The results of the Elizabeth Bell photo competition have been announced, so at last I can reveal our entry. Sadly Pewsham Belles didn't feature, but having seen some examples from the winning entries, personally I don't think we were that far from the winning standard. The image shows the final 12 photos selected by the Creative Writing group and reflect the variety of our 2018 year from the main meetings held; our clubs; and our activities with the wider WI. The photos are (from left to right and top to bottom): 'Tools of our Trade' group photo; Diane demonstrating origami butterflies; trip to Trowbridge sewage treatment works; collage showing our book club, upcycled bracelet making at the group meeting, our first walk, and a trip to the farm; a visit from 'Crinoline'; collage of group curry making; helping to clear Michelle's allotment; trip to Shepton Mallet prison; a visit from the 'WI Inspectors'; a flexi-group gathering; samba drumming fun; and our alternative Christmas panto! These were mounted onto individual cards, with a pink frame and a black background to reflect the colours used for our logo. A check of our photo archive showed 6 members had contributed photos via various shares made to Facebook over the year. A great result.
The second image gives you an idea of the final presentation of our 'Box of Delights' designed to show we do more than just photos! The Crafty Crew helped with the presentation elements and the pink card you can see contained the collation of the 3 words you each chose to describe Pewsham Belles at January's meeting. The tree shows the year's highlights as put together by the Creative Writers and was designed to echo the tree shape of our logo. I wonder how many other WIs managed to involve so many of their members in their entries? Our feedback from the judges said: "An interesting format, some great, fun large scale images tell a stronger story than the collage-style images - in a crafting competition, presentation would have scored highly." It's interesting to note that the three winning entries are all in a book format, which was the initial idea rejected for our entry in favour of something more unusual to stand out from the crowd. Our entry met all the guidance and criteria given in the competition schedule, whilst the results announcement mentioned the use of the WI's handbook On With the Show, for the judging criteria. We must get hold of a copy for any future competitions we enter!