2008 Exhibition - Presidents Report

A successful 2008 exhibition is now behind us with those closely involved breathing a sigh of relief. Roger Dye had called it “the curse of the slide workers” when our carefully calibrated Shuttle went down with motherboard problems the week before, and Barry Pearson’s e-mails were being delivered and received only intermittently. However, we were able to calibrate Roger’s stand-by computer to match our new club projector in the nick of time, and Barry was eventually able to collate over 200 images, submitted for the inter-club competitions (now known as the "North Cheshire Challenges"), with just hours to spare. Peter’s computer programmes were thus relatively untested at the start of the competition nights but came through with flying colours in the end – just as well because we had attracted close on 300 visitors over the two competition nights, many of them here to closely scrutinise our standards in running these important inter-club battles. The feed-back we have had has so far been highly encouraging.

Bill Chadband’s “Friday Night is Music Night” also went well, with some great entertainment sending everyone home with a happy smile, a rousing end to a most gratifying three days for all the team who had put in so much unpaid effort to ensure the success of our exhibition.

The team involved, really too numerous to mention, were totally enthusiastic right through from Wednesday’s erecting the stands and equipment to Saturday’s putting away. These helpers, together with all those who so generously contributed the all-important raffle prizes, plus everyone who bought tickets to at least one event, meant that virtually the full membership of NCPS had been positively involved in this year’s show. Over 30 made a direct contribution by submitting pictures of course – and pictures are fairly crucial when it comes to staging an exhibition.

It was a pity then, that only 30 could be accommodated at the post-exhibition “lunch” on Sunday. Even this had been a headache for organisers Gordon and Joyce, when the original venue went out of business after our booking and an alternative had to be found in a hurry. However, it all came right in the end as you will gather from the happy snaps attached.

You may have heard it said that “the more you put in, the more you get out” and I’m sure last week proved the point with the great majority having gained much pleasure from the NCPS 2008 Annual Exhibition.

Tony Redford (President)