With apologies to Caravaggio . . . the President’s Prize for “Best attempt to entertain” goes to the Gibson family for their recreation of “Salome with the head of John the Baptist”. NIVA is signing off on this event for 2020 and hopes that all of the fabulous entries made you smile this summer!
Luke Gamble of Worldwide Veterinary Service is used to assessing pets but nevertheless was almost flummoxed when asked to compare them to their owners. Luke kindly adjudicated the final class of the Virtual Village Fete – Class 7 – Pet most like its owner. Here are the results!
In third place, a good likeness though “not quite hairy enough” – its John Hill entered by Susie Hill. Its hard to believe but Susie says they are both both wilful and difficult at times!
In second place, a merging of dog and owner, its Susie Hill and Annie!
And in first place, a deserving winning entry from Rachael Frew, its Otis and Jeff – but which one is Otis and which one is Jeff?
The similarities are unmistakable! Well done to all entrants in this and all of the other classes. If you had even half the fun compiling your entries that we (VetNI) had opening them, then we must formally declare this Virtual Village Fete a resounding success. Roll on next year’s event!
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have realised that there are two NIVA Virtual Village Fete classes whose winners have not been announced. This was due to the busy lifestyle of the judges that we approached. TV vet Luke Gamble of the Worldwide Veterinary Service is obviously a very busy man too, yet he kindly found time to adjudicate Classes 5 and 7 for us. Thanks Luke! Watch his adjudication of both classes HERE.
As a reminder, the lockdown task in Class 5 was to recreate a famous artwork or celebrity photograph using whoever and whatever was available in the home or workplace. One family excelled at this task – its almost a clean sweep!
In joint third place, two entries that both revel in the macabre . . . Susan Cunningham managed to persuade her son Hugh to replicate Death of Marat by Jaques-Louis David and Jo Gibson arranged her family to recreate Caravaggio’s “Salome with the head of John the Baptist”
In second place, another stunning entry from Susan as the Cunningham boys – Hugh, Ralph and Miles – brilliantly re-create the Bronte “sisters” as painted by their brother Branwell.
and in first place (can you spot the trend?!) Susan Cunningham and family trip down the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz. The “real” lion is husband Johnny, taking a break from practising the Welly Darts.
Congratulations to all our entrants, most of whom were Cunninghams – now that’s a family that enjoys dressing up!
Due to the present COVID situation, The North of Ireland Veterinary Golf Society Autumn Outing due to be held in September has with regret been cancelled. Therefore the Jim McDowell trophy and BOCM cup will not be played for this year.
Bert Allison will be continuing his role as Captain in 2021.
Covid Cake – now this would have been the class to judge provided all the entries could be tasted! Sadly our celebrity adjudicator had to make his choice from a beautiful range of cakes based entirely on photographic evidence. Our thanks go to chef Paul Rankin for taking the time to judge this class. I’m sure you all have all used some of his recipes or products at one time or another and you can see that he’s a class act in front of the camera from his very watchable adjudication video which can be found HERE.
So . . . in third place, Isla Doherty (5 years old) with a little help from Simon Doherty (much older!)
In second place, Sarah McEvoy (10 years old)
and in first place, Rachael Frew
Don’t they look both beautiful and delicious?! Well done to our winners and to all other entrants.
Stepping forward to judge his second fete class is renowned Irish artist Trevor Brown. What a difficult class to judge! It attracted the second highest number of entries including pottery, drawing, photography, flower arranging, crochet, book art and needle felting. Well done Trevor – how ever did you choose your winners from such a varied array of creativity?!
Trevor says: “In third place, Entry 8 – ‘Needle felted mice gathering provisions for miceolation!’ – So many little details and you can see the amount of work that has gone into this scene.
In second place, Entry 11 – Photography. – Most photographs are happy accidents but you can feel Spring from this photo. The lamb looks content and happy in it’s new world.
And the winner is Entry 9 – ‘A pin cushion, hand thrown pot, pit fired to colour using plants from my garden then needle felted scene.’ – The colours are beautiful and the glazes work really well on this piece. You can see it is made by hand and suits its purpose well.”
So . . . in third place, Eve Young
In second place, Rhonda Shiels
In first place, Eve Young
Congratulations to ALL entrants – we knew you were great vets but you kept your artistic talents hidden from us until now!
DAERA is currently running a UK-wide campaign to raise awareness of the risks of African Swine Fever (ASF) to pigs. Its important that they reach all pig keepers with their messages. Commercial pig keepers are aware of the risks of ASF but the level of awareness amongst small holders/pet pig keepers may not be so high.
DAERA is gather more information which will better inform them on how to support these sectors. They have created a survey which specifically targets small scale pig keepers. Please share this with your full veterinary team and ask them to share the survey with small scale pig holders/pet pig owners.
The survey can be found here and more information is available on the Defra website at the following link Small scale pig keepers ASF survey
DAERA is grateful for your ongoing support with proactive messaging regarding vigilance, early reporting of suspected disease and importance of maintaining biosecurity. Anything we can do to improve our communications will help in keeping this devastating disease out of NI.
Who better to judge Class 2, Art and Craft for artists 10 years old and under, than an established and renowned Irish artist. NIVA thanks Trevor Brown for taking the time to judge both Class 2 and Class 3. Its obvious from his comments (below) that he loved the entries from our younger artists. What a talented bunch . . .
Trevor says “In third place ‘All about the Mournes’ – Great to see what’s beneath our feet, a really informative entry that would grace the walls of any good science class.
In second place ‘The Liraffe (lion- giraffe combination)’ – Animals are always really interesting but made-up ones are even MORE interesting. It also helps that giraffes are my favourite animal.
In first place, ‘The view from my window’ – The composition and the colour really spoke to me from this painting, I love the way the window panes segment the view. “
So . . . in third place, Tilly Little
So . . . in second place, Daisy Little
So . . . in first place, Sarah McEvoy
Congratulations to all our young artists!
For Class 6 – worst lockdown hair or best DIY haircut – no adjudicator was needed! There were NO entries in this class so either you are all too vain to send us your “scarecrow” lock looks or you are so good with the clippers and scissors that you thought we would doubt the picture was taken during lockdown. So as not to disappoint totally, we include a picture of a four legged friend having a bad hair day . . .
NIVA’s thanks go to Duane Fitzsimons for guiding a select group of social-distanced NIVA walkers around the Lecale peninsula. The feedback has been universally positive – scenery, sunshine, flora, fauna, and local history all conspired to provide a memorable day out. A repeat is planned on this same route for a second group of walkers on 22nd August. If you are interested in attending, e-mail info@vetni.co.uk. We think the pictures speak for themselves!
