Tonight the club held the first competition of the 2017-2018 club year, and as ever the first of the year was an "open" category, inviting a broad selection of subject matter. The images were judged by Brian Dunsheath ARPS.

Points scored count towards the Photographer Of The Year competition. The winners and placings were as follows:-

We regularly get notifications from other clubs in regards to events that may be of interest to our members. Previously we have been posting them up in "Club News" but I never felt this was a good fit, so I have created a new category and menu item for "External Events".

The events will show up in the aggregated news feed, and will also be available on their own page.

As external events are generally for specific dates, they will expire when the event is concluded so should disappear from the list.

Congratulations to Adela Llosa Collado who was announced tonight as the winner of this year's Alan Dean Award for the "Most Improved Photographer". The announcement was deferred from the AGM as Adela was unable to attend, and yet it seems the surprise was maintained as Adela looked genuinely shocked to be given the award. Congrats Adela!

We currently have a problem with the website whereby the disk quota is being filled daily, requiring me to come one and clear some space to enable the website to remain active. It appears to be caused by the Flickr galleries caching hundreds of images to our server from the Flickr feeds.

At last night's AGM, two new committee members were appointed - Adrian Battersby taking over the role of "Publicity" as a standalone role, and Kelvin Norton taking on two new roles of "Club Archivist" and "Club Librarian". More about these roles and how they will develop over time will be communicated at club events and through the newsletter/website.

Please note, that following the AGM, and to ensure that the club remains solvent going forward, the membership voted unanimously to increase the annual single membership fee to £40 per year, and the annual joint membership to £65.

Tonight the club held the fourth and final competition of the club year entitled "Groups", judged by Bob Dennis CPAGB APAGB AFIAP BPE4 from Bebington. Points scored count towards the Photographer Of The Year competition. The winners and placings were as follows:-

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice a new menu item on the top - "BLOG"

The idea behind this is (at least initially) is to provide a retrospective overview in the days following each club event, essentially a review of the night, with photos embedded - primarily with a view of documenting what we do, but also enabling those who missed the event, or prospective new members to get a feel for what went on.