The Golden Bridge Project got off to a slow start in Hartley Wintney and by the time of the official launch at the Village Festival on 13th June the closing date for the first set of entries had passed and that for the second set was only days away. With Staf’s agreement we adapted the initial guidance and placed the ‘Hartley Wintney rules’ on both the HWTA and Golden Bridge websites. An email address dedicated to the Digital Photography strand was created on www.hwta.org.uk.

Publicity for the Photography strand was via standard media:

• the HWTA and Golden Bridge websites
• leaflets handed out at the Village Festival
• interview broadcast twice on Radio HW
• the HWTA notice board
• the HWTA Newsletter

Additionally the strand was publicised:

• to Greenfields School by Gerda Bennett
• to the HWTA membership by email
• to U3A (University of the Third Age)
• to  individual members and friends by telephone

The submission of entries was very slow with the first arriving on 5 September so in the meantime a selection of informal photos taken by myself and others was placed on the website. Further entries arrived during the autumn. When the closing date arrived on 30 November fifty one entries had been received.

We had initially planned to hold a combined Photography and Art exhibition with public participation in choosing the final forty entries to be submitted at the end of the year. However, the number of entries did not warrant such an event and the final forty were selected based on the premise that every entrant must have at least one photograph in the final selection and that the widest representation of the village and surrounding area as a whole was more important than absolute quality.

I believe that the final forty photographs give a good feel and impression of the village and surrounding area. My thanks to all who contributed to the Digital Photography project.

Dave Skellern
Project Manager - Digital Photography