Birthday Greetings

Well we've made it; Nottingham Daily Photo is now eight years old. Over 2700 stories from my life since 2006. The places that I've visited, both alone and with Gail, the people I've met and things I've captured with the various cameras that I've owned since then.

And what better way to celebrate this birthday than with a well known film and TV actress and local girl Vicky McClure.

Vicky is well known for being in Shane Meadows' This Is England, and last year she appeared in the highly rated TV drama Broadchurch. The BBC have just finished showing her latest series Line of Duty.

I met her in the Fred Perry shop on Bridalsmithgate, where she was doing a bit of DJ'ing, before going to the Broadway Cinema, where they were showing her latest movie called Svengali.

Lights, Camera, Action

A fab night tonight at the local film club that Gail and I go to on a Monday night. It was extra special this week, as film director Shane Meadows paid a visit to discuss a number of his short films that he was going to show us, including his first ever one made in 1993 and some that have never been screened before. He also did a question and answer session about his work and gave a bit of an insight into the film making business.

As an added unexpected surprise, the actress Vicky McClure also came to visit. Vicky has appeared in Shane's This is England series of films and TV series. They are about to start work on the latest instalment. She was recently in the crime drama Broadchurch, which starred David Tennant.

It was a great evening, helped along by Roya's wonderful buffet. All vegetarian food and very delicious. Of course I had my camera with me to capture the event, which had been organised by my pal Matt, who runs the Beestonian magazine. Here's a shot of Shane, Vicky and film journalist Ali Catteral, who had made the journey up from London to introduce and interview Shane, and to also get his DVD box set autographed.