How it all began
We are grateful to TPS member Steve Elms for the following account of our history.
Steve joined the club in 1983 and served on the committee for 30 years, including 25 years as Club Secretary.
Steve was made an Honorary Life Member of TPS in 2006.
Our History and Origins - The Early Years
Tandridge Photographic Society officially came into existence on 1st September 1999. But there's history before that . . .
Way back, around the turn of the 20th century there was a camera club in Caterham – The Caterham Institute Camera Club. Little is recorded about this earlier club, but we do know that Alec J Braid was associated with it.
Alec J Braid was a journalist who came to Caterham in 1891 to edit the Caterham Free Press newspaper (which was renamed The Caterham Weekly Press) at 47 Croydon Road, Caterham (the site is now occupied by Quadrant House). He was also adept at photography and for a couple of years (1905-1906) he published many of his photographs as postcards. Some of his cards were printed in colour in Germany. Braid left in 1909 to become the manager of the photographic department of the Daily Graphic. He went on to higher things and eventually became Publicity Manager of the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation.
The trophies for two of TPS’s Alec Braid Competitions are a Silver and a Bronze medal. They were awarded to the late Mr Alec Braid, by the Caterham Institute Camera Club, in 1904 (Silver Medal) and 1905 (Bronze Medal). The Medals were donated to Caterham Community Camera Club in 1973 by Mr Alex T Braid (Alec J Braid’s son) to be awarded in competitions on the theme "The Countryside in the UK".
The fate of the Caterham Institute Camera Club is unknown, but possibly the First World War saw its demise?
The present club was formed as the Caterham Community Camera Club (CCCC), on 5th November 1963 after the request to the Caterham Community Association that a camera club be formed was agreed.
A committee was formed and the first meeting was held on 7th January 1964, with 12 attendees. The annual subscription was set at 15/- (7/6d for 14-18’s) and 2/6d Community Association subscription – that’s 75p today! The meetings were fortnightly, alternating Tuesday and Thursday with Tea at 6d and coffee at 9d. The subject of the first meeting was ‘Taking Pictures’. Their first ‘Out and About’ was in July 1964 to Hever Castle. By December 1964 membership was up to 21 full members and 4 junior members.
At the first AGM in January 1965, Mr H J G Phillips was appointed Syllabus Secretary, and 3 members resigned as they ‘were endeavouring to set up a colour group in Chaldon’.
Cine was a feature of the club and the cine section were involved in filming the Caterham Carnival for many years. These carnival films along with members transparencies and films hired from organisations such as the National Trust and RSPB were shown at autumn shows at the Community Centre which attracted 150-200 paying visitors.
An early request was for a darkroom. The Community Association arranged for an outbuilding in the adjacent school’s ground to be converted. How long this was available in unclear, but later club members had access to darkroom facilities at the Marie Curie centre in Caterham Valley and later still at de Stafford School. These facilities were no longer available by 1983.
The 1966 Committee
From the left – Graham Phillips, Mr C Davis, Ken Hughes, Bill Coxhead, Gordon Day and Mr M Newlan. Photo from The Advertiser and County Post, 2nd September 1966 taken by John Hodges (CCCC Secretary). The significance of the hand-drawn beards is unknown!
1967 saw the first female members, when two ladies joined.
CCCC joined the Surrey Photographic Federation (now Surrey Photographic Association) in 1968 and entered their inter-club knockout competitions. CCCC reached the quarter finals in their first year and in subsequent years reached both quarter and semi-finals. CCCC also won the SPF I-C Print section and the transparency section during this time.
In 1974 CCCC were invited by Selsdon Camera Club and Capel Camera Club to replace Dorking Camera Club who had dropped out of their annual (friendly) Tripartite Competition. During the 1990s Photocraft Camera Club replaced Capel Camera Club and then in 1999 Sevenoaks replaced Photocraft CC.
By 1978 membership had reached 56, but then declined to 37 in 1983.
In 1990 the members undertook a photographic record of Tandridge district. The images from this project were mounted on display boards and exhibited at events around the district. NB the display boards are still around.
CCCC held many exhibitions over the years mainly at the Gallery at the Adult Education Centre in Bletchingley, but also at St John’s Church Hall, Caterham and the local libraries.
With the new millennium fast approaching the future of the club was being discussed. At the AGM in May 1999 the members discussed and agreed to change the club’s name to Tandridge Photographic Society from the start of the 1999-2000 season.
Tandridge Photographic Society - The New Millennium
Just before the new millennium, on Thursday 2nd September 1999 the first meeting under the new name of Tandridge Photographic Society took place at the Community Centre, Caterham on the Hill.
During 2000 members embarked on a project to record the Tandridge district at the start of the new millennium.
In February 2001 TPS went online with their first website. And in December 2001, with a grant from Tandridge District Council, TPS purchased a digital camera (a 4MP Canon PowerShot G2) for members to use.
In the summer break the informal summer meetings, originally started by CCCC in the 1960’s, were restarted. The 2001-2 season also saw the Alec Braid Competitions change from UK Countryside to Urban.
In 2003 TPS were awarded an Awards for All Grant which was used to fund a photographic project at the recently extended Orpheus Centre in Godstone. TPS members photographed the students, their activities and the centre. A selection of the images was printed, framed and hung on the bare walls of the main corridor of the new wing.
In 2003 TPS also received a request for assistance from the Crystal Palace museum in rescuing a stereo pair of photographs on glass plates from their collection. Marcus Scott-Taggart, TPS’s Chairman, was able to assist with the restoration and printing of the images. Subsequently Marcus undertook the challenge of scanning some very rare early colour transparencies of the interior of the building.
To celebrate the club’s 40th Anniversary, in October 2004 an Open Day and taster workshops were held at Caterham URC. Then on Christmas Day the chairman, Marcus Scott-Taggart, was on BBC local radio station advising listeners on how to get the best from their Christmas present cameras.
In 2005 a group of TPS members were involved with another project at the Orpheus Centre in Godstone, this time helping students with their Fashion Show. Photos were taken during the afternoon practice run and quickly made into an AV that was projected as the backdrop to the evenings Fashion Show. Also, in 2005 Graham Phillips (son of Mr H J G Phillips who were both founding members of CCCC) returned to the club to present the Graham Phillips Trophy, to be awarded annually by the members for service to the club.
In 2006 TPS had another successful Awards for All Grant application. This grant funded a laptop computer and a data projector which triggered the start of the switch from transparencies to digital images in competitions. The year also saw TPS’s first association with FlickR.
In 2007 TPS were the overall winner of the Surrey Photographic Association’s Inter-Club Print Competition.
2008 started with the club running ‘Chinese Whispers II’. Then in May TPS were runner-up in the SPA’s Inter-Club Print Competition. Also, the Cloquet Competitions were used to test the interest for a Natural History competition.
August Bank Holiday Monday saw the club’s first attendance at the Godstone Fête and Donkey Derby with a display of Member’s prints. But the crowning glory of the year was TPS winning the Tripartite Competition, for the first time in living memory!
In 2009 TPS first entered the Glennie Natural History Salon run by the Merrimack Valley Camera Club of North Andover, MA, USA. TPS were placed 14th of the 95 world wide clubs participating.
In 2010 TPS were again runner-up in the SPA’s Inter-club Competition, but this year in the PDI class. Then SPA changed the way the Inter-Club Competitions were to be run in future.
2011 saw the first Brighton Fotothon. Two TPS members won categories in the judging and their images were used in the 2012 Fotothon Calendar.
TPS represented SPA at the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain’s Inter-Club PDI Competition in 2012. Then it was all change – after almost 50 years at the Caterham Community Centre home, over the summer TPS transferred to the White Hart Barn in Godstone.
2013 was the 50th Anniversary of the formation of the club. The keystone event of the celebrations was an evening with Charlie Waite, the internationally renowned landscape photographer, in November. This was very popular with over 200 members and guests attending the event held at Caterham School’s auditorium. Another event was a weekend away at Rye in April. Although not as popular as the Charlie Waite evening, it was a very enjoyable weekend. Also, a Photobook of member’s images was produced to commemorate the anniversary year.
In January 2015 the TPS365 group started on FlickR with 9 members attempting to post one image per day for the whole year.
Then in 2016 TPS 365 continued and was joined a second FlickR group for those members who wanted to post on image per week. Also, in 2016 TPS upgraded their Data Projector.
The 2019-20 season was the 21st year under the Tandridge Photographic Society name. What a year that proved with Covid-19 causing all meetings from March being cancelled. Not to be stopped the programme was rearranged to be on-line only meetings.
What will the future hold for TPS……….?