Guests are welcome to book individual talks and should you decide to join the society, the fee is deductable from the membership. If you join up in January, membership is half price at just £30.
If Santa brought you a new camera, then why not join us and meet other enthusiasts.
Chester PS entered the recent L&CPU Annual Club Competition PDI Section with a panel of 8 Nature images and 16 Open images. The judging for both the PDI and Print sections were held over two days (1st and 2nd March) at Elm Bank Conference Centre, Eccles and the judges for the weekend were Roger Evans EFIAP/p, MPAGB, FBPE, Dave Tucker EFIAP/p, DPAGB, BPE4, and Angie Tucker EFIAP/p, DPAGB, BPE4. Forty clubs entered from around the region and the judges scored a total of 947 PDI images and there were 504 prints from 21 clubs.
The Nature category was a tightly contested battle, with Chorley PS, Southport PS and South Manchester CC all finishing in first place with 99 points. However, this wasn’t our strongest entry with Chester coming joint 35th out of 37 clubs along with Western (I.O.M) Photographic Society.
The Open category saw Chorley PS take the top spot with 206 points with Oldham PS and Preston PS both receiving 199 points each. We did better in this category, coming in at joint 12th out of 41 clubs along with The Evolve Group. Interestingly, last year we came joint 21st also with The Evolve Group.
The final overall club ranking includes scores from both the PDI and Print Competitions. Again, this year we only entered the PDI section and in the final ranking we were 29th out of 40 with a total of 254 points. A full report can be found on the L&CPU web site here:
Thanks to Ian Atkinson, Sue Champion, Keith Fitzpatrick, Donna Hughes, Jim Jones, Patricia Keegan, Graham Latter, Veronica Nicholas, Malcolm Peacock, Kate Sawallisch, John Wild and Jan Wilding whose images we used to compile our entry.
It was with great sadness that we recently heard of the death of long time member and past president Bill Marks. Here are some extracts from the Eulogy written by his wife Lynne:
William David Marks was born in Birkenhead on 2-12-1946. At 8 years old he spent two years of his life in Thingwall Hospital after the removal of half a lung. Living with Bronchiectasis never stopped him living a full life – a proficient horse rider, he even ran half and full marathons later in life. Bill loved his animals – having his horse Malika from 6 months old and rescuing two little ponies Teddy and Rascal.From a young age, Bill was always interested in motor vehicles and studied mechanics at Birkenhead Tech. He completed an apprenticeship at Bowmans Garage in Bebington, eventually being the manager at their Parkgate garage. In his early 20’s Bill got interested in motor cross racing mini’s for many years as a member of the Ace of Clubs. He restored classic cars including Austin Healys, classic minis and kit cars. Bill moved to Neston and in his 30’s opened up his first garage on Hinderton Rd. In the 80’s, Bill did a three-year photography course and he subsequently joined the Chester Photography Society. Bill held a number of positions in the club, including serving on the committee and was president for a few years. It was being part of this club he made some great friends. He was extremely talented and entered many competitions of which he won lots of cups BUT he never stopped looking for the right shot and was never without his camera. Bill travelled a lot with Lynne and took some fabulous photos – everlasting memories of the Rockies, Yellowstone Park, Route 66, New York, White Stallion Ranch in Arizona – just to name a few.Bill owned 5 of his own garages and took courses to be an NVQ assessor in mechanics. Once qualified, Bill leased his garage and worked full time at North Wales Training, eventually becoming a Team Leader. He travelled all over North Wales assessing people in their work-place and was so passionate and proud about his role and the difference it made to young people’s lives. Bill helped secure funding to get a Caterham kit car which was built on site by the trainees and they eventually built three cars which were returned to the manufacturer to spray and sell on.Bill was really upset when the company took the decision to no longer support the mechanics course and he was made redundant but took a job as a porter at Clatterbridge mental health unit. Here he was nicknamed ‘Bill the Skip’ as he was always on the look out for things that ‘would come in handy one day’ – these bits always ended up at home, much to Lynne’s annoyance. Bill was loved by colleagues and patient’s alike working for the trust for 4 years.Bill settled down to enjoy his retirement and all of his hobbies when he was contacted by a colleague from North Wales training to ask if he was interested to deliver basic mechanical courses to children with special needs in Flintshire High School. Bill jumped at the chance and enjoyed doing this for about 3 years. Bill said this role really did ‘enrich’ his life and he loved every minute of it.
Sadly, in 2023 Bill suffered a stroke – the first of two that year. He spent 8 months in hospital and unfortunately, was never the same and unable to continue with all of his hobbies that he loved – this was a difficult and frustrating time for Bill. In November 2024 Bill suffered a third stroke and never came home from hospital.So, as we say our final goodbye to Bill we will never forget him – or his sense of style, his long hair, his hats and as Bill would have said:Life is Like a camera. Just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out just take another shot.
No EscapeBill Marks
Jan Wilding was asked to say a few words on behalf of CPS:
When we, in Chester Photographic Society heard of Bill’s death many members shared their memories of him, and I’d like to share some of those with you now.
Bill was on the committee for many years, serving three times as President, and was always very active in all aspects of the club, giving talks, organising trips and providing a venue for our practical workshops for a time.The trip he organised to see the Tall Ships on the Mersey is particularly remembered. In order to get some unique photographs of the Tall Ships he chartered two small motorboats to cruise among them as they sailed into Liverpool. But unfortunately, the weather was awful, blowing a gale and raining and the river was so choppy it was too rough for the ships to sail, so a few hours was spent cruising up and down the river with nothing to show for it.He is also remembered for the very lavish buffets he provided for Committee and Bring and Share meetings. Although, maybe the credit for these should go more to Lynne than Bill.But perhaps Bill will be remembered mostly for the very haunting images of the concentration camp at Auschwitz, starkly rendered in the snow. A vision of which I have every time Auschwitz is mentioned.One thing that came through time and again was his kindness and willingness to help and, for my husband Phil and myself, the support Bill gave us during the time we ran the workshops was invaluable.In the words of many members – he was a great guy and a sad loss to the Society. Our condolences go to Bill’s wife Lynne, son Danny and all his family. ……………………….
The Committee would like to wish everyone a Happy Festive Season and look forward to seeing you in back in 2025.
The first meeting is over Zoom on January 7th when we welcome Michael Berkeley with his Sport and Music Photography. Full Programme here
Guests are welcome to book individual talks and should you decide to join the society, the fee is deductable from the membership. If you join up in January, membership is half price at just £30.
If Santa brought you a new camera, then why not join us and meet other enthusiasts.
For more details of the meetings between September and December click HERE
SEPTEMBER ROUND-Up
We are already well in to the new season having held four meetings at Vicar’s Cross and the first Open Competition judged.
There were some interesting items available to photograph at the Abstract Practical evening. Hopefully more people will be inspired to have a try !
The committee have been taking it in turns to host the meetings, and David Melville (Membership Secretary) was pleased to present Donna Hughes with her outstanding Certificates from last season. Congratulations to Donna for winning the Trophies for Abstract DPI and People Prints:
Season 2024-25 Welcome meeting
The new season started on Tues 3rd September with members old and new enjoying a good chat and seeing each other’s prints and digital images. This was the first meeting since the closing of our exhibition at the Grosvenor Museum and here are the results of the Visitor Vote.
Jim Jones, Ray Groome and Ian Atkinson are pictured with their Prints
The World as I See It Exhibition- Visitor Votes Results:
The top ten images as voted for by visitors to The World as I See It Exhibition held in the Grosvenor Museum March to June 2024. . CPS would like to thank Wilkinsons Cameras for donating prizes.
Plenty of prints and digital images were on show at the first meeting of the season.
For more details of the meetings between September and December click HERE
Award winners from the 2023-24 season received their Trophies and certificates at the last meeting of the season on Tuesday 30th March from President Graham Jones.
POTY Jan Wilding, President Graham Jones, 2nd Place POTY Sue Champion, 3rd Place POTY Ian Atkinson
Thanks to all the PAGB approved judges who gave up their time to join us and judge the images. Over the seven different competitions a total of 280 images were submitted by 23 different entrants. Congratulations to Jan Wilding who won Overall Photographer of the Year, Print Photographer of the Year and DPI Photographer of the Year! Congratulations to all the winners!
CPS member Malcolm Peacock has been awarded a FIAP Gold Medal for his image Racheal in the Colour open category of the Serendipity Photo Awards, Sri Lanka. Malcolm also received 4 other acceptances in the Colour and Monochrome open categories.
Malcolm is working towards AFIAP where he is required to enter 15 international salons, in 8 different countries with 40 acceptances. He will need 15 different photographs of which 4 have to be prints. Well done Malcolm and good luck.
Chester PS entered the recent L&CPU Annual Club Competition PDI Section with a panel of 8 Nature images and 16 Open images. Thirty four clubs entered the competition giving a total of 801 images. The judging for the PDI and Print sections were held over two days at Elm Bank Conference Centre, Eccles and the judges for the weekend were Richard Spiers DPAGB, APAGB, Hon PAGB, John Cartlidge APAGB, EFIAP/p, BPE5 and Howard Tate MA(Phot), ARPS, APAGB, AFIAP.
Chorley PS won the Nature PDI category with 104 points, with Poulton le Fylde PS in 2nd place with 98 points, and Wigan 10 Foto Club in 3rd place with 97 points. Chester PS came in joint 20th with Stalybridge and scored 84 points.
The Open PDI category was won by Oldham PS with 200 points, with Wigan 10 Foto Club in 2nd with 196 points and Chorley in 3rd place with 188 points and they were the top-ranking clubs overall in the PDI Section of the competition. Chester PS came in joint 21st along with the Evolve Group.
The final overall club ranking includes scores from both the PDI and Print Competitions. 19 clubs also entered the Print Competition but this year we only entered the PDI section. However, in the final ranking we were 28th out of 37 with a total of 247 points.
Thanks to Vicky Naudi, Veronica Nicholas, Donna Hughes, Patricia Keegan, Sue Champion, Terry Daltrey, Ian Nixon, Jim Jones, Keith Fitzpatrick and Jan Wilding whose images were used as part of our entry.
Chester Photographic Society 