A REPORT ON THE RYEDALE AQUARIST SOCIETY OPEN SHOW 2013

Text and photographs by Dr. David Ford of Aquatic Services

Sunday 19th May was the usual date for the North Yorkshire Aquarium Fish Club, Ryedale Aquarist Society, to hold its Open Show & 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 13 ‘lot’ Auction, with 213 exhibits entered over 40 Classes in the Open Show- more than previous years at this venue.

  

The busy auction

There was hot & cold food available all day and an aquarium accessories  stand by Fishphilosophy of Worksop. Many sponsors supplied prizes and free samples for this Open Show including Seaquarium, Waterlife, Reef One, JMC, Ferrybridge Aquatics, SAK fish foods, as well as the FBAS Support Packs by Tetra and Hagen.

 Part of the busy Show hall.

Judging of exhibits

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 main  results were:-

Best in Show - Mr. & 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.

The Best in Show winning cichlid.

Show Secretary Mr. David Marshall asked if I would thank, on behalf of the Ryedale members, the small army of helpers from both the Y.A.A.S. and Caer Urfa (South Shields) A.S. for their wonderful help, the exhibitors who brought along their best fish, the people who brought their auction ‘lots’, aquatic industry and tourist attractions for their generous support, to all the friends of the Society who made the journey to take part in the day and the large number of interested visitors from the Ryedale area and beyond who came along to view the fish exhibits.

As stated, 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 from www.ryedaleaquaristsociety.co.uk .

A special open event will be held on Sunday 8th September 2013 when the Ryedale A.S. will be holding a 'Fun Day' at Middleton Village Hall, Pickering, N. Yorks

YO18 8PA. Start time 10.00am. 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. 10 Class fish Open Show plus much more.