Bolton Digital retained the Bramhall Inter-Club Print Panel trophy last night. In a very close finish we managed to hang on to the cup, the first one to go in our virtual trophy cabinet, as we tied in first place with Wilmslow Guild… but won on countback by virtue of having the highest second-scoring print.
The competition is decided by the highest aggregate score for a panel of four prints by four different workers. This year we went with four monochrome images by Joanne Galston,
Bolton Digital Photographic Society
Bramhall Inter-Club Print Panel Competition
 Bramhall PS
 27th October 2011

 

Gerry Gentry, Brian Wilcox and Mark Power. The judge was, as is becoming the norm these days, kept under wraps until the actual night of the competition, but we were very pleased to see our old pal Bob Dennis of Bebington PS in the “hot seat”.

Once the judging had started, our first print was second up in the running order and the initial inidcations were good….Brian’s image went through without a word from the judge…. normally a good sign! As things progressed, it soon became clear that the “spread” of scores was, thankfully, going to be wider than it was during the preceding evening and 16 out of 20 was looking like a very reasonable score. Our second image got 17 pts, which appeared to be the threshold between carried forward and not carried forward. Our third image under the lights did provoke a comment from Bob, but was also put on the “carried forward” table….at which point we started to get excited. As the images were being shown in “club order” it was just about possible to mentally keep track on the relative scores of different teams. As our last image was assessed and given 16 pts, I reckoned we had taken second spot overall…..but the scorer and club officials from Bramhall PS needed a hasty discussion at the front before announcing the winners and I clearly saw the scorer mouth the words “it’s Bolton”…and that’s how it was announced. Whey hey! The result was the first ever tie in the history of the competition, but we took home the trophy we’d handed back the day before on the basis of having scored better with our second print. A very close call indeed!
Maximum points …… “Normandy Flashback” by Mark Power

 The scores awarded out of 20 (in order of appearance) were…..
In The Spotlight by Brian Wilcox …………… 18 pts (c/f)
 Kitchen Sink Drama by Gerry Gentry ..……. 17 pts
 Normandy Flashback by Mark Power ……... 20 pts (c/f)
 A Place To Study by Joanne Galston ……… 16 pts
(c/f) – carried forward into final selection
Above: “A Place To Study” by Joanne Galston and “In The Spotlight” by Brian Wilcox.
Above: “Kitchen Sink Drama” by Gerry Gentry
Many thanks to the organisers from Bramhall PS for their excellent hospitality during the week. We look forward to defending our trophy again next year. Do we get to keep it if we get a third win?