Morning All

Many thanks to all members who managed to attend last Wednesday for the AGM and thanks Sue for the cakes!
Particular thanks to:
Robin for the treasurer’s report and to remind members that we are increasing all the membership fees by £2; so, a full membership fee from £58 to £60, Long service to £50 and Student and half year to £42. These increases are from 1^st September 2025.

Lewis for showing the competition data and the report highlighting, in particular, the number of prints entered into the 5 internal competitions (the total prints fell from 115 to 64, a drop of 44%) – certainly food for thought.

Stan for his feedback on all the Battle scores showing the average score members gave, the average score the judges gave and the individual scores the images received from the 3 Battles; pointing out that there was quite a wide range of scores across many photographs. Subjective, eh?

Chair – that’s me! – the programme for 2025/26 is complete and I have attached a copy. Also attached are the destinations for the Events Cup 2025, which will run during the summer months, and the Competition programme for 2025/26. These are also on our website. 

Timely reminder to give many thanks to Tim for his efforts in keeping the website up to date and his website organisation and management!

I would also like to thank to all the committee, that is, the already mentioned above, plus Claire, Elaine, Freda, Rhona, Sue and Maurice and members for their invaluable contribution throughout the ‘season’ so far, without which, the club would surely not run. All the committee were re-elected, see below.

At this point I would like to say that we have still got a vacancy for the Programme Secretary, if any member would like to join our committee ‘team’ and take on this responsibility PLEASE email me. In the time-honoured phrase, training will be given, and I would anticipate that help would be given and a small team organised to complete this important part of the club’s itinerary.

Committee elected as follows:
Chair – Mike
Vice chair – Freda
Competition Secretary – Lewis
Treasurer – Robin
Secretary – Freda
Programme Secretary – vacant
Publicity – Maurice
Facebook – Rhona
Committee members – Sue, Claire and Elaine

Finally, I would like to say that the current committee has been in post for several years and over the coming next year, or certainly two, new members will have to come forward to take some responsibility. The present incumbents will need replacing eventually and I’m sure we would all agree that the club will need new blood to help establish the camera club for the future. This isn’t the tidings of bad news but just to state the obvious! Cheers!

Notices:
2026 Calendar:
Just to reminder everyone the deadline to submit images is Monday May 12th, just under 2 weeks away and voting will take place on Wednesday 14th May.
Many thanks to members who have already submitted their photographs. Need help? Just email in, it’s no problem!

Challenge:
Just a gentle reminder about the latest challenge – monochrome images.
It is an ‘open’ challenge – that is any subject, – and the date for the ‘Show-and-Tell’ is Wednesday 14th May;

Events Cup:
The second Events Cup ‘round’ is upon us! Already I hear you cry!
The destination is Coniston and Coniston Water and the 2 dates to choose from are Monday 12^th May OR Sunday 18^th May.
Just to reiterate, you must choose only one date to take photographs. Attached is a map showing the boundaries for the visit.

Raffle:
As usual we will be running a raffle on Wednesday 21^st (presentation evening) so, if anyone would like to donate a prize, it would be very appreciative! Please bring along anytime, not necessarily on the evening.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday May 7th: Steve Proctor EPAGB, BPE5* PPSA ‘Live.’ Presentation called ‘The Wildside.’
Steve writes: I share where I shoot nature images, including commercial hides, local patches, nature reserves and a safari in Kruger Park, South Africa. Along the way I will share my thinking and planning methods plus some simple techniques including how I post-process my nature images. Contains a number of A/V sequences.

Monday May 12th: Possible Events Cup visit to Coniston and Coniston Water

Wednesday May 14th: Members Evening: Voting on the calendar photographs for the 2026 Garstang Calendar. A DVD presentation and the results of the challenge – ‘Show-and-Tell’ monochrome photographs.

Sunday 18th May: Possible Events Cup visit to Coniston and Coniston Water

Wednesday May 21st: Members Presentation Evening of Certificates and Trophies.

That’s all folks!

Mike