Worries about clashes with a festival for 'foodies', plus other fish shows in Scotland, appeared to be unfounded as the Ryedale AS Open Show at the weekend was a busy one - with more entries than previously seen at this venue and standing room only at the auction, reports Dr David Ford.
Sunday, May 19 was the usual date for the North Yorkshire Fish Club, Ryedale Aquarist Society, to hold its Open Show and Auction...held as before in the Old Malton Memorial Hall in Malton ("no smoking and no alcohol", but two large halls and good parking).
However, the Club Committee were worried about attendance because it coincided with the annual Malton Food Lovers Festival (over 150 stalls of exotic foods from Yorkshire and the World) and Scottish clubs' Open Shows, taking aquarists from Cumbria and Teesside as well as Scotland. But there are many supporters of this busy Club and over 100 turned up for the auction (pictured at the top of the page) with 213 entries in the 40 Classes — more than previous years at this venue.
There was hot and cold food available all day and a stand by Fishphilosophy. Many sponsors supplied prizes and free samples for this OS including Seaquarium, Waterlife, Reef One, JMC, Ferrybridge Aquatics, SAK fish foods, as well as the FBAS Support Packs by Tetra and Hagen.
Ryedale AS is actually part of the Yorkshire Association of Aquarist Societies and it was their judges that pointed the fish: Trish Jones, Trevor Douglas, Kevin Webb and Paul Brown.
The results were:
Best in Show - Mr. and Mrs. Nelson with a Metriaclima (Pseudotropheus) lombardoi that scored 86.6 points. Ashby Fishkeepers.
1st Runner-up - Mr. Alan Northcliffe with a Protopterus annectens that scored 86.4 points. Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society.
2nd Runner-up - Mr. Dave Kirk with a Hara longissima 86.33 points. Ferrybridge Aquatics Show Team.
Best Exhibit - Mr. Kerry Hardy with a pair of Betta albimarginata. Sheaf Valley Aquarist Society.
Best Goldfish - Mr. Jim Haworth. Castleford Aquarist Society.
Ryedale AS is a busy fish club and if you are a Northern aquarist you would be welcome at their monthly meetings - the venues change but are always around the Pickering area. Details are available on the Ryedale AS website.
Diary date: Fun day in September
A special meeting will be on Sunday, September 8 when there will be a 'Fun Day' at Middleton Village Hall, Pickering, N. Yorks YO18 8PA. Start time 10am. Reptile and amphibian expert Mr. Martin Lees will present a talk entitled 'creating a vivarium with running water' and the PRO from The Deep at Hull will be presenting a talk on the work of the aquarium. There will be a 10 Class fish Open Show, plus much more.
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