Talbot Green was again the focal point for this competition, this year only 25 clubs to take part !
Neath club’s supporters were Roy Thomas, Dewi Jones , Haydn Thomas ,Cliff Emery and myself.
Comfortably settled and pleasantries over it was straight in to round one, first three images scored 17 18 and 19, looks like we are in for some stiff opposition, after that scores settled a bit to around 15 to 17 until Rob’s Rhossilli headland, this perked us up a 18 and big smiles from judge Peter Gennard MFIAP, EFIAP/s who clearly liked it . 2 of us on 18 one club on 19, good start.
Round two mono’s, seventeens and eighteens max, we got a 15 for Dylan and Kim by Kevin Hunt, it’s ok we are still in with a shout, WesterValley in the lead by one point with 3 clubs tying for second and we are tying for next place with 2 other clubs.
3rd round , colour images again , points are in the 15 to 17 range and the clubs we need to catch are not scoring well, Haydn’s Jenna pops up out of the woodwork (!) to hoist 18 points for us , we are back in with a chance, Llanelli and Newport pop in 19 points each , no problem we have a cushion over them, we are now tying for first place , equal with Gwynfa,Rhondda,andWestern Valley , Swansea and Port Talbot are lurking ominously one point behind . Only the last Mono round and we have Julian’s Anna selection, she should be good for 16 at least , Port Talbot get a 15, Western Valley a 16, surely we have a good chance now , the next block of 4 clubs are favourites now , suddenly a deep depression settles over me, we get a 1 for Anna, my last minute mono selection, i had not read the rules properly , we needed two mono and our original selection was only one mono, so I had put Anna in at the last minute on my own initiative ( no time to discuss it with any one ). Woe is me I have cost us first place surely, indeed yes this score dropped us from equal first to 5th, 3 clubs had tied on 68 points, Gwynfa, Rhondda and Swansea, a tie decider vote finally gave Swansea first place, Rhondda second and Gwynfa third . Our 64 points kept us on a par with Newport and Bridgend, nothing to be ashamed of , but if only !
Oh well , next year we are going to win, we need some good winning 2007 images converted well to mono and we can and will do it !
Next big DPI competition will be a huge competition against the best in the land, 20 dpi’s will be needed so get your best work converted to dpi ready for selection