A small, but dedicated, band of seven members of SCC attended the Sussex Fed. Print competition at Wivelsfield village hall to find the place heaving with folk. I believe seats were eventually found for everyone; but the Sussex Fed. gentleman standing in for Chairman Ken Scott said immediately that they would have to find a bigger suitable venue next time as we have clearly outgrown this one.
The event was hosted very well by Horsham Photographic Society and our prints were judged by our very long standing friend Walter Benzie ARPS.
The very first print up was Martin Tomes 'Misty duck pond' which Walter liked very much indeed and gave it 17 points, and at the end of the round we were 7th equal.
Our round two entry was Ian MacWhirter's 'Kittywake in flight' which was again much admired and given 17 points, and put us in 5th place.
Next up was Jean MacWhirter's 'Great Spotted Woodpecker chick' which was again very highly praised and given 18. This gave us 6th equal place at tea break.
After this, in round four, we had Di Walker's black and white image 'Damselflies'. Walter praised the flower that they were perched on but said that he would have liked to see more 'wing detail' and only gave it 16. Di said she had let the club down, but that is simply not true. The selection committee were responsible for the entry and the print had done very well in our club competitions and we all liked it.
Our last entry was Chairlady Anne Nagle's 'White-ruffed Lemur' which Walter praised highly for the handling of the black and white fur, all of which had very good detail showing, and awarded it another 18 points.
This gave us a total of 86 points and placed us 10th out of 21 clubs (last year we were also 10th with 85) which considering our relatively small size was a creditable 'middle of the road' place. The most we could have got was 100 and the top club_ Eastbourne Photographic Society_ got a brilliant 94 (including one 16 Di!). In this competition, we are up against some very stiff competition from some very big and successful clubs. Mid Sussex were second with 90; with Hailsham and Horsham third equal with 88. Horsham also won the most improved club cup. Well done to them.
The main thing is for us to beat Chichester who were 15th equal with 82 and our very good friends at Steyning CC. They got 78 only and were 20th. They were 6th last year and therefore have a good chance of winning the most improved club cup next year!?
The whole event went off very well with some really good pictures (including a large number of Natural History subjects) to enjoy with a very wide range of subjects. It is a great pity that more of our members do not support these competitions as I am sure they would benefit from seeing some really good stuff.