Jill Toman made return visits to two former locations in 2024. She used her high-quality photographs in her presentation to members to illustrate the landscapes and traditions in landlocked Laos as well as the more familiar slopes in Snowdonia.

While time and successive political regimes have for many years stamped their mark on Laos, only the Ice Age and slate mining in the 19th century seem to have changed the landscapes closer to home.

A visitor in 2008, Jill was well-placed to note the relatively recent but rapid changes to Laos. The advent of wi-fi and the relentless influx of Chinese tourists in particular, have left their mark on the daily lives of monks and villagers and impacted upon the relative tranquillity of picturesque locations.

The Mekong River and the sticky rice endure, as do the mountains, the temples and traditions in “the land of a million elephants”, but mobile phones and mopeds now prevail, and ever widening roads and dam constructions have changed the landscape and affected water supplies dramatically.

Life in isolated villages, where rice production, river weed and weaving remain the dominant source of income, is still limited by poor educational opportunities, primitive sanitation, and a lack of basic domestic facilities that we take so much for granted.

Jill’s quality images documented all of this, whilst celebrating the charm and hospitality of the local people and their traditions, their blessings, bracelets and warm welcomes, but her commentary left us wondering how long these might survive.

Jill entertained us royally with a range of skills she practised on the chapels and castles, the bays and the lighthouses that grace the landscape.

I think we were all reassured by the long exposures, the floodlights and the starbursts she captured closer to home at Llanberis, Llyn Idwal, Cader Idris, Barmouth Bay, and of course, Caernarvon.