AV News 187 - February 2012
Poulton-le-Fylde AV Competition
Ray Wilson
Poulton-le-Fylde Photographic Society was one of the first in the country to
introduce an AV Competition into its annual programme. The inaugural event
was held in 1976, predating the first competition to be staged by the L&CPU,
held the following year in Bury. The second L&CPU AV Competition was
arranged and hosted by Poulton PS in 1978. In those early days the L&CPU did
not have an AV Secretary - the organisation of the event was passed on from
one club to the next each year.
Of course, in those days AV meant 'Tape-Slide' and competitions were
frequently beset by compatibility issues or equipment failure. Nevertheless,
there was much interest in the new medium and what could be achieved.
Poulton ran a Dual Projector competition annually at first, using home-built
cross-fade equipment, designed by club member Jake Loddington. So
successful was his electronic design that Jake was approached by a certain
Colin Balls to become a partner in his embryonic business. Alas, Jake was to
turn down this offer and the rest, as they say, is history!
After the first six annual competitions, AV at Poulton took a different path with
the formation of an AV Group. Collective projects were undertaken by this group,
whose membership fluctuated over the years. As sequences were made jointly,
club competitions became rather pointless but group entries were submitted to
the L&CPU competition most years. In 1985 the AV Trophy was engraved
"Poulton AV Group" rather than being attributed to an individual worker - the only
group to have won the competition!
Interest within the club in AV has resurged in recent years with the advent of
the digital platform provided by PicturesToExe and other programs. This year's
competition had the largest entry ever, with 18 sequences from 12 different
workers. So great was the level of support that the entry had to be culled down
to 16 in order to fit comfortably into the two hour programme. Judge for the
evening was the esteemed joint editor of AV News, John Smith APAGB CPAGB.
Things got off to a shaky start when a lorry mishap on the motorway delayed
the arrival of our judge and put in jeopardy the whole competition (as the
sequences had not been pre-judged). Once John arrived however, progress was
rapid and all the sequences went through smoothly. This included the showing
of two Natural History sequences from Sheila Davies, which had video clip
inserts. The Club's 4 year old Royale Projector handled the change of medium
seamlessly, belying Sheila's initial concern that her two sequences might prove
problematic.
Many of the entries to the competition were judged to be of high enough
standard to grace The Great Northern Festival or L&CPU AV Competition.
Eight of the sequences were singled out for an award:
Commended: 'Frailty of Memory' by Alistair Parker was a short sequence
depicting the disintegrating memory of a dementia sufferer, which proved to be
very thought-provoking.
Commended: 'Pictures and Patterns' of the Outer Hebrides by Jean
Gregson was complimented for its music and sound effects.
Page 22