Devizes Festival: Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Town Hall
1:09pm Monday 25th June 2012 in What's On By Lewis Cowen
IT was testimony to the popularity of clouds that Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s talk at the town hall, part of the Devizes Festival programme, was a sell-out on Sunday evening.
Mr Pretor-Pinney is the founder of the Clouds Appreciation Society, which now boasts 29,000 members in 85 countries around the world. The society, as he explained, came about by pure accident.
He was asked by a friend who was organising a festival in Cornwall to give a talk on clouds, which has been a pet subject of his for many years, and to give it a bit of a hype, it was advertised as the inaugural lecture of the Clouds Appreciation Society. Mr Pretor-Pinney found himself with a full hall, all clamouring to become members.
Anyone can join, but they have to do it online and life membership costs £5.
Mr Pretor-Pinney also announced the winners of the festival’s photographic competition, run in association with his appearance. The junior winner was Amelia Cockrem, 12, from Massey Road, Devizes. The winner of the best photo was Diana Beddington and the winner of the best cloud was Dagmar Junghanns.
