I think it's fair to say that the Christmas Dinner on the evening of Sunday 14th December 2008 at the Bluebell Inn, Werrington Green was a great success and that all that attended really enjoyed the evening.

The evening also incorporated the presentation of the awards from the Club’s Photo Show that had been held in October and the Grand Christmas Raffle, where some outstanding prizes ensured that ticket sales were keeping the treasurer busy.

For those outside of the club and reading this who may not be aware, the Photo Show had required Club Chairman, David Pope, and Vice-Chairman, Paul Frankum, visiting the ponds of all members that had entered and photographing, measuring and classifying the koi, so that this year’s BKKS Judge, Christine Woolger, would have the best information available when making her decisions. It was an extremely long day with the first koi being photographed as the sun appeared over the horizon and the last being snatched just before it disappeared again that evening.

At the conclusion of the day’s activities, a total of 88 Koi had been photographed and entered into the show. The paperwork was prepared and sent off with photos to Christine to make her decisions.

Whilst the photos were away being judged, it was time to concentrate on the Christmas Function and the accompanying raffle. Once again there were extremely generous donations of prizes from members of the koi industry and club members alike and this ensured the greatest selection of prizes the club had ever assembled.

Regular supporters of the clubs activities such as Kusuri , Isle of Ely Koi , Nishikoi , Richdon Koi , NT Labs and Avenue Fisheries were joined in the donation of prizes this year by Evolution Aqua , Oase , Coastal Koi , Koi Magazine and The Nottingham Koi Co.

The evening of the dinner arrived and club members turned up early (well, most of us did ;-) to take a final opportunity to purchase raffle tickets at the gentle insistence of young Amber Kirkbright, who ensured no-one made it to their seat before finding out where they could purchase more tickets.

The Photo Show prize giving was interspersed with the courses of the meal and the major awards went to: David Pope – Grand Champion (Kohaku) Matt & Lynette Hall – Baby Champion (Kohaku) Matt & Lynette Hall – Young Champion (Sanke) Derek Taylor – Adult Champion (Showa) David Pope – Mature Champion (Sanke) Steve Gibson – Jumbo Champion (Kawarimono) The winners all received suitable trophies with the Grand Champion Trophy being sponsored by Isle of Ely Koi and the other trophies being sponsored Coastal Koi. Tetra UK also very generously provided food prizes to the numerous prize winners, which was greatly appreciated by all.

Matt & Lynette also picked up an amazing 5 Best in Variety Awards and as the clubs longest serving members it was great to see that the current activities still engage them fully. As the evening approached it’s conclusion it was time to move on to the raffle and with so many prizes on offer, a slick operation by Jan Jack, the club treasurer, ably supported by Amber, was needed.

The majority of club members attending the dinner were lucky enough to pick up at least one prize and the star prizes were also split, with an Evolution Aqua Eazy Pod being won by Jason Taylor, and a Oase Pondovac 3 being won by Rob and Jan Jack as seen in the pictures above. The club would like to thank all the generous sponsors for both the Photo Show and the Christmas Raffle and the record takings from the raffle will ensure another successful year for the club next year with many events already planned.

Full details of the Photo Show results can be found by clicking here, whilst the photos of the koi and images from the evening can be found by clicking here .

Anyone interested in joining the club should contact Club Chairman David Pope at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or telephone 07943 730752