Penny's Photos....

I have realised that I do not blog about photography enough. I love taking photographs and so thought that today I would take you a little into my photographic world.

I was in Swanage a couple of weekends ago to cover the events there to celebrate Britain's armed forces. In a weekend dominated by parades by the Signals Regiment and Veterans from across the country, the Devizes male majorette troupe, the Devizes Major Wrecks, put on a charity show that had their audience in stitches of laughter. Indeed, I was laughing so much some of my photographs were distinctly blurred!

The Wrecks are volunteers with steel in their backbones, it takes grit for a gentleman to don white tights, pretty frilly knickers, a little ra-ra skirt and frilled blouse, not to mention the makeup! This troupe has raised over £100,000 for special needs children in Wiltshire with their choreographed majorette routines, involving large red pom poms and the provocative use of innocent looking scarves. For a peek at some of my photographs and for more information on the excellent work this group is doing, click here.

While I was in Swanage I also met a lovely group of bikers. Bikers are, I have sometimes thought, misunderstood by the general public who see, often, hairiness, leather and power before the person underneath. In Swanage I met the Royal British Legion Rider Branch for the first time. This new Legion branch, it was formed in 2005 as an ex-services motorcycling club, has managed to raise over £11,000 for the Poppy Appeal charity so far in 2009 and numbers 2000 members. Not bad, eh? I sent some of my shots to the Rider Branch for inclusion on their site and they have been kind enough to post them. To see some of my work click here. The site covers all aspects of the Rider Branch and will answer your questions about what it is about and how to join. Since Swanage the Riders have been at Weymouth Veteran Parade, where they made an impressive showing. My husband has joined up and he has just bought me a motorcycle jacket so I can come along too. I suppose this makes me a Biker Babe now...