Club Meeting   Gupton Wetlands: A Local Treasure  

Speaker Clay Thurston 

The January club speaker is Clay Thurston. Clay is a nature and wildlife photographer. Nature and Wildlife Photographer. Clay has patiently observed birds and other wildlife in their natural habitat all of his life. The fine expertise shown in his photography captures their beauty, quirks and behaviors so others can get a glimpse of the world he has experienced first-hand. Nature in the rough has been Clay’s chosen field of study in all fifty states as well as several other foreign lands. He has been capturing wildlife and nature on film for more than thirty years and digitally since 2005. The quality you see in his photos comes from using good equipment, but more importantly from learned skills, a good eye and immeasurable patience. For more about Clay visit www.claythurston.com.   All Photos copyright Clay Thruston.

Clay’s program for January will cover the diversity of wildlife that can be found at Gupton as well as other things the area is used for. He will show and explain the layout of the area - with lots of hints on where to find some of the wildlife subjects.  Make plans to attend the January Club meeting.

SANP Annual Meeting

Each year three members of the SANP Board of Directors complete their three-year term of office. Three new directors will be elected by the membership at the Annual Meeting on January 27th.  The SANP board of directors have recommended Paul Driessche, Jim Jeswald and Greg Long for election to a three-year term on the Board of Directors.  These candidates are enthusiastic and active members of SANP and have all expressed a desire to make positive contributions to the club. 

All of them have skills and talents that unquestionably qualify them to be directors of our organization.  Your support is requested in their election and in the future as they volunteer their service for the betterment of the club.

Awards Night

The January Club meeting night is also the Awards Night for SANP where those receiving Presidential Citations for their assistance to President Jerry Whaley are recognized.  

Chester A. Massey Distinguished Service Award

The Chester A. Massey Distinguished Service Award may be awarded by the Board of Directors in recognition of at least five years of outstanding contributions to the spirit and objectives of the club. The Chester A. Massey Distinguished Service Award embodies the name of the founder of the Southern Appalachian Nature Photographers organization and is the premier award of the SANP. The award comes with a certificate and a plaque. The names of all recipients are on a plaque displayed at the welcome table during our club meeting night. 

The Chester A. Massey recipients recommend any individual(s), to the Board of Directors who make the final decision on who will be recognized. While the requirement is at least a minimum of five years of outstanding contributions to the club, all of the recipients have had years of service to the SANP club far beyond the five-year requirement. 

Attend the January Meeting to see if there will be someone new to join the recipients of the Chester A. Massey Award. If you would like to see the current list of the recipients, check out the plaque on the membership table that is manned by Julie Glibbery when you attend the January Club meeting.