Unlike most Chiltern Society members, I have lived most of my life in Ealing, not the Chilterns, but the beautiful Chiltern countryside is an easy Sunday drive from West London. For many years my husband and I walked there most weekends and after he died much of my pleasure and social life was still centered there.
Sadly I only get out to the country very occasionally now. As I move towards the end of a long life, I hope you will accept that this My Chilterns album has turned out to be more of a personal memoir than most others. So it starts with a brief recall of my early life – the experiences that later led me to love walking among the Chiltern great beech woods, green hills and shady valleys and photographing the landscape, flowers and wildlife along the way.
I have to add that I was originally the second photographer to my more expert husband. He started in the ‘50s with exposure meter, tape measure and darkroom, and a few of the pictures here are his. My thanks are due to the Chiltern PhotoGroup, who offered friendship over the years and made me feel a ‘proper’ photographer at last.
The making of this album has given me enormous pleasure: it turned into a chance to relive so many wonderful moments, all still vivid in my mind; and became an expression of gratitude for the joy and solace that green places and wild things have given me for eighty years, and a collection of happy memories to wrap around me as walking itself becomes more difficult.
This album has been a long time in the making but thank you, Website Editor, for suggesting I produce it, waiting so patiently and encouraging me every step of the way.