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A Wet Weekend in the Lakes | |||
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We again had a good NCPS turnout for the 2005 Anglo-Scottish Inter-club Battle which took place on Saturday 5th November at Portinscale Village Hall. Twenty nine NCPS members attended the event. The earlier start of 4.00pm proved successful, allowing adequate time for the 80+ people present to peruse the prints (after 6.00pm) when the formal judging had finished. For convenience Jack Bamford arranged the prints on the side tables in Club groupings and Tea or Coffee and biscuits were provided in the anti-room.. Richard Speirs DPAGB, a Northern Counties, and PAGB judge was a popular choice of judge for the occasion. He had a variety of jokes to help the evening through; each joke sparked off by some facet of a particular image he happened to be viewing. A Bison in a Yellowstone based image brought forward a series of Bison jokes- including the Pudding Bison and the Hand wash Bison. We were concerned to hear of the Lone Ranger’s over-heated horse (presumably following a hard ride to get to the Saloon before closing time). His side-kick Tonto had been given instructions to walk around the horse flapping it with a blanket to cool it. But a new-comer didn’t understand. He burst into the bar, shouting to the Lone Ranger “ Your horse is over-heating and you have left your Injun runnin!” By popular consent Richard Speirs did an excellent job. Richard commented that every single image presented at the competition was of high quality: They all deserved good marks: He would mark out of 30 and none of them would get less than twenty; but it was his job to differentiate. The Competition results are recorded below. NCPS were a creditable 3rd in the list of eight competing clubs. Sheila Edwards writes: It serves me right for sitting next to Bill at breakfast. I was only two spoonsful of Cornflakes into my cereal when he gently caught my arm and cajoled me into writing about the weekend. The torrential rain on Saturday did nothing to dampen our spirits, nor did it mar the beauty of the Lake District. Most of the group met for the morning walk around Rydal Water. The usual rivulets and streams, now swollen, gushed with water, and the umbrellas of the vigilant gave a splash of colour to our party. Cameras were not so obvious except for Tony's, which gave his contour a marsupial bulge. However, we have a record of our exploits in the form of a group photograph taken against a wall. A stop at Grassmere for refreshments was a welcome break, and we arrived back at the hotel in plenty of time for a geriatric snooze before the competition. It was most interesting seeing the high standard of club photography during the well-organised afternoon, and a great benefit being able to view the prints at close quarters afterwards. A big "thank you" to the ladies who arranged and served tea, coffee and biscuits at the end afternoon. The evening meal was a noisy, happy social occasion and afterwards to bed in a warm, comfortable "en-suite" room.. I quite fancy this life ! One of the nicest parts of the weekend for Fred and me was meeting all our old friends from NCPS again ! Sheila Joyce and Gordon Robson, and Bill and Milly Chadband produced and served the tea, coffee and biscuits. The original plan had been to offer refreshments in advance of the formal competition but a slow heating boiler foiled this idea. Next time we will be wiser! Only 56 cups were used after the competition so clearly some went without a drink. The hotel meals were generally of a high quality, and Bill was pleased to report that, being on his second visit, he duly received the full box of mints so lacking on his first visit. But hang on! - What’s this chitty that Tony Redford used to get a free bottle of House wine? Apparently you have to make three visits to qualify for the bottle (after having joined the club ???). Bill was pleased to report that his room was now of a reasonable size with a very large attached bathroom – luxury at last. But Milly was less pleased with the new mattresses with which the hotel had been refurbished. They were too hard for her and made it more difficult for her to get to sleep! Was it just my wife’s bad back causing the problem? Apparently not as other ladies reported similar problems. We thought it worth reporting this to the Hotel management least, through lack of feedback, they thought their new mattresses were an improvement. That aside, however, the Derwent Hotel is an ideal venue for the weekend. It has a friendly atmosphere, is ideally situated at the head of the lake, within easy reach of Keswick, and in inclement weather has a good lounge/conservatory in which to put up one’s feet and read a book. As any newspaper editor will confirm, when all is going well there is little juicy to write about. Fortunately we can report that having booked in at the Camping and Caravan Club’s site, by the Lake, close to the Hotel, Alan Bromage and Jackie were ejected from the site on the pretext that they were about to be flooded. Alan insists that everyone else was asked to leave, not just himself. His booking fee was returned, and he returned to his old haunt at Braithwaite. Jack Bamford and Tony are to be congratulated upon another excellent competition and another adventurous weekend. The format seems just right and most of us will be entitled to the free bottle of wine next year. The following NCPS members and partners were spotted during the weekend: Janet & Dave Akers, Jackie & Alan Bromage, Rachel & Jonathon Bawden, Joyce & George Beaumont, Milly & Bill Chadband, Sheila & Fred Edwards Margery & Frank Hutchinson, Joyce Streets & Hugh Oldham, Colin Pickles, Dorothy & Tony Redford, Joyce & Gordon Robson, Mary & Tony Rosevere, Penny & Richard Scaife, Hilary & Brian Turnbull, Janet & Ted Wilson. Bill Chadband NCPS’s Marks Storm Brewing 27 Winter Walk 22 Framed 26 The Foreman 24 On Bangor Pier 25 Tree Tentacles 28 Chrome Hill Ridge 24 Turia Fountain detail 26 White Horse 26 A Man and his Buick 27 TOTAL 255 Carluke 272 Dumfries 267 North Cheshire 255 South Manchester 252 Keswick 246 West Cumbria 245 Impressions Group 242 Tyneside Digital IG 236 |
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