A great 'Escape to the Clouds'!

A great 'Escape to the Clouds'!

Forums The Cloud Forum A great 'Escape to the Clouds'!

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    • #82509
      Gini Wells avatarGini Wells
      Participant

      Lots of positive responses to yesterday’s CAS conference on Twitter and good to see a couple of members commenting here on a previous thread. The whole day was informative, entertaining, interesting and brilliantly organised. Hats off to Gavin and his wonderful team – and the folks at the RGS – for all their hard work making it all look effortless (I know it wasn’t!!). Not only was every speaker engaging but the whole balance of the day was excellent – every ‘bite’ just big enough and a varied range of approaches to all things cloudy that satisfied most appetites, I would think.

      I love the idea that, maybe, Luke Howard’s house could be rescued and turned into a centre for Cloud Appreciation – can we help make that happen, I wonder?

      Thanks, Gavin, for giving a ‘heads up’ about the Forum – it would be so good to continue the conversations here. I hope others will now be inspired to share their thoughts and photographs (note to self: must try and be more active again myself!)

    • #82512
      Joanna Allen avatarJoanna Allen
      Participant

      Yes; it was a brilliant day! It was hard to know what to expect but I too found each one of the speakers fascinating to listen to. I have an interest in art too, so Prof Thomas’s talk was particularly good. And I could have listened to Dr Harris for much longer; I must now read some Virgina Woolf. Lisa Knapp’s musical contribution was wonderful.
      Afterwards we went to Covent Garden to discover that there is an artwork on display there at the moment called ‘Up, Up and Away’ which looks like a cloud formation inside the Market – a fitting end to the day.
      My thanks too to everyone involved in putting the conference together.

    • #82516
      Becky Chapman avatarBecky Chapman
      Participant

      It was brilliant, the speakers and performers were outstanding. The whole thing had such a lovely feel to it, so nice to be surrounded by like-minded people. I got talking to a lady next to me at one of the presentations, she had come all the way from Arizona! We were musing about whether cloud-spotters all had similar other likes/dislikes, hobbies, jobs etc. Seemed to us that, as it’s such a thoughtful, dreamy kind of pastime we all share that maybe this was reflected in other aspects of our lives. Didn’t have much time to go into it but it seemed like a reasonable theory on the face of it! One thing I would have loved yesterday would have been a Q & A with Gavin. Maybe that could be for next time …

    • #82522
      Howard Brown avatarHoward Brown
      Participant

      Gini, thanks for this report, and the other contributors as well. I am so glad it was a success. I still await the asperitas winner! And will there be Proceedings published one day?

      If speaker Alexandra is one and the same as the astronomical Alexandra, she is going to have a very long day today as well, watching the super red moon (it is riding high right now, but I plan to be tucked up in bed in the wee small hours).

      • #82570
        Howard Brown avatarHoward Brown
        Participant

        Sorry, it is not the same Alexandra.

        There are many eclipse pics on-line. I chose this for Glastonbury which was also on the front page of The Times (UK) today – but as was said in another context on TV today, don’t believe everything you read in The Times (they said rising moon, but surely it was setting if I was seeing it high at 10:50 p.m. as above):

        http://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2015/sep/28/blood-moon-supermoon-rises-pictures-from-around-the-world

        Paul Simons Weather Eye talks of Christopher Columbus being aware of a pending lunar eclipse in 1504, to my surprise.

    • #82524
      Lynn Watkinson avatarLynn Watkinson
      Participant

      Hi, I thought the day was brilliant. The beginning was amazing, that beautiful video and music were just perfect to set the tone of the day. I learnt a lot, bought a lot of stuff, and was very proud to be part of it. Thanks to all and looking forward to the next one. Lynn

    • #82526
      Karen Parker avatarKaren Parker
      Participant

      What a brilliant day! Loved the camera obscura which in spite of the lack of clouds to see in the morning was thrilling to see the clouds without craning your neck and being dazzled by the sun! Great speakers and a wonderful mix of entertainment and information. I thought it might all float above my head like a cloud, but no I managed to stuff some of it into my head and will look at clouds in art from a different perspective, enjoy rain and consider my relationship with the climate from now on!

    • #82527
      Kim Andersson avatarKim Andersson
      Participant

      I’d really like to thank everyone involved for making this lovely day happen! I had no idea what to expect and it was way better than I had imagined. The speakers were excellent and it was a great blend of information and easygoing talks. Also Lisa Knapp was absolutely fantastic and we had a really enjoyable day! I brought my parents and I do think the association will receive two new members from Sweden now as well! :)

      It was such a great organized event and the entire atmosphere was so nice during the entire day. Thank you so much!

    • #82528
      Gini Wells avatarGini Wells
      Participant

      So good to see so many enthusiastic responses, here on the Forum, to Saturday’s Cloud Extravaganza! Kim, Karen, Lynn, Becky, Joanna and others on other threads – please keep the cloud conversations going! It’s so good to share other people’s thoughts/experiences/pictures/talents/enthusiasms. Contributions to the Forum have often not only made me ‘look up’, but also ‘think sideways’ – “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

    • #82529
      Terry Jones avatarTerry Jones
      Participant

      Yes, again what a great time we all had. Thanks to you Gavin and all the other helpers,who gave you such good support. It was brilliant to meet the other members and actually connect with their enthusiasm. Certainly gave me a new ” boost” to improve my cloud spotting knowledge and also get to grips with improving my cloud photography!
      When is the next one?

    • #82531
      Derek Wanstall avatarDerek Wanstall
      Participant

      I have been walking around talking about clouds and the Cloud Appreciation Society for some years now and the usual response after 5 or so minuets is “Oh! It’s real then!” So to be in the company of many who did not laugh at my bragging about being 74th on the Cloud Spotter App was wonderful! I loved the day and could have stayed longer in such company. Thank you Gavin and all that made it happen.

    • #82562
      Tom Wildman avatarTom Wildman
      Participant

      I was fascinated by the way that such diverse subjects can be interlinked and entwined by clouds. The enthusiasm and knowledge of all presenters was wonderful. Great to meet someone from Argentina too. Some I spoke to said they were a little embarrassed to tell friends where they were going – be proud and announce to the world that you belong to CAS. I had a job interview today and managed to mention the conference and the interviewer was really interested and said she will look it up, as well as look up! Another potential member. Thanks to all that were involved in the organisation and continued support for CAS.

    • #82564

      We loved meeting you all on Saturday. The enthusiasm and positivity from out attendees meant so much to us. The security guard at the RGS, who has worked at their events for many years, told me it was unprecedented to hear not a single negative comment as people were coming out.
      Thank you all for making the effort to come – some from great distances – and for helping make it such a significant and memorable day for the Society!

    • #82569
      Vivien Day avatarVivien Day
      Participant

      Had a brilliant day on Saturday, well done to everyone for putting on a great day.

      Can someone point me at the cloud spotter app, I can’t find it!

      • #82587
        Photo Editor avatarPhoto Editor
        Keymaster

        Yes indeed, I echo Gavin’s comments above, a truly memorable day, thrilled to have been able to attend and meet up with all the members and visitors to the RGS. Earlier in the day I was reminded of the time when I attended the opening of the worlds first cloud bar at Anderby Creek Lincolnshire, live on BBC television, and not a cloud was visible in the sky, (and it was April 1st), thankfully they eventually did make an appearance at Saturdays event to complement it perfectly.

    • #83045
      Howard Brown avatarHoward Brown
      Participant

      Free Thinking

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gsckl

      Alex Harris makes a passing reference to the conference at the end of the discussion (she was a speaker I believe). She and Peter Davidson have new books out.

    • #83151
      Howard Brown avatarHoward Brown
      Participant

      Harris’s book is Weatherland…

      Davidson’s book is

      Two of Harris’s comments caught my ear ‘part of the poetry of being alive’ and ’emotional connection from the arts’.

      Whilst presenter Matthew Sweet invited his guests to ‘Schafernaker around’:
      http://www.tomaszschafernaker.com/www.tomaszschafernaker.com/Tomasz.html

    • #83836
      Carol McCumber avatarCarol McCumber
      Participant

      I’m a bit belated, but I wanted to extend a hearty thank you to Gavin and all of the people who made the conference a huge success. I was struck by how well thought out the entire day was; there was a enjoyable balance of lecture, music, images, art, and humor. The whole day was well-paced, the location was fantastic, the speakers were engaging, the food was scrumptious (which can be hard to attain with a large gathering) and I was just so impressed! Ohh, and the music – I don’t even have words for how transporting that was! I traveled from the U.S.A. and built my trip around the conference. Thank you for the beautiful day.

      I hope to become a more active member with the Society. I am an oil painter and perhaps I’ll submit a painting of the sky and clouds sometime in the future.

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