Brief Club History

  In March 1960 in the small Bedfordshire village of Shillington sixteen amateur photographers met in what was known as “the ex-serviceman's hut” and decided to form “Shillington and District Camera Club”.  Meetings were arranged and were soon held in the Village Hall.

 Club meetings were held fortnightly and activities centered on talks by eminent photographers, members' competitions based on set subjects and meetings with other clubs; a club outing was arranged and this was followed by an exhibition of members' work which became an annual event. This pattern of activities has endured and remains the essence of what we still do today.

 From the start, the Club had affiliated to the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) through the East Anglian Federation of Photographic Societies (EAF).  From about 1970, we began to take an interest in wider photographic matters particularly with the EAF and regional and national competitions. Over the years, several members have served on the Executive Committee and we have provided four Presidents of the Federation.

 Another part of our programmes has been social events and in 1975 we decided to self-cater a dinner and barn dance for members and guests; this was successful for many years and lasted until 1994 when the organising committee which had served during this time reluctantly retired.

 Our silver jubilee season in 1985 was an extensive celebratory programme of weekly meetings featuring the best in amateur photography and since then we have continued to meet weekly.

 From 1985 to 1995 we enjoyed considerable success in PAGB print and slide competitions and during that period the club was awarded five gold medals, five silver medals, three bronze medals and various ribbons.

 After many years our meeting premises eventually became unsuitable for our needs and a major decision was taken to relocate to Barton Village Hall in 2009.  Despite some misgivings the outcome has been positive and we have continued to prosper as we move towards our diamond jubilee in 2020.

 As with all technological changes, digital photography has revolutionised how we produce images but not what we produce. Fundamentally, we aim to inform and entertain our members and, above all, to promote photography as a hobby for fun and enjoyment.