Confused and shocked

Meeting Report

We were shell shocked by the huge number of images and prints that we had seen, and confused because we had no idea what scores we had been given or what place we were in the two categories. This was still the case three days later as we had been told that the results would be published on Saturday evening. The scores had not obviously arrived three days later as I write this. The suspense is killing!!? Update: I now find that they had been revealed to other members of the club, but they have kept them from me, and then they expect me to write a report!!? [Ed. I did send them to you]

The event was held at the Kings Centre in Burgess Hill and Paul and I drove past this big white building, in the middle of an industrial estate proclaiming itself to be a Church three times before deciding it must be the place. It is a very interesting building which Jean described as being built as a trial run for a new building at Gatwick airport. Inside it was like being in a giant aircraft hanger which could easily been used as storage for a Boeing airliner. It is in fact a Church like no other that I have ever seen; but it was light, clean and airy and was ideal for this event. To start, we were invited to see the exhibition of all the prints set out nicely in another part of the building. As there were 18 clubs participating and each club entered two lots of eight pictures, there were a huge number to see, 288 in all! The standard was very high as expected from this competition.

Storrington CC always did very badly in Sx Fed competitions when I first joined the club; but over the years we have gradually improved our performance and generally now end up usually about half way down the ratings. We did on one occasion win the cup for the most improved club, and Jean tells me that we have indeed come 2nd twice, which was a huge achievement for a small club like ours against a bunch of mainly much bigger clubs.

Judging had taken place earlier in the morning with three judges giving their marks out of 20. The main event started at 2:30 in the main hall, with the results. There were three judges sitting in a row on the stage like the three wise men, except two of them were ladies, and the P.I. versions of all the prints were projected onto a screen above.The format was that each club’s entry of eight pictures were shown individually and then as a panel. Then one of the judges jumped up and usually commented on two of the images, sometimes to commend and sometimes to point out flaws. If one of the other judges was moved to comment on a picture, he or she then added their sixpenny worth.

The first category was called the ‘Open Panel’ and the other the ‘Development Panel’.

First up were the Development pictures and Norman Kirby’s ‘Firepot’ got good comments, as did Paul’s, ‘I love you’of two horses rubbing their heads together. It took an hour for this batch to be looked at and then we had a break.

After this we had the Development panels and my ‘Kingfisher mating display’ got a favourable comment thank goodness, as did Ray’s ‘After the Storm'

Then the winning panels and prints were announced and cups and medals handed out and sadly we were not given a mention. Eastbourne came first in both categories and if you want to see where everyone ended up, no doubt someday soon the whole table of results will be published on the SussexFed website. [Ed. They are attached to this report]

So, we came away a bit dazed by seeing a huge number of pictures, which is always good, but we were completely in the dark as to how well we had done, as none of our marks or positions had been mentioned, and to repeat myself, I only had the marks on Tuesday and Wednesday and I have worked out as best as possible where we came.

My calculations put us 11th in the Development class and eighth equal with East Grinstead and Horsham in the Open class.

Individual marks were:

Open Panel: (out of 60 marks)

 

  • ‘Cosmos’ by Di Walker 47 marks.
  • ‘Kingfisher Mating display’ by Derek Grieve 52 marks.
  • ‘Fox drinking’ by Ian MacWhirter 49 marks.
  • ‘Rudbeckia’ by Liz Barber 41 marks.
  • ‘Poppy textures’ by Anne Nagle 38 marks.
  • ‘Table for Two’ by Ray Foxley 42 marks.
  • ‘After the Storm’ by Ray Foxley 44 marks.
  • ‘Black Beach Iceland’ by Derek Grieve 48 marks.

 

And in the Development Panel:

 

  • ‘Firepot’ by Norman Kirby 49 marks.
  • ‘Hoi-an Beach Vietnam’ by Daisy Kane 46 points.
  • ‘Bloody good Lunch’ byTerence Birmingham 42 marks
  • ‘Freesia’ by John Gauvin 44 marks.
  • ‘Bruge Canal’ by Martin Tomes 51 marks.
  • ‘Alison Neale’ by Martin Tomes 51 marks.
  • ‘I love you’ by Paul Hayward 49 marks.
  • ‘The Blackberry Windmill’ by Robert Mitchell 46 marks.

 

The whole experience has been an adventure and full marks to Liz Barber who took over the selection after I threw the towel in at the prospect of entering the competition. It has meant that a whole lot more members have had their pictures in a County competition instead of the select few, and we did pretty well considering the strength of the opponents.

I imagine that the organisers will have taken their suicide pills by now, so we will not be seeing them again, but we should send our thanks and congratulations to their nearest and dearest at their funerals.

Submitted by Derek Grieve on