ONE of our own members, Erika Stevenson, was the speaker at our February meeting. Erika has spent much of her life making films, and her talk about her experiences, especially in Afghanistan, was both funny and hair-raising. Erika studied Film and TV at the Royal College of Art and began work as a freelance cinematographer. In 1987, at the request of Dutch TV, she embarked on a dangerous filming expedition to a small town in northern Afghanistan to film everyday local life there during the war with Russia. The small team, consisting of Erika, a female translator, a director and sound recorder, was smuggled across borders by the Mujahideen. The journey involved trekking over the Hindu Kush mountains, staying in mud built ‘hotels’, dodging bullets, surviving an earthquake and illness, and often walking at night in complete darkness. Erika and the only other female member of the team were disguised as men during the journey, horses were hired to carry their equipment and food consisted of mostly goat, hard cheese, walnuts and fruit. Although Afghanistan was the most dangerous, Erika has filmed in many challenging locations, including hanging out of a helicopter. Her documentaries featured projects for several TV channels, and famous names, amongst them Margaret Thatcher and Michael Foot. Our next meeting is on Thursday, March 10, 7.30pm in the Moreton WI Hall, when the speaker will be Marian Canning whose talk is entitled ‘an unusual job for a lady’. We are unable to accept visitors or new members at present but please contact Jo on 01608 650821 if you would like to be added to the waiting list.

JOANNE OTTLEY