A loyal band of six SCC members attended the Adestra hall in Hassocks for the Crouch PI competition hosted by Mid Sussex CC. Ten clubs were entered with six PIs each. The judge for the evening was Clive Tanner FRPS.
In round one, Ian MacWhirter's 'Glaucous gull with Guillemot prey' was awarded 18 points a very good start as that gave us the lead straight away.
Round two saw Anne Nagle's 'Puma on the rocks' getting another 18, great. However Steyning collected a 20 (one of only five in total awarded)and this gave them the lead.
In round three, Paul Hayward's 'Not funny' got agood 17; but Mid Sussex got a 20 and this tied them with Steyning in the lead.
At the end of the tea break we had the raffle when Martin collected a bottle, but I had not bought any tickets (being treated to a strip by Jean) so we did not win more!
And so to round four when Jane Coward's 'Curly petalled flower' got another 18; but Steyning only got a 15 and Mid Sussex 17 and this put us in the lead tied with Mid Sussex!
Round five was the best as our star from the MacWhirters, Ian (the bionic man), got 19 for his 'Courting Polar Bears' which put us firmly in the lead by one point from Steyning, in spite of another 20 from them.
So, we were on the edge of our seats for the final round, but I heard the judge mutter under his breath that it was all going to change. John Gauvin's 'Rajasthhani worker' failed to work his magic on the Judge and we slipped into a very creditable second equal position with Chichester CC. Steyning, gaining their third 20, won outright. Congratulations to them. They really had some smashing images and retained the shield which they also won last year.
I would like to piont out that Steyning have twice the number of members as us and Chichester are over 100 strong. So very well done us. Everyone heard our name mentioned many times and we can hold our heads up high.