OTLEY AQUARISTS 25TH OPEN SHOW AND AUCTION

When we decided to make our 25th show are last little did we realise what a brilliant day it would be.

During the week before I had so many phone calls that we decided to book in lots for the auction by Saturday evening we had 22 lots and by the time our auctioneer Steve Moorhouse came in we had 28 lots and what some lots, fish, plants, equipment and even extra large garden plants. Auction runners were members of the club with Steve Grant lifting up and identifying fish.

People started to book in from about 10.30 and by the time to close the book we had 360 fish booked in. This is the highest number of exhibits for several years. The judges were Trevor Douglas, Edward Cheetham, Mick Price and Trish Jones as "A" class and David Marshall as "B" class. With the help of Steve Jones doing judges runner, Cliff and Marion doing a good job with the cards and white sheets. All judges remarked about the quality and variety of fish shown.

Both the photographic class and the craft class had good entries. The craft class was judged by Joan Douglas and Sue Marshall.

Before Judging started there were a few thanks to be given to the Judges who had all judged at all our open shows over the years, Trevor and Edward having judged at every one. All judges were given a memento of the day along with other helpers.

The raffle was tremendous with friends bringing prizes for us and ending up with 48 very nice gifts, the first a computer was won by Les from Horsforth who had only joined the club a few weeks ago. There was also a fluffy teddy with a bottle of champers this was won by Shirley Nelson. The tombola stall was also a great success which was run by Jannine Moorhouse with a little help from her granddaughter.

The refreshments were served by Susan Grayson and Margaret Hudson and the ladies were kept busy all day.

Best in show was won by K and D Lawton from Wyke Show Society.

Best exhibit was won by our Lancashire friend Bob Barnes from Greater Manchester Cichlid Society

.Over the years we have made many friends through the shows and meetings and have lots of wonderful memories. The night before we had been remembering along with our daughter Judi the 'Good old Days' of the Festivals and over the day lots of people had come up to talk to us also about the festivals, it was a very emotional day but one we will not forget in a hurry
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Thanks to all who came to enjoy our last show, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.