North Cheshire PS was selected as one of the clubs to represent the LCPU (Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union) at the national print championships held on Sunday 25 October in which each federation selects 2 clubs plus the 8 finalists from the previous year to compete. In his introductory remarks the PAGB President stated that just qualifying put all 37 clubs present in the top 5% of clubs nationally an achievement in itself.

The competition is made up of a first round of 12 prints per club, followed by the top 8 clubs competing in the final with 15 prints each, and a plate competition for all the other clubs of 5 prints each, with requirements to submit both mono and colour images and limits on the number of images from any one author. All images are scored by three judges between 2-5, giving a total mark range of 6-15 the full extent of which was used with several 7 & 8’s but equally plenty of 14-15’s. The most encouraging outcome from the day was that all types of excellent photography were equally represented in these top marks be it landscapes, sport, nature, portraits or a whole range of varied creative work.

Our results were:

First Round

Bookland (Jackie) 13

City in the Rain (Dorothy) 11

Wild Rabbit Listening (Yvonne) 11

A Steamy business (Rob) 10

Imminent tackle (Noel) 12

Blue Eyes (Dorothy) 11

Mill girls on a break (Joyce) 11

Night Owls (Jackie) 11

Osprey fishing (Al) 10

Oh my God (Joyce) 11

Doll (Jackie) 12

Ready for the night (Joyce) 11

That gave us a total of 134 and =20th place. The clubs entering the final scored between 150 – 155 in what was a very close competition.

In the plate competition our scores were:

Bookland (Jackie) 13

All eyes on the ball (Noel) 12

Abandoned (Dorothy) 12

Imminent tackle (Noel) 12

Fire on the Pier (Richard Scaife) 12

That gave us a total score of 61 and =15 place.

We didn’t win anything in the raffle either!

A big thank you to everyone who attended the event to support the club. Thank you to everyone who prepared prints for us to select from whether they were used in the end or not. Thank you to everyone who sent images for consideration by the selection committee please keep that up we have a number of competitions coming up.

The plate competition was won by Smethwick and the final a tie between Dumfries and Stafford, with Cannock 3rd, and Wigan 10 and Chorley of the LCPU tied for 4th.

The three judges who did a fantastic job at rewarding a wide range of excellent photographic images were Phillip Charnock, Gabriel O’Shaughnessy, and Richard Walton.