Hello from Don and me,

Well, what a wealth of cultural activity there is in the Clyde Valley this month! We counted 350 Events in the October Diary. If the whole of Scotland is buzzing away nurturing the Arts like this, the future for our country must look more dazzling than bright! And that’s a fine thought to keep hold of as you make the journey to work on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, illuminating clydevalley.net this month, is our October Showcase bringing you the Carluke Primrose Silver Band’s rendition of 'Tambourin', Carol McKay’s poem ‘Early Flight’, Iain Stark’s Wooden Box, Veronica Liddell’s painting ‘The Iron Bridge, Crossford’, Hunter Kennedy’s photograph ‘Harris Afterglow’ and Ian Hunter’s Interview with Ian Hunter. Thank you to all of these contributors.

We were very touched by the response we received after we were unable to feature a photograph in our August Showcase. Thanks go to everyone who walked forward to support us. But please don’t wait till we appeal to you, send in your work today for us to share, whatever category it’s in. While I’m writing about Showcase, we’d like to remind everyone that we don’t edit work that goes into Showcase. We put it on site just as we receive it. We’re not the usual sort of publishers, we just share what you give us and think it’s amazing that so much fine work is available on our own doorstep.

As usual, please check that your club or class meeting times are correct. You don’t need to be the group secretary or leader, you just need to notice if something’s not right an let us know. We’ll take it from there.

The Cultural Season begins in earnest now, we think, so we send our best wishes to everyone for a creatively productive and enjoyable season.

Best wishes

Joanne and Don.