Australia connection.

PARKSTONE v AUSTRALIA???

Some of you may have been wondering how it is that a small camera club like ours is engaged in holding international photographic competitions with Australia.

Well, I have to confess that it is all because of ME.

In 2007, I decided to visit my brother who lives in a town called Port Macquarie, about 200 miles north of Sydney. Now, he is my one and only brother and I have no sisters so, as we are both getting on a bit, I felt it was time to brave the long journey to catch up with him and his family. At that time, spread out between Port Macquarie, Melbourne and Sydney, he had a wife, four wonderful daughters, several sons-in-law, ten grandchildren and one great-granddaughter (Now, there are two more great-grandchildren to add to the list!).

I only had three weeks to visit them all but I had the most wonderful holiday. Everywhere I went and whoever I met, I was treated like a Queen. However, the bit that concerns Parkstone Camera Club is when I was staying with one niece in Sydney and I asked if I could possibly attend a meeting of the North Sydney Leagues Club. I was welcomed very warmly by the members of that club and it was an extremely pleasant evening. I felt that the pictures judged that night were on the whole a bit better than our own offerings but, when their President asked me if Parkstone would be interested in "twinning" with them and holding competitions, I didn’t hesitate to agree to look into the proposition.

The rest is history. Luckily, our Committee were keen to support the idea and now, after months of hard work behind the scenes, we are actually launched in our international competition project.

I find it all very exciting and I hope you do too.

Sheila Brown