Gateshead & District Camera Club held its inaugural meeting on the 21st November 1910 and the Club has continued to meet on a regular basis every one of the 97 years since.
Records of meetings from 1922 show a keen band of members enjoying Club outings to Winlaton Mill, Prudhoe and, on one occasion, a day trip to Seaton Sluice. Even in 1922 fund raising was an essential, and the annual Whist Drive and Dance, held at Bensham Grove Settlement, was a very popular event. Tickets were 2 shillings (10p) each and the evening raised £14.15s.0d (£14.75) for Club funds.
1926 shows the Club keen to recruit female members, and the syllabus of that year proclaims boldly on the front cover "ladies are specially invited to join". By 1935 the desire for female members led to them being offered a yearly subscription of 5/- (25p), the chaps had to fork out an extra half-crown (12½p) for their membership - no equality in 1935.
The report book of 1952 has two photographic records of members attending outings, to Lambton Castle and Saltwell Park. All are formally dressed with white shirt and tie and a smattering of trilbies. It shows the importance of photography as a historical record, and it is nice to be able to put a face to two of the names that are important to Club History, through the competition trophies they presented to the Club, Mr A.W. Trueman and Mr. R. Warden.
The advent of colour photography and the "new lantern" slide material was decidedly controversial, with many committee meetings held to discuss the implications - indeed in much the same way that we have debated recent innovations like digital imaging over the last decade. The impact of digital photography has benefited the Club in recent years, with increased entries to print competitions. Unfortunately this has been coupled with a decline in the number of entries to slide competitions; undoubtedly a trend that other clubs will have experienced.
In the early years of the Club, only monochrome prints were possible and the competitions in the Club for monochrome prints remained in place until relatively recently when two of the major competitions were opened to both colour and monochrome. Despite some initial reservations colour and monochrome prints are being judged in the same competition and it is increasingly being realised that it is the image which is important not its colour (or lack of it).
Over the years the Club has met in a variety of premises from draughty halls to the rather splendid Shipley Art Gallery. We now meet in St. Helen's Church Hall in Low Fell. These premises are possibly the best we have occupied: the hall is modern, well equipped, has good access and parking and is warm and cosy in the winter months.
In 2006 the club was successful in securing a grant from Awards For All to purchase a digital projector, screen, laptop and software. The equipment is used regularly at club meetings and has also been utilised to run digital photography workshops for the general public, which have been very well attended and attracted new members to the club. A sign that the club has well and truly embraced the digital age can be seen with the introduction of a Digital Imaging Competition in the 2007 - 2008 season.
We've come a long way since the heated debates of colour photography and slide material - I wonder what people will make of our records of recent events in fifty years time!
Louise Taylor, Secretary