Reports of recent external competitions.

Readers of this Blog might think that all OPS is about is Competition because competition results are mostly what is reported here! A look at our What’s On section will confirm the appraisals, practical evening and visiting speakers that add balance into our programme. We welcome all photographers, amateur and professional whether they are interested in competition or not. See the How to Join section.

But March this year, was definitely “Competition Month”, from 20^th March anyway. Here are the reports.

20^th March – The Adrian Deaville Competition

Four clubs from Oldham and Rochdale came together to remember our friend Adrian Deaville. He was aged 24 and worked at the Pennine Photographic shops in Oldham and Rochdale. On 23rd March 1994, Adrian was bound on a photographic trip of his young life, aboard Aeroflot Flight 593. This was a passenger flight from Moscow, Russia, to Hong Kong. The aircraft, an Airbus A310-304, crashed into the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range in Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 75 on board. The pilot’s 15 year old son was at the controls and had unknowingly partially disengaged the A310’s autopilot, putting the plane into a steep dive, from which the pilots could not recover in time. Adrian was the only son of Barrie and Joyce Deaville of Royton, Oldham.

This year, the competition was hosted by Oldham Camera Club at their meeting place in Royton and was judged by Ian Whiston from Crewe PS.

Final Scores: Oldham PS 375, Oldham CC 354, Rochdale PS 338, RDCC 326.

Our Print Entry

Our Projected Image Entry

Our top scoring prints were “Crusader” (by Christine Widdall), “Jack Rowbotham Right Cross” and “Poised in Flight” (both by Eddie Leach).

Top scoring PDIs were “Alexander Edwards Over the Last” (Eddie Leach) and “Lace Bug” (Ron Cliffe)

27^th March 2025 – The Martin Avery Creative Print Competition

Last year was the first time that we had been invited to enter this multi-club competition held in the memory of Martin Avery, a creative worker who was a member of South Liverpool Photographic Society. AS the Rookie club and winner of last year’s event, we were nominated to run this year’s event, which we hosted at Oldham PS. Six clubs took part:

• Oldham PS
• Chorley PS
• Southport PS
• South Liverpool PS
• The Evolve Group (nr Wigan)
• Poulton-le-Fylde PS

Our judge was Robert Millin from Wigan 10 Foto Club.

Poulton-le-Fylde won this competition, with Chorley PS in second place and Oldham PS 3^rd, then Southport, Evolve and South Liverpool. Poulton will host the next event.

Our top marked images were: “Watcher in the Mist” (by Andrea Wilson) and “The Royal Swan” (by Christine Widdall).

Mon 31st March – away battle against Chorley PS

Monday (31st March) saw the inaugural battle with Chorley PS. Chorley, as you may know, is considered one of the strongest clubs in the union and the one we always aim to beat. So, when both OPS and Chorley are in a direct battle it is sure to be not only close but of extremely high quality. Add to this an exceptional judge, Richard Speirs of Dalston PS, who gave an exemplary masterclass of judging and increased the enjoyment for those who managed to get to Chorley. Each club entered 15 prints and 15 PDIs. No more than 2 images were allowed from any one worker in each section.

Results:
In the PDI section, the results were: OPS 267 and Chorley PS 244.
In the print Section, the results were: OPS 259 and Chorley PS 261
Overall final scores:
Oldham PS:  526, Chorley PS:   505
Our highest marked PDI images: “Lucy Duckett,  Gold medal winner” (Eddie leach) and “Warrior Princess” (Christine Widdall) both scoring 20 but with Eddie’s print as the section winner.

Our highest marked print images: “The Royal Swan” (Christine Widdall) and “Perfectly focussed for the return” (Aamir Sabzwari).

And finally…

The PAGB Great British Cup

Results are also out from the GB Cup, which is an invitation competition run by The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB). It attracts the best competitive clubs from the 15 federations that make up the PAGB which comproses more than 1000 federated clubs.  We have been entering for a few years now and gradually have clawed our way towards the top end of the rankings.

The entry is up to 24 images with no more than 4 from any one worker. The top 12 marks are taken to find the club rankings. There are 2 separate competitions, Open and Nature.

The Judges for all Categories were:  

Daphne Hanson DPAGB HonPAGB
David Gibbins ARPS CPAGB/AV EFIAP/b BPE5 APAGB
Neil Smith DPAGB AFIAP APAGB HonSPF

Results:

We did very well in this national level competition with 4^th place in Open and 3^rd place in Nature.

The GB Cup 2025 Open – first 8 places

1 Rolls-Royce Derby Photographic Society 170

2 Photographic Imaging Co-operative 167

3 Beyond Group 164

4 Oldham Photographic Society 163

5 Smethwick Photographic Society 161

6 Chorley Photographic Society 159

7 Poulton le Fylde Photographic Society 154

8 Truro Camera Club 153

…and with a PAGB Ribbon to Jane Henthorn for “Brothers”

GB Cup Nature – first 8 places

1 Poulton le Fylde Photographic Society 163

2 Rolls-Royce Derby Photographic Society 160

3 Oldham Photographic Society 158

4= Beyond Group 155

4= Chorley Photographic Society 155

4= Keswick Photographic Society 155

7 South Manchester Camera Club 154

8 Cheltenham Camera Club 152

… and with a PAGB ribbon to Andrea Wilson for “Scathophaga species mating”.