Kit – I like your idea of assignments/topics. You could even do what some photo comps do which is to simply give a title and how it's interpreted is up to the photographer (which is exactly the same as a topic I suppose 🙂 ). Anyway, as in your first post you said any thread started must be Photo Club – the topic can be included within in the title – therefore still no talking.
I have wanted to learn how to use a camera for years – here's my chance (I missed the photo a day thing and to be honest I'd probably forget to do that each day).