On Monday evening (16th October) Paul, Kris, Dennis and myself took ourselves up to Northwood Hills for the first round of the North West Federation external competition facing Pinner (who were hosting) and the formidable Watford. The competition, 6 prints from each club and 6 PDI’s from each club, was judged by Paul Burwood, well known to us at EHHPS. As he mentioned at the start, these rounds are always tricky to judge because clubs put in their very best images. The standard was indeed high.

I thought we might be in for a rough ride when the first two prints were held back and Ealing’s first image was third up so the chances of 3 being held back in a row were slim despite it being Paul Mason’s fabulous abstract nude, Catherine Wheel'. It did manage an 18 though, matched by Shaun Hodge’s very classy On Balance both of which were our highest score in the print section.

Sadly I had to leave early at half time so didn’t see the scoring of the PDI’s but Paul and Kris kindly took over. Seven images were held back in the second half one of them being Dennis’s wonderful Eastern Eyes which went on to be awarded a 20 and one of the two stars for this section. Tokyo Nights and Sea Spray by Jenny Fenton and Nature’s Nymph by Dennis all achieved 18 so well done to you both.

Total scores then were

PRINTS

Watford 112
Pinner 103
EHHPS 100

PDI’s

Pinner 110
Watford 109
EHHPS 108

FINAL

1st Watford 221
2nd Pinner 213
3rd EHHPS 208

The second round is on Thursday 23rd November when we will be hosting. Titles need to be handed in to the organisers by Thursday 9th Nov

The third round follows close on the heels of the second! The titles need to be handed in by 23rd November with the competition hosted by Watford on 7th December so please get images sent to me in good time.

(Amanda Wright)

Full details of the competition are given on the NorthWest Fed website.