1990
January 27
The Annual Dinner Dance took place at Melvilles Caravan Park at Eastney. This dance was attended by about 50 members and friends. For our entertainment the music was played by our old friend and fellow member, Mick Cooper. Mick is a professional entertainer, as well as playing the organ he has appeared in many television programmes. In fact it is quite a good pastime watching some of these programmes to see when you can spot him.

May10
At the AGM, the treasurer revealed that we currently had £1043.53, in the bank. He suggested an increase of £1 in the subscriptions, which was agreed by the membership. The membership now stands at 47.

June 14
A treasure hunt was organised by Trevor Muston. Several members took part in the hunt which was done in cars. Hunters had to find the places to go to from the clues that they were given. The hunt ended at a hostelry somewhere in the countryside. Most members made it, although one team, decided that they would cheat and look through the ‘easy clues’ envelope, using their headlamps to find out where they were to end up. Now what they saw was the ‘George’, which as Trevor would go to the ‘George’ at Finchdean frequently, that they should end up there, whereas in fact, they should have ended up at the ‘George’ at Hambledon.
Another obituary. This time it is of Percy Clark, who joined the club in 1933. He and his wife and family have been life long supporters of the club. His son, Dean, is still involved with the club, inasmuch as he kindly does an evening for us in the summer programme in which he will take us around a different area of Portsmouth, pointing out the historical buildings and their significance in the area.

July12
This was to be the first of the Annual Barbeque’s to be held at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park at Butser Hill. There was a nominal charge to cover the cost of the food, which was then cooked by Trevor Muston. Even though some of these evenings were spoilt by the rain, it never seemed to dampen anyone’s spirits.

August 16
We visited St Mary’s Church at Fratton, Portsmouth. We were shown over the Church by the Choirmaster, even taking us up into the bell tower. Many courageous dare devils, not least Arthur Watts (who is almost blind), climbed the stairs that lead out onto the top of the tower, giving a fantastic view of Portsmouth and Portsdown Hill.

1991

May
The treasurer at the AGM, told members that the membership now stood at 49. We were also told that funds held in the bank were £1064.86, and an insured value of the clubs assets of £2025.00. Membership fees at this time stood at £16.50 (£8.50 for the club and £8.00 for the Community Centre).

The Print and Slide of the year awards for this year were:-
­Moorey Cup: Mono League ‘A’: Ivor Wellbelove LRPS.
Shield for the ‘A’ League Aggregate: Norman Lawrence.
Cup for the Colour League Aggregate: Brian Doherty LRPS IMPA LBIPP.
Portsmouth Club Plate: Set Subject League: Duncan Lawler.
Cup for the Set Subject Aggregate: Ivor Wellbelove LRPS.
Easthope Cup: Mono League ‘B’: Duncan Lawler
Cup for the Mono League ‘B Aggregate: Mrs Joy Wellbelove.
The Elizabeth Cup: Print of the Year: Ivor Wellbelove LRPS.
Bishop Salver: Slide of the Year: Duncan Lawler.
The Markwell ‘3 of a kind’ Trophy: Jack Goodhew..

July 4
As part of the summer programme we went to the hallowed ground of Pompey football club, namely Fratton Park. A good evening was spent in the ground and afterwards in the club rooms. It was a treat for many members that had never set foot in the ground before, to see the comparative smallness of the ground, from what you had imagined.

January 23
David and Janet Barton, regular visitors from the Gosport Camera Club, gave a talk entitled “Creating a better slide show”. This comical pair are two of the nicest people that have ever appeared at our club, they bounce off each other, taking turns in giving any commentary and in general having a good time. After all, isn’t that what photography is all about, having fun with the work that you produce. We hope that it won’t be too long before they come back with another lecture.

March 19
Mick Cooper showed members a series of slides from his recent trip to Australia and the United States of America. He titled his talk “Around the world in 80 slides”, but you can be assured that he showed a lot more than that (around 300, I believe). Nevertheless his show was a marvellous collection of his memories of that trip, in which he made you feel as though you had made it with him.

October 13
The Club President, Trevor Muston with his wife Wendy, after what seemed a never ending wait, finally go over to Caen, France, to visit the Exhibition of ‘Le Conquerant Photo Club’ of Caen, who, as part of the twinning had hung about 30 of our prints in their exhibition. It had been hoped that a party of our members could make the trip, but in the end it was only the President and his wife that went. The day was one not to be forgotten, with the President and his wife being driven around the city of Caen, to be shown the sights. The highlight of the Presidents day was when he was taken to ‘Pegasus Bridge’, just outside Caen. This was the first place to be liberated during the Second World War. He told us that you could feel the atmosphere of the place as you drove nearer to it.

October 15
Local Photographer, Frank Naylor, brought his lighting set-up to the Club to show the best way to light a portrait. To assist him, he brought along a delightful young lady who was obviously keen to be photographed, modelling for members poses in whichever way they requested. Hopefully from this we shall see some marvellous portraits.

1993
January 21
The Southern Photographic Federation, Exhibition Slides are shown to the members. This is the first time that the club has shown these slides, so to ensure a good turn out other local clubs have been invited. The evening was deemed to be a great success, with members looking forward to seeing the following year’s slides in the same way.

The Annual Dinner has had to be cancelled this year due to lack of interest. It will probably be a few more years before another one takes place, or someone else decides to put it together.

February 18
The Drama group at the Community Centre, made themselves available for the practical evening. They came with several changes of costume from their recent pantomime, which they had put on in the Community Centre. Members had a great time photographing ‘Wishee Washee’, the ‘Good Fairy’, the ‘Princess’ and others. This was probably one of the better practical evenings for both, photographers and models.

March
For the first time in a long while, the club has actually won a trophy. The Trophy was for winning the Southern Photographic Federation Print League. This was a good boost for the members after a good many lean years in external competitions.

April 18
Tonight saw a piece of controversy at the club. Brian Doherty, a well respected member of the club was commenting on the print competition, when he came across a print which was a “colour photocopy. He suggested that the club will have to consider whether or not to allow this type of entry in the future. Was it photography?

The new look ‘Pompey Chat’ appears, now produced by Mick Cooper. It is now produced in A5 size, ½ the size of this history page. It now contains more pictures than ever before, most of which have been computor generated by Mick. Good Luck, Mick, you’ll need it (Trevor).

May 13
At the AGM there was a proposal to abolish the trade processed section and amalgamate it with prints in the other leagues. This was rejected, along with another proposal to spend around £500 on new lighting for the club members use.

May20
Ven Dodge gave a very interesting talk and demonstration entitled “From neg to print”. This took you through all the stages from exposing the negative right through to mounting the print. For weeks afterwards, members were talking about the enthusiastic way in which he had put it across, and how they were going to have a go themselves. Ven, then presented the end of season awards to the persons who had earnt them. At the end of the evening, Trevor Muston, the outgoing President handed over the regalia to the incoming President, Mick Cooper.

May27
The first night of the summer season saw eight brave souls walking around Southsea Rock Gardens, then making their way back to Miss Madge Farrants house for refreshments.

July 4
The Garden Party at Olive Quinnells house takes place again, in perfect cricketing weather.

Septernber
Presidents Night.  Mick Cooper showed the members some of his prints and slides taken over the preceeding ten years of his membership of the club.

November
This year saw a change in the Annual Exhibition date. This year it ran from November 29 to December 18, again at the Central Library in Guildhall Square. The reason for the change was that when we had the Exhibition in April, it was so close to the end of the season, that we may have lost out on prospective new members, who would have to wait until September to join. In attendance were the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth, Mr & Mrs Alex Bentley, as well as the President of the Southern Photographic Federation, Mr Leo Rich. Also present were members of Le Conquerant Photo Club from Caen, who also had prints hung in the exhibition.