The Gwynfa website has just been updated with the new 2022 Photo-Collage Banners. You can see them above and can click on the little circles if you wish.

For anyone interested in the statisitcs, we used 62% of the images entered into 2021 competitions to create 72 different banners.It took Leigh four hours and five cups of coffee to edit, collate and create (what he hopes are) coherent themed sequences. (Leigh has gone to lie down for a while.)

Thanks to Jonathan Winney for uploading them to the site.

We’ve received some very sad news. Our fellow member, Alan Davies, passed away on Wednesday 5th January after a very short and sudden illness.

Alan, who was a 7th dan black belt in karate, has been a member of Gwynfa since 2014.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

As announced recently, membership renewal for 2022 will be the usual £20.

This year we won’t be asking you for an additional amount to cover the cost of our guest speakers on zoom; we’ll cover those costs from existing funds.

When we return to live meetings, hopefully in the Spring, we’ll be asking you to pay only the usual £2 subscription at each meeting you attend.

If you have not seen the recent emails showing how you can pay, please contact Leigh Woolford for details. (Also check you email jink box as you are all on the mailing list).

As we all know, the pandemic is not over and the situation is unlikely to change significantly in the short term. In preparing for a decision on next year’s meetings, the Committee conducted a straw poll of members views at the AGM on 11 November. With regard to the resumption of face-to-face meetings, the general view at that time seemed to be more negative than positive.

As promised at the AGM, we obtained a copy of the Community Council’s requirements concerning the use of Caerlan Hall for Club meetings. This consists of a detailed risk assessment procedure and a set of specific instructions on the use of the hall mainly regarding cleanliness and assuring the vaccination and (Covid) health status of members attending meetings. This was reviewed by the Committee and was discussed at our meeting on the 23rd of this month.

The Committee is mindful of its responsibilities to Club members and their families in opening-up meetings again when the Covid risk is still present. Accordingly, in the light of heightened concerns as to the current situation, the decision was taken to delay face-to-face meetings until April next year. The situation will be reviewed in March and a decision made on resumption of meetings or not at that time based on the prevailing circumstances.

We are sure that this will disappoint many members as we will not have met for over 2 years! Unthinkable when all this started.

In the light of the decision not to recommence live meetings until April, the membership fee for rejoining in January 2022 will be £20 per year. We will not charge an extra £10 as we did in 2021.

Details of how to rejoin will be circulated in December.

Congratulations go to Gary Welsby for achieving his CPAGB at the recent PAGB APM adjudication.

Gary had to provide 10 images which were assessed by a panel of six Adjudicators selected from the PAGB Approved List of Judges. They can each mark between two and five so the highest score an image can achieve is 30, the lowest 12. To achieve the award, the entrant has to avarage 20 points per image.

If you are interested in trying for this award, please click HERE or read this PDF document.