October 22 was one of the most important dates in the Tenby Camera Club diary. Earlier in the summer, Tenby qualified to represent Wales and the WPF in the PAGB Ace of Prints competition with Monmouth who came second in the qualifying.

The Ace of Prints was held in Blackburn and members Charlie Kidd and Dave Lewis attended to represent the club . There were three judges who can score up to five points on an image. They were Gwen Charnock, Des Clinton and Richard Spiers who have superb experience and qualifications.

The first round of 12 prints was chosen in advance. Tenby didn’t advance to the second round with only the top nine clubs going through. Scoring 137/180 Tenby was in the top section with a respectable score, and then went through to the Plate competition, competing against the other remaining clubs.

From the Bank of prints taken, Charlie and Dave had to choose eight images to enter with only four from the previous round being eligible. These images were then scored and Tenby came a very close second in the Plate with 99/ 120. The print ‘Morning Paddle’ by Tenby’s Cheryl Hewitt scored the maximum mark of 15. The winning Plate club was Chapter Six with 100/120, only one point in it! This meant in the overall competition Tenby came 11th. This is a great achievement for a small club (but with a big heart) competing against the best and biggest clubs in the UK. The overall club winner was Catchlight Camera Club from Belfast.

The Swansea Camera Club Challenge Competition was held on the October 24. This was a new concept of competition, 11 Welsh clubs competing for individual genre awards as well as overall winners. The judge was Leigh Woolford FWPF, DPAGB, AWPF, BPE4, and it was held via Zoom. Each club entered four digital photographs. The competition was won by Bridgend Camera Club, closely followed by Tenby Camera Club. Two Tenby Club members were given individual awards, Charlie Kidd , Best overall image with ‘Artistic Movement’ and Ali Rees ,Best Action/Sports image with ‘Champion Surfer’.

The second competition of the season was held on October 27. The theme was Landscapes, judged by Dennis Russ LRPS, AFIAP, AWPF, CPAGB, BPE1. There were 27 digital entries and 20 prints; a lovely range of images from home and abroad in all weathers. In the Print competition Gary Mayhew won both the Gold and Silver awards with ‘Mountain Dawn’ Gold and ‘Storm Brewing’ Silver. The Bronze was won with ‘Cenarth Mill’ by Jason Laugharne.

Two Highly Commended images were by Jan Sullivan and Dave Bolton . Two Commended prints were by Dave Bolton and Dylan Harries. The Digital competition Gold was won by Jan Sullivan with “Autumn Colours”, Silver and Bronze was given to Liz Wallis with ‘At the edge of the Barents’ Silver and ‘Scarista,Harris’ Bronze. One image was Highly Commended by Charlie Kidd. Six images were Commended, work by Gary Mayhew, Dave Bolton, Charlie Kidd, Cheryl Hewitt, Rob Cox and John Whitehurst.