1939

The War Years

In spite of the atmosphere it was agreed to proceed with the 1939/40 syllabus. One of the arranged talks was by “Carbro Autotype Limited”, unfortunately the season never got off the ground, hostilities being declared.
One interesting fact is in the minutes on January 16 1939, and I quote “Proposed by Mr Lubbock, seconded by Mr Fry, that the booking fee for the use of the darkroom be increased to 2s/6d (l3p) from 2s/0d (10p) per session and door keys 1s/0d (5p) from 6d (3p)”.

The minutes of the 51st AGM were never entered in the book and eventually written off as lost.

The club declined in September 1939, and it finally closed down in January 1940, with the premises given up. The premises, in the terms of the lease, should have been returned in the state in which they were taken, to have done this would have cost between £25.00 and £30.00, if you could have got it done, due to the hostilities, this was never pursued. A quote from the minute book, “What apparatus that could be salvaged was scattered amongst members, the other fittings were sold to the “Portsmouth Welfare Association” - for the young for the sum of £5.00, the offer was take it or leave it, so it was accepted.
Chas Fry and some of the members didn’t agree with closing down, which was at Percy Bishops insistence, and arranged to meet at Russells the Photographers in Osborne Road, Southsea, until January 1941, when the premises were bombed. The club then moved to Chas Fry’s premises until the end of 1943 when it finally closed for the duration of the war.

1945

After the conflict.

The club was reformed in 1945. After a long search for suitable premises and talking to the city librarian, Mr Sargent, the club re-opened at the Carnegie Library in Fratton Road, on Thursday 25th October, with 29 members being present.

“Printing” by Jim Hewes.
I knew Jim for many years, he was a very lively character who gave full value when he gave a talk, unlike many ‘pros’ he was always willing to tell how he went about his task. There were no secrets with Jim!

“Colour Photography” by M Bradshaw-Bond.
BB, as he was called was completely colour blind, but managed to produce some remarkable colour prints. Apparently he would ask his wife when having a printing session what she thought of them. She was Housemaster of the Girls High School in Gosport. BB, a scientist with an enquiring mind, could always be relied upon to produce some little trick to amuse the natives.

The 52nd Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 22nd November 1945. There were 45 members in attendance. The rules drawn up by the acting committee were approved by the members.
The Treasurers report showed a total of £26-18s-3d (£26.92p) in the kitty, from all sources. The acting President Mr WC Webb, was confirmed as President for the year.
Mr Fry handed over £5.00 to the treasurer, being the balance from the war time meetings that he had run during the hostilities.

There followed a precedent which seems to have prevailed for many years in the club, an obsession with the club rules. The rules passed last week at the AGM, were examined by the committee, and a revised set was to be offered to the general meeting to be held on 13th December to approve same. This was done and unanimously passed by the 33 members present. Times never change do they?

1946
January 24 1946
“Cruising in ltaly” by Rex Verry ARPS.
This was a farewell visit by a regular member of the club. Rex was leaving to take up residence in London as photographic advisor to HM Treasury. Rex gave a Lantern Plate lecture of his travels in Italy. After the lecture he presented the lantern that he had used to the club as a farewell gift. This lantern could project both lantern plates and miniature slides. The lantern is still in use today (1993) on the odd occasion when we show old lantern plates.
Rex still kept in touch with the club, both as a lecturer and a judge. He was a delightful Character, who in spite of his ‘exalted’ office talked about photography as an equal, and was sadly missed as a very energetic back room boy.

February 19 1946
At a committee meeting it was decided to hold an exhibition for members only at the Carnegie Library from 11 to 18 May, with Cecil Davies being asked to judge it.

September 1946
The rules for competition to be drawn up and put to the AGM, it being agreed to use the club funds for prizes of £1.00, 15/- (75p) and 10/- (50p).

September 24 1946
The night of the Annual General Meeting. This must have been a very drawn out meeting as it covers 4 pages in the minute book!
The treasurers report is of interest, last year we commenced with a balance of £31-18s-3d (£31.92p). Total income for the year was £112-13s-9d (£l12.69p) less expenses of £21-7s-0d (£21.35), leaving a balance of £91-6s-9d (£9l.34p), giving a total of £123-5s-0d (£l23.25p). The President observed that it was important to have a good  reserve, so as to work towards our own quarters.

October 1946
“Indoor Portraiture” by Kodak Limited.
This was all about available light portraiture. How to make the best of windows and reflectors? The use of newspapers, as a means of getting detail in the shadows was suggested, and of course the use of the correct Kodak films.

December 1946
“Photographic Discussion” by Charles Fry.
This was a sort of workshop talk in, in which members brought in prints and negatives for discussion. Chas would tell members where in his opinion they could have been improved or praise the good points as necessary.

1947

Owing to the difficulties over a suitable venue, it was agreed to hold the 1947 Annual Exhibition at the Carnegie Library again.
This was the year that I joined the club at Chas Fry’s insistence. Jim Hewes, who had talked to the club in the past, also joined. There were also two more who joined in the same year, Ron Cake and Frank Clements. Jim and Ron couldn’t have been further apart. Jim turned out to be a real live wire, he was inclined to tread on the odd persons toes, whereas Ron was the quiet one, but both turned out to be excellent photographers.

March 1947
This was a two part evening, the first half was spotting by Chas Belcher. He was a very complicated character with a volatile nature. The second half was a Mr EC Laming, he was not a club member, but a local ‘pro’. Chas Belcher was showing how to ‘spot’ prints whilst Mr Laming showed working on the negative. The evening began peaceably enough, but as it went on the two speakers began to make snide remarks to each other, which as the evening wore on got rather heated. I was sitting with a couple of new boys like myself, wondering what was going to happen next. I recall that one of my colleagues whispered that maybe someone will thump someone! Anyway the President called them to order saying that this was not a debating society and would they please get back to photography. Great stuff’!!

At a committee meeting it was decided to set up a library, and charge a penny per week, Lieutenant Commander Mills offered to try and set it up.
It was also agreed to enter the Photographic Alliance, Print and Slide Competition.
We made a loss on the exhibition of £2-lls-2d (£2.58p), due to a mistake in the printing costs. This was my first exhibition AND I had a print accepted. Fantastic!!! I attended the judging of the exhibition, I was amazed with it all. I realised that I was very lucky to get a print hung. There was no making sure that you had “something in”, like today.

September 1947
“Print Control” by MP Wooller ARPS
Mr Wooller was a member of the Petersfield Club and was also an established artist, the things that he did to prints had to be seen to be believed. He showed a series of before and after prints, showing how he had transformed them. Another marvellous evening.

October 1947
35mm Photography by Lancelot Vining FRPS, FlBP
Lancelot Vining was one of those real characters around in those days, sadly they have all gone now, with no replacements, more’s the pity. I remember that talk about using a Contax camera was an eye opener, with the whole evening peppered with stories of his life as a Fleet Street Photographer. I still recall very vividly when on a later visit, I had a meal with him, over which he retold more of his stories, some of which I still remember.

1948

This was the Diamond Jubilee year of the club. The Annual Exhibition was held at the now defunct Castle Tea Rooms from May 9 to 19 inclusive. The judge was Dudley Johnson, and was opened by Dr Bosworth-Wright, Chairman of the Southsea Beach and Publicity Committee.

January 12 1948
There was a rather strange proposition in the minutes. It was “that all entries to exhibition be presented to a selection committee, to eliminate those not up to standard”. This caused a very lively discussion ending with it being soundly defeated. ALL entries must be presented to the judge.
There were two habitual complainers at the time, Charlie Belcher and Arthur Purches. Charlie was the lesser of the two antagonists, Arthur was way out on his own. I am surprised he ever joined any club. Anyway these two had some complaints regarding the Winter Syllabus, so a committee meeting was called for the following week.

January 19 1948
The meeting was a somewhat protracted affair resulting in the following statement, “Owing to the dissatisfaction of some members, it was proposed that a sub committee be formed to work out a syllabus that will satisfy everybody. The poor syllabus secretary was reprimanded but not disrated. It would appear that the problem arose because he had withheld the name of Basil Bailey of London from the programme, as he thought it would be a nice surprise for club members.

February 1948
“Camera versus Crime” by Detective Sergeant George Taylor.
George was known as a ‘character’, he certainly was one! The members were entertained by his way of expressing things. He showed a lot of Black and White lantern plates, many of which depicted the seamier side of crime, knives in bodies and that sort of thing. His manner was such that it didn’t offend anybody. Sid Woodruffe who was also a copper, said that he new George, who was respected by all that knew him.

April 19 1948
It was agreed to support the Amateur Photographers “OUR TOWN” competition of 50 prints from each club.
Oh dear!, I well remember this. We ended up with a collection of 50 prints of all sizes from 10” x 8” down to half plate, all colours and all surfaces, inclusive of black spots and white spots. Myself (Buck) with Jim and Molly Hewes spent all one Sunday spotting them and dealing with the black spots (they had to be in the post by Monday morning).
When the result came out we were THIRD - from bottom and in the judges report it read “I congratulate the artist who turned all the black spots into birds, very well done!”

September 1948
We were very lucky to have in Cecil Guy, a member who was dealing in war damage claims, who was working on behalf of the club members.
The treasurer reported that the club had a number of people on the books who hadn’t paid yet, but there were 85 paid up members.
Owing to difficulties in holding the AGM in September for a number of reasons, it was decided to end the financial year in March and hold the AGM in April or early May.

1949

In those days judging was done by the members with the exception of the finals. This year an innovation was tried out. There used to be about 70 - 80 prints per session, with two members appointed as judges. One judge did a minute on the print, then the other did a 10 second summing up, changing over every other print. This was all controlled by the President who had a timer and called time like a Publican.

Mr A Purches told the committee that he couldn’t complete the syllabus and was resigning from the position. This happened a number of times with him, he was rather unreliable!
This was the year when the AGM was changed from the autumn to the spring, it being held on May 5. All the officers were re-elected “en-bloc” for the following year.

April 1949
“Negative retouching” by ‘BB’ as he was affectionately known.
This was now virtually a dead art, certainly amongst amateurs, although there may still be the odd die hard doing it.
BB, told members that it was necessary to treat the negative with a retouching medium, to give it a key. Then, using a pencil, these were very long leads of various grades which were fitted into a retractable holder. They were sharpened to provide a very long (2 inch) point, tapered to a needle. It took quite a long time to prepare one for use. After showing the members how to go about it he asked for volunteers to try their hand at it, this caused quite a lot of amusement. BB, told members that when he had finished, no work was required on the finished print.

A letter was received from Mr Sargent, the Chief Librarian, stating that from 16 May we would be charged 1s/3d (8p) per half hour after 8 o’clock, for the use of our lecture rooms at the Carnegie Library, this money should be paid to the caretaker.

November 1949
“Chemistry of Photography” by Charles Duncan FRPS for Johnsons Ltd.
This evening was a real humdinger. After a brief talk on the basics of chemical photography, Charles (he insisted on it) proceeded to coat a piece of glass with an emulsion that he mixed up. To this he stuck on a doily, asking for a member of the audience to expose it over a light. He left the member holding the glass over the light whilst he carried on with his talk. The member stood there for about 20 minutes holding this piece of glass, whilst Charles carried on talking. Eventually it was processed and to the members amazement there was a negative of the doily. All of this had been done in normal room lighting.

A report on the exhibition, where over 3000 people visited the display, and nearly 1000 catalogues were sold. A bit different from today! In those days the catalogue carried advertisements, and was not completed by the Exhibition Secretary but usually by someone who had a few contacts