentally rested and the Isabel Hospice was £3,000 richer. A pretty rewarding day.

Personally, you wouldn’t get me within six feet of a horse but, thankfully, Julie is made of sterner stuff. Perhaps that is why she represents PR on the board while I ...

WiFi hot spot

We have been looking back twenty years this month. It has made us realise that this item would have been total science fiction back then.

We now have a free WiFi hot spot in the Business Design Centre’s food court. So, if you are coming on a course, but are waiting on a critical email (and who isn’t?) you can pick it up on your laptop at lunchtime and deal with it before the afternoon session starts. You might even find a moment to eat. PR people used to do quite a lot of that back in 1988.

And finally...

Keith Henshall has started one of his periodic attempts to lose weight. The gaps between these attempts are clearly getting longer. He went to sign up at a gym recently and the trainer said that she needed to check how flexible he was. It was a bit of a giveaway when Keith replied that he couldn’t do Tuesdays.