“I have been a member of Derby Sketching Club for over 50 years serving on the committee for about 40 of those years. I was Exhibition Secretary in the 1980s when my late husband Trevor Eames (d.1993) was Hon Secretary. I later became Hon Secretary for 14 years. I was elected a Life Member of Derby Sketching Club in the late 1980s for services to the Club,  i.e. organizing exhibitions, finding alternative venues for meetings in school holidays etc. I have always loved drawing and painting and took art as one of my special subjects at teacher training college but have never been a professional artist. Trevor and I began the painting course with the Open College of Arts in 1989. The local monthly tutorials were led by Rosemary Mills in Derby Art College in Green Lane where Derby Sketching Club held its weekly meetings in term time.Over the years I won several ‘Highly Commends” in Derby Sketching Club annual exhibitions but never the trophy. I exhibited every year at Dame Catherine Arts Summer Exhibition at Ticknall from its inception until Covid.The OCA course opened my eyes to the new ideas and materials. In 2000 I won the abstract award at Derby Arts Festival with a geometric abstract in acrylics.”