A view of Westmorland

I have often heard that the town of Kendal has a picturesque setting. I had never seen it, my previous visits having been in the rain or at night. The forecast for our game at Kendal Town was for bright weather, so I took an early train and went to Windermere. Being unable to see a hill without wondering what is at the top, I walked up to Orrest Head, where the advertised views were most definitely available.

Returning to Kendal, the day was still bright and sunny, but the west of the ground has a stand and a number of trees, so there were plenty of shadows. I usually just need to use the automatic settings on Nikon ViewNX 2 to convert my files from raw to jpeg for processing. I sometimes wonder whether it would be easier to shoot in jpeg and let the camera do the work, but ViewNX 2 makes use of the computer's processing power and not having to deliver a result in a second or so. In some high contrast situations, I need to work on raw files manually, and this time I used the facility for 15 - 20 frames.

Phil Bannister

In some locations, the players cast strong shadows on themselves.

Ben Cartwright

Now that Brian Richardson had seen the squad for training we were expecting a few changes. The only new(ish) face was goalkeeper Phil Priestly, who played in the Liverpool Senior Cup semi final in July, but has been with Skelmersdale United in the meantime.

Phil Priestly

James McCulloch was in midfield, having played in defence so far this season. He has played there before, but has been accustomed to midfield in recent years, and looked particularly effective on this occasion.

James McCulloch

Dominic Marie was on the bench: having joined in pre season, he was making his first competitive appearance.

Dominic Marie

The hosts made the most of the terrain, as you expect the home side to do - I still remember with some bewilderment the Cables manager a few years ago who said our pitch made it difficult to play our preferred game. They got the ball downhill as quickly as possible, endangering our goal, and, even when we cleared, making us tire ourselves chasing it back uphill. It was effective, giving them two goals.

Garry Williams emerged at half time to brief the substitutes that we would attempt the same in the second half - he also briefed me, as he thought it might be good for a few photos. He was right on that, assisted by my taking up position in the bottom corner of the ground, and by the floodlights being switched on during half time.

Jacob Jones

It took longer to work in the footballing sense, with the hosts scoring another before we were able to break our own drought, with Lloyd Dean scoring on 67 minutes.

Lloyd Dean

Despite keeping up the pressure, we were unable to add to this.

It is sometimes said that in this country we do not take cold seriously. I remember a few years ago visiting Helsinki over the second weekend in September: when I arrived on Thursday there were plenty of short sleeves, by Monday everyone was in seriously warm looking coats. Following a mild October, I did not realise how quickly the temperature had dropped, so I was slow to adopt extra layers and gloves. I declined the offer of another lift from the Johnstones, having in mind a pint or two in the Ring O'Bells with their local ales and open fire. I needed it by the time I got there, I had lost feeling to the extent I needed to pick my first pint up from the bar with both hands.

The rest of the pictures can be seen on the club website here, and on Google Photos here.

Final score: Kendal Town 3 Prescot Cables 1 (Dean)