Ever since I joined NCPS it has been the aim of the club to qualify for the national PAGB PDI competition at Warwick. 38 clubs compete, the best two clubs from every region plus the previous years 8 finalists, so this really is a competition for the best of the best.

Recently NCPS has managed to qualify for this event most years . Once in the competition it was our long held ambition to reach the final which is for the top 8 clubs after two rounds of 8 images per club have been marked out of 15. In previous years an average score of around 13 per image (104 per round) has been needed to reach the final. So how did it go in 2017?

 

Round 1

  • Dancing in the Mist – Yvonne (previously called Mute Swans Courtship) scored 11
  • Coyote Hunting – Rob scored 13
  • Winter Blues – Jackie scored 11
  • Tough Mudder – Alan scored 13
  • The Man in the Hat – Annette scored 13
  • Mating Toads go Walkabout – Paul scored 12
  • Gundog in the Making – Lisa scored 12
  • Flair on the Pommel Horse – Noel scored 15

Total 100, position 10th so still in the game.  In light of the judging the selection committee made a couple of changes to the planned entry for round 2.

  • Bison in Yellowstone Park – Annette scored 13
  • Enough is Enough Dear – Joyce scored 12
  • Focused on the Bar – Noel scored 13
  • Mountain Hare compromised by Mild Weather – Rob scored 14
  • Peaky Blinder – Lisa scored 12
  • The Soul Collector – Jackie scored 14
  • High bar splits – Noel scored 14
  • Playing under lights – Rob scored 14

A total of 106 and combined with our round 1 score gave us a total of 206 and 6th place, and an entry into the final for the first time in the club’s history.

We then needed 20 images for the final. 10 could be reused from the first two rounds so everything that scored 13+ went into the final selection, there was a maximum of 4 nature images and 4 by any member. So after a bit of juggling the entry for the final was:

Coyote Hunting – Rob scored 14

Flair on the Pommel Horse – Noel scored 14

The Man in the Hat – Annette scored 13

Tough Mudder – Alan scored 13

High bar splits – Noel scored 15

Bison in Yellowstone Park – Annette scored 13

Focused on the Bar – Noel scored 14

Mountain Hare compromised by Mild Weather – Rob scored 14

The Soul Collector – Jackie scored 14

Playing under lights – Rob scored 15

A Walk in the Snow – Joyce scored 12

Wonder What’s for Lunch scored 12

Waterpolo Tempest – Noel scored 13

The Student – Jackie scored 12

The Storyteller – Jackie scored 13

The Braille Reader – Aamir scored 10

Looking Back – Annette scored 12

Grey Seal Stretching – Al scored 13

Gerald Wearing Trilby – Rob scored 12

Bethany – Lisa scored 10

This was good enough to secure:

A club record 7th place in the final!!

A Bronze medal!!

Automatic inclusion in next years competition on 14 July 2018 – save the date.

Thanks to the 10 members of the club who came along to support us and who were treated to an exciting day of high quality club photography.

Thank you to everyone who has entered the club competitions this year which is the starting point for selecting our strongest images, and to everyone who sent images to the selection committee.

We will need an even stronger group of 40 images next year so get to it, Your Club Needs You.