Lola Lamour by Jon Allanson LRPS CPAGB BPE2* of North Cheshire PS
This image gained a Smethwick International acceptance and has been very succesful at NCPS.
Jon is a L&CPU Exec Member and Folio Secretary

Our AGM Report, authored by John Smith, is here. John has done a great job of making all that business really quite readable! There are many points of interest and it is profusely illustrated with John's photos of some of the chief protagonists.

Also reporting in a lively fashion is Rod Wheelans in the latest PAGB e-Newsletter. The PAGB have decided to make jpegs the standard for PDI Competitions, thus saving memory space and simplfying competition entry. Our Gordon Jenkins has an item in the e-Newsletter about this. Also featured is an an explanation of the Trustee Insurance which the L&CPU hopes to offer to Clubs free of charge!

Rod has also sent through a list of the PAGB Award Pre-Qualification criteria for each Federation. Unless you belong to more than one club and they in turn belong to different Federations this is of no practical interest but it is notable that the L&CPU criteria are just about the simplest; enter the Annuals for 2 years (CPAGB), 3 years (DPAGB) or 5 (MPAGB). By the way, applications for November adjudications are full but there may be an extra adjudication staged this year, so get your applications in.

We have had quite a few new EVENTS this week - perhaps my call for contributions to the listing that I made at the AGM has spurred some of you to give it a try. The Events page is one of the most visited on the site. Keep announcements simple; club, event,dates, place. Send a poster if you wish but always check file size and make it as small as you can condusive with readability.

Finally we have a veritable rash of External Competitions just round the corner; Rushden, Bristol Salon and Wirral Slide. You've missed one of the two new BPEs - Richmond and Twickenham.

OUR NEW PRESIDENT – Christine Widdall AFIAP DPAGB BPE3*

Christine received a very warm welcome at the AGM on Saturday 27th February as our new President. She paid tribute to the past Presidents and to the present Officers and Executive Committee. Regarding reform she said that she did not believe in fixing things which were not broken but that some things were “a little bit cracked” and would be getting attention.

She was pleased that we now had a swift means of communicating to the clubs what the L&CPU are doing in the shape of the newsletter, something she had pressed for in committee. We had seen today that the Officers and EC members were good communicators and she hoped that the clubs would respond by communicating their ideas and opinions back to the L&CPU.

Our new President went on to talk about three projects which the L&CPU have on the agenda. Firstly, we are looking at the ways in which we could arrange mentoring for those who want to apply for the PAGB awards. Then she asked the audience who would attend a “Big Day” if we were to arrange one. A strong response underlined  the inclusion of that on the agenda. Finally she referred to the State Of The Union survey conducted in 2000 and said that another questionnaire/review along similar lines would take place, probably early next season. In 2000 Clubs had found this very useful indeed in understanding where they stand and how they might plan for the future – now was the time to look at this again.

Christine’s day was topped by her own club Oldham PS winning the PDI Challenge in the evening following the AGM. It was also the first event she presided over.

We all look forward to working with Christine in what promises to be an exciting time for the Union and the Clubs.

The State Of Union Report - What was it? In 2000, Rob Vince, who was then Hon General Secretary had become anxious about the falling numbers of club members and Christine was actioned to carry out a "State of the Union" research project in the form of a questionnaire, which resulted in the State of the Union Report and a follow-up Factsheet, in which members of the Executive (Keith Suddaby, Bob Dennis and David Marsh) and some of the clubs were asked to provide input. It is an excellent piece of work which still has a lot of relevance and an update will be very useful to the clubs.

Other news from the AGM will be posted as it arrives. We hope to bring you photos of the presentations at the two competitions of the day; the PRINT & PDI CHALLENGES, results for which are on the COMPETITIONS PAGE.

Other additions this week are: EPSON at Hoylake,Bebington Salon at Chester and Nantwich CC Exhibition(EVENTS), Beyond Group BPE details (EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS), Padiham PS new website (CLUBS), changes to L&CPU Exec following AGM (L&CPU) - note there that the officers emails may not work straight away.

The Wirral Slide Exhibition entries are required by 17th March (EXTERNAL COMPS)

....and don't forget our new President's book on Saddleworth!

The AV competitions on 20th February went well and we have the results on the competitions page

This week saw the announcement of the Great British Cup Natural History Competition results. Wigan 10 won, by quite a margin, a remarkable achievement when you consider that even a 20th place club would have nothing below 12 marks for any image. Congratulations to W10 and to the other L&CPU clubs getting in the top twenty; Hoylake, Southport and Crewe. It is all reported in the PAGB Newsletter 23  (NOTE – 4Mb), a smaller version is available here (2Mb). The full individual image results are on the PAGB page.

L&CPU Executive Committee Meeting 16th January – Report

Our resolve to let you know more about what is going on is now in full swing. John Smith got the notes emailed to club secretaries within a couple of days of the last ECM meeting on 16th January.

At the meeting the calendar for 2010 was set and it appears below. This year the Annual Print and Projected Image competitions will be run on the same day (15th May) and the Annual Exhibition will be at Kirkby Library (3rd July-21st August). Another highlight of our calendar this year is the hosting of the PAGB Awards Adjudications in November. Tickets will be available for this event and we hope to offer help to those who are applying for these awards.

These reports appear on the L&CPU page a week or so after they are sent out - this highlights the need to have at least one secure email link to each club - something we should sort out at the AGM. The email addresses will never be feely published on the website and only used for important L&CPU business.

There are now 16 BPE competitions!

The Richmond & Twickenham PS celebrates 120 years this year with the inauguration of a new National Competition which has BPE and PAGB patronage. Some interesting categories too; Mono, Night Photography, Street Life and General Pictorial. Closing date is 1st March.

Details are on the External Competitions page, together with information about Southampton, Rushden, VECC, IAC Geoffrey Round AV, Hayling Island, Bristol, Solihull and the Cotswold Salon.

Joe Morgan LRPS

Morecambe PS have contacted us with the sad news that L&CPU judge and lecturer Joe Morgan LRPS died on 21st January. The church service took place at St Patrick's, Morecambe on Monday 1st February.
The thoughts of all of us are with Joe's family at this time. (25/01/10)

PAGB AWARDS If you are considering applying for one of the PAGB Awards; CPAGB, DPAGB, MPAGB, act quickly. The April 2010 assessment date has been fully booked for a long time. November 2010 is filling quickly and is special to us because the L&CPU are hosting the event, at Wilmslow Guild. The L&CPU holds the record for number of entries, it will be interesting to see if we break that record! The information is available on the PAGB page.

The revised Rota for the 2010-2011 L&CPU Folios is available here. Do please check it. Our Folio Secretary is Jon Allanson.

Extra copies of the L&CPU Directory (£3) and the PAGB Handbook (£8)? Send a cheque (payable to L&CPU) to the Treasurer, Gordon Jenkins or email him here

Avoid problems in booking JUDGES & LECTURERS by using the proper booking form on the Downloads page. This ensures you include all the information both parties need.

L&CPU DIARY - Website Guide (Sitemap) - Website Log - What's On The Forum

L&CPU Diary 2010 

What's On The L&CPU FORUM

The new monthly competition for March is Spring.
Add notes about your club on the Forum Wiki.
Big Changes have happened - as you know!!!

Why not join the 379 Forum members for discussions, critique, competitions, wiki and general chat, here?

WEBSITE GUIDE

Website Log

31st January: ECM report posted (L&CPU), request for information about your PDI competitions, reminders about the Print and PDI challenges and the AV competition.
28th January: Richmond & Twickenham and Rushden competitions added (EXT COMPS)
24th January: PAGB GBC details moved to PAGB page. Note added about the REPORT on the last EC Meeting(Front Page). Solihull Exhibition added(External Competitions). Burnley Exhibition and John Wells talk at Hoylake(Events). Judges for AV added (Comps page)
17th January Maps for AV (Comps), Rules for Annual (Comps), Dates for 2010 (Front Page), Cotswold Mono (Ext Comps) note about yesterday's ECM (Front Pages). Image Of The Week - Liverpool Rollerblader by Kevin Barnes CPAGB BPE1*
15th January 2010 Nov EC Meeting Report added (L&CPU)
14th January: FIAP World Cup (Front Page), subs update (Front Page)
12th January: Diary updated (Front Page & L&CPU Page), Print and PDI Challenge details (Front Page and Comps)Stockport Lecture (EVENTS)
10th January: Great British Cup Small Clubs and Open results (Front Page), Bolton Digital PS Winter Lecture (Events), Image of Week - Gwen Charnock's Windswept. Note about the L&CPU Print and PDI Challenge comps added. Monthly competition on the Forum is MONOCHROME.

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