IT'S SHOW TIME

Not long back - well, long enough to have a nice cup of tea.

I agree with Ken - there was a real lack of Phil's presence there all day but I am delighted that the Club dedicated the whole thing to his memory.

But - and it's a huge but - as well as all the thanks to the "usual suspects" from the ITFS he mentions to this must be mentioned all the behind-the-scenes help given, not least by himself, but also by other LFKS members as well. You know who you are lads - thanks very much.

Speaking of which (or should I have said 'of whom') I was most perturbed to see that Acara failed to sweep the board of raffle prizes as in previous Shows, but fear not Dave, in the words of the old saying - "What goes around, comes around" (no, I don't understand that either).

I eventually got to meet Sean (Blue Ram) and we had a great chat, along with being able to catch up with Des, Dave (DJK), Gavin, M4rio, Adrian etc, etc.
I was delighted to see Valerie there, in such good form, as well. Ian and Justine were there, I'm sure they took their share of awards
Andrew's new automated entries system worked very well and I'm sure he'll even try to 'polish' out the few irregularities which did surface.

All in all another great Show - it will be hard to improve on this year's one, but I expect the Show Committee will do their level best to try!

All in all, a great day, I'm already counting the weeks until the next one comes along.

Thanks to EVERYBODY who made this happen - you're all stars!!!

John

In my earlier diatribe I totally forgot to send heartiest congratulations to the owner of the magnificent Snakehead (I think it was Fei) for winning the Phil Kearney "Best In Show" award for 2012.
Some of you will know my affection for the smaller Snakeheads so it was doubly good for me to see this fish having won.
It was truly a lovely specimen and I am totally envious of someone to be owning such a lovely fish (I must try to get hold of some for a future breeding project).

John

Some great snaps there Des - I hope you saved your best for the Show Photocomp though?

I did get as far as taking my camera out of its case, but when it came down to it, I never actually got around to taking it into the Show room - too busy 'jawing' to as many people who wanted to talk to me!

John

This is from Daragh Owens - he has mislaid his log-in details as he is at work so has sent his contribution for me to enter on his behalf:



First chance to say something about the Show on the weekend. I have not being on the forum for so long I have forgotten may password, but despite rumours circulating at the show that I no longer keep freshwater and have migrated to the dark side of marines I have to state that I have four marine tanks which I love, though my first love is still freshwater and I have over 20 freshwater tanks and a Koi pond, so with that rumour quenched back to the show. Where to start. I think everyone would agree it was a great success, jut like last time the sun shone for the whole weekend, despite our pleadings for a few showers to increase visitor numbers! I entered no fish this year, I think I had 27 or so last time around and when Sunday afternoon came around I regretted not having entered a few at least, it makes it more interesting.

Sadly we missed Phil Kearney this year, it was great that his sister came along and was able to see the new Best Fish in Show Trophy created in Phil's memory, the Phil Kearney Best Fish in Show Perpetual Trophy will be presented annually. There were 168 fish entered in 20 classes with places awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd for each plus Best Fish in Show and First Reserve Fish in Show, that's a lot or awards and a lot of judging, the mind boggles when you think that each entry is judged under 6 headings including the fish's measurement, so the new online registration system initiated by Andrew was a gift to the judges. At 8am on Sunday morning we were presented with printed out sheets for each class with the species, common name, show size etc and just had to fill in the scores, a huge improvement over previous years, although I know Andrew was there all Saturday night getting the sheets ready! There were a few other volunteers that did the overnight shift ensuring everything would be ready for Sunday and keeping an eye on all our charges. I am delighted to say that there were no losses again this year, in the recent show history we have not lost one fish, that's remarkable. We had a few resuscitations to perform when some fish arrived but they were all successful and all went home alive Sunday evening.

There was a great variety of fish on show, as usual the Cichlids and Catfish classes were large as expected, a pleasant surprise with the increase in the number of entries in the Anabantoid (Bettas) section, I think there were nearly twenty entries there. If I remember correctly one of the smallest classes at the last show was the Livebearers and it was the same this year with, Andrew will correct me if I am wrong, three entries and three entries in the Livebearer Breeders Group classes, I think this is a great example of how we should be promoting the show to more hobbyists, it is not just for experienced fishkeepers, there is loads of scope for beginners. Before I get into trouble, I would point out that Livebearers are not just for beginners, but I am suggesting that anyone could enter a guppy, a platy (there were none) a molly, an endler or a gold fish. A special mention must go to some of the more unusual fish entered, particularly some of the monsters entered by Des, it was great to see some of the more unusual species presented for the show, it must have been a nightmare trying to catch and bag some of the more spiky characters. It's not everyday you will see an Amazon Monster fish (even if he was much smaller and quieter than his name would suggest) or a Megalodoras irwini! There were some great entries in the coldwater section too, including the ever popular frogs! We had an invert class too, another area with great scope as there were only three entries, there are lots of fishkeepers with shrimps and crayfish, they can come to the show too! The HSI stand proved very popular with visitors too including some ridiculously large (to my mind) hairy legged spiders and the much more attractive (to me anyway) tree frogs, thanks to Ian and Justine for a great display. There were some great offers from Sponsors, without their support it would be very difficult to put on a show, so I hope they have a good day with plenty of sales. Some great bargains were to be had at the book sale, the ITFS Library was sold off and so was the Library of Phil Kearney which included a huge selection of books both recent and very old, something to interest everyone. There were some great raffle prizes too, and there was a good chance for everyone to win as Dave's (Acara) streak of luck seems to have abandoned him. My personal luck improved this year from a free hair do won at the last show, which to anyone who knows me would understand how useless that was to a collection of scented candles this year, why can't I win one a the several tanks raffled or one of a the many huge buckets of food!! One lucky punter went home with two tank - congrats. There were a few bottles of whiskey too, I hope they found a good home.

The two key essentials for a show to happen, apart from the fish are the volunteers and the visitors, some of which travelled from Cork, Tipperary and Galway! Thank you to all the volunteers, several of whom were there all day Saturday and Sunday and to those that worked through Saturday night as well. This year I actually got home to bed for about 5 hours which was a massive improvement on previous shows. For those that just arrive when the show opened Sunday afternoon and go again it is vital that you understand the work that goes on beforehand and after, the hall has to be returned to its regular function as a community centre, it opens for business at 9am on Monday morning so Sunday night the hall has to be cleared, cleaned, floors washed, all the tables and chairs etc put back in position and a hundred more jobs, including returning all the staging and tanks to storage in Bray, none of which anyone wants to do at the end of a very long weekend, so please remember all the work that goes into putting on an Open Show.

Finally a mention to the fish, the Best in Show was awarded to a stunning snakehead, I definitely thought about pinching him a few times, it was a close call against another fine specimen, the winner of the catfish category, a gorgeous green phantom. So what will win next time, will it be one of your fish?


Daragh

That was a great analysis of the Show Daragh - I couldn't have put it better myself!

Thanks (I cannot technically send a 'thankyou' as I posted it on your behalf).

John

As with the last Show Daragh Owens did a 'time-lapse' film of the preparations and some of the actual Show.

Here is the link to it on youtube



See if you can identify yourself...

Thanks go to Daragh for taking the trouble and for the effort he has put into editing, etc, the frames into a watchable 2.35minute film.

John

I think that's the fastest either I or Derek (with his dodgy foot) have ever moved!!!



John