The Market Harborough Art Club was founded in 1963 and an exhibition of members work has been held nearly every year since.

Like many, they were hit badly by Covid in 2020/21 and had no meetings for 18 months. During that time Chairman, Frank Bingley, had the idea of creating a group on Facebook so their members could keep in touch.

They introduced a monthly painting topic - just for fun, and members could post images of what they were up to. It took off really quickly and membership rocketed from just 12 members to over 30, before they had to introduce a waiting list, as they wouldn’t have space for more than 30 members when the physical meetings resumed. They are currently looking for larger premises.

Market Harborough Art Club pride themselves on supporting people at any stage of their artistic journey and have a varied programme of monthly activities.

This year they had a very successful exhibition in the local theatre, selling 20 artworks (8 framed and 12 unframed), along with 60 greetings cards, with income supplemented by catalogue sales and coffee and cake!

Any paid-up member of the club can submit up to four works in our exhibition, no matter what their ability and it’s amazing how even the most inexperienced of the group step up to the mark with their entries.

This year's Visitor's Choice Award went to Lynda Talbott for her painting King of the Canal (see above) inspired by a photograph taken by well-known local wildlife photographer Alan Benson, who kindly gave her permission to use the image.

Lynda is a very successful member of the club, winning the visitors choice award for the fourth year running, despite some really stiff competition from more experienced members. She often uses things like tiny pebbles and driftwood to attach to her coastal paintings giving them a stunning three dimensional effect, often spilling out over the frame.

The Visitor’s Choice Award is a silver tankard, which has been given to the artist accumulating the most votes by visitors to the exhibitions since 1997, with their names inscribed each year. This year the tankard was full so a new one has been purchased and will be presented to Lynda at the November meeting. As one of the founding members passed away earlier this year, the tankard has been inscribed with his name and is now known as the ‘John Voss Award’.