History of OPS

THE HISTORY

The current society was formed in Oswestry on Friday 4th May 1956 at an inaugural meeting in the Bell Hotel under the Chairmanship of Mervyn Edwards. Henry Jones, the Town Librarian, acted as secretary and Bill Milner was treasurer. The society was originally called The Oswestry and District Amateur Photographic Society and met every Tuesday from the 8th May 1956
The first AGM was held on the 8th June 1956 in the clubroom at the Bell Hotel where the first president Mervyn Edwards was elected, the chairman Keith Lord, the secretary
Henry Jones and the treasurer Bill Milner.
The rules of the society were formalised and the annual subscription set at 10/6d (52½p) full members plus 6d (2½p) per club night. Non active Lady members pay 5/- (25p), juniors under 16 pay 3/6d (15½p).
Members were asked to bring a chair or suitable piece of furniture to sit on if at all possible so to do.
In the first year a Winter and a Summer programme was produced including visits, talks and competitions.
The Saturday Express published a photograph of a swan taken by David Harris, a founder member of the society, only a few months after the society was formed. David eventually made his living as a professional photographer and is still an active member of the society.
In December 1956, permission was given by the Mr. Kitts, the landlord of the Bell Hotel, for a darkroom in the clubroom which was installed by the members and available for use in April 1957 under the control of a sub-committee,
Members formed links with the Shropshire Photographic Society
The society is a member of the Midlands Counties Photographic Federation and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain
At the 1959 AGM, Ron Ankers was elected as secretary and continues to be an active member and is still on the committee
1960 began with the presentation of the John Marsh Callenge Cup by the society president John Marsh to increase interest and enthusiasm throughout the print competition but will also encourage efforts to produce especially good prints. The chairman during this period was Frank Gittins and the meetings were held in the Secondary Modern School.
During 1961 a cine section of the society was formed as a sub-section with Mr G H Dodd being elected as secretary. This year Ted Parry Jones, Editor of the Oswestry Advertizer, began a long association with the Society by presenting The Woodalls Newspapers Silver Cup. A display of the trophies was held in the shop window of Messrs. R & R Hughes from 17th to the 24th June 1961 including The John Marsh Challenge Cup held by Harry Hill for the winning print. The Colour Slide Trophy held by Brian Jones and Woodhalls Press Cup held by Bob Lewis.
The first annual dinner and presentation evening was held at Smart's Restaurant, Oswestry on the 1st May 1962. A picture of the presentation was published in the press.
The secretary, Tudor Thomas, organised the first summer outing by coach to Llangollen and the Horseshoe Pass in ideal weather on the 16th June 1962.
In the early 1960's the Society used the set lectures from Kodak and Ilford. There was no mention of Fuji then.
In 1963 a demonstration lecture on flash bulb photography was given by John Marsh. It covered old flash powder days up to the "modern" flash bulbs the size of a thumbnail. Dick Nicholls won the John Marsh Cup for his portrait of the proprietor of the Ship Hotel in his chef's uniform. This photograph was published in the Advertizer on the 16th May 1963,.
In 1967 Harry Hill won the Advertizer Cup which was presented by Ted Parry Jones the editor and Madge Hall won the Katharine Marsh Cup.
The Society lost the use of its darkroom when they moved from The Bell and it was only in 1970 that an agreement was reached with the Oswestry College of Further Education in College Road for a more comfortable meeting room. The use of the college darkroom on Tuesday evenings then became available. It was hoped that this would encourage new members to join and existing ones to widen their own present interest. At this time there were thirty-five members.
At the start of this decade the president was John Marsh, the secretary was Ron Ankers, treasurer was Frank Young, competition secretary Diana Ellis, cine secretary Colin Powell who is still an active member, and the secretary, his wife, Marjorie Powell.
The tickets for the Annual Dinner to be held at the Victoria Rooms on Tuesday 11th May 1971 cost the princely sum of £1.05 each - decimal money. Ron Ankers won the monochrome Class A in that year and is still a member. He retired as President in April 2001 although remains on the current committee. The 1971 AGM voted to hold meetings weekly until Christmas and then fortnightly from then on and a hunt was made for a clubroom for the sole use of the society. The subscriptions were held at £1.05 for adults and children up to 16 years was 50p. From 1971 many of the Society Minutes were typed, the earlier ones being hand-written some of which could be read more easily than others.
In 1974 the Society moved to the back room at the Golden Lion, Morda Road, with those requiring more space still being held at the boys school in Morda Road. Colin Powell, the chairman, remarked on the improved atmosphere now the meetings were held at the Golden Lion and members could stay on and chat after the meeting.
In 1978 Henry Roberts set up a monthly monochrome print competition with the winners being published in the Advertizer and members received £25 from the paper.
AudioVisual evenings were very popular in 1979 and three were held that year with 250 seats being sold for the presentation by Agfa. Mike Weinal was in his first year as secretary and asked for more support for the newer members so that they would achieve higher standards, particularly in the AV presentations.
1985 saw the move to the current meeting room at the Oswestry Library. The Society decided in 1988 to take advantage of the insurance policy provided by the Midland Counties Photographic Federation.
The 1980's saw the introduction of a practical Portrait night and an exhibition of members work during September in the Library. In the 1980's the society's President David Harris was also elected President of the Shropshire Photographic Society. The three Aggregate competitions had a habit of giving more than one winner when the points were added together. A change to the points system and a means of avoiding a tie was introduced into the competition rules in 1989 when Philip Macey was in his second year as Competitions Secretary (he is the current Society Secretary). The Chairman, Peter Young, also reported at the AGM a membership of 45 with an average attendance of 29 at the Society meetings.
At the 1985 AGM, Peter Young proposed that members should only show new work to reflect their current ability and this has remained the cornerstone of the society's approach to photography.
During the late 1980's and early 1990's a fund raising audio visual show with dual projection was held at the Oswestry Methodist Church with some light refreshments during the interval. These were organised by Colin Powell, David Harris and Bob Lewis whose expertise was invaluable with a music soundtrack. Regrettably the current chairman who joined the society in September 1998 is now one of the few people in the society who now participates in AV and is also a member of the Wilmslow Audio Visual Group.
One of the highlights of the 1989/90 season was a talk by Michael Leach (the well known local wildlife photographer) who brought some rescued owls to the meeting and a large python that went to sleep on some chairs. This gave quite a shock to members when it suddenly woke up. He has since been a fairly frequent speaker showing some excellent photographs of his wildlife travels. There was also a visit to Abbeycolour Laboratories in Shrewsbury. They have supported the Society for many years and still do.
At the 1987 AGM, Mike Talbot was thanked for his four years as secretary. At this time there were 49 members. An enthusiastic Peter Young became chairman with Derek Davis as secretary and Philip Macey becoming competitions secretary a year after joining the society. Liz Jones was press secretary and Ivor Evans the projectionist. At this time the subscription had to be increased to £6. The new competition secretary increased competition entries by selecting judges from Wales and Chester areas as well as the West Midlands and by reminding members to submit their photographs.
In 1988 there were visits to Blenheim together with some of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain lectures, which were not very good. By now the secretary was Terry Cullimore who is still a regular member.
In 1989 David Smith became chairman and the committee introduced a points system for the Aggregate competition and an A section for club competition winners and a B section for all the others. The society won the Three-Town Battle against stiff competition from Wrexham and Whitchurch.
In 1990 the Oswestry Leisure Services gave a grant which enabled the society to purchase its own photographic lighting equipment, flashmeter and background. These are used on club nights and are also available to members for a small hire fee.
In 1991 Mike Worsfield was elected chairman, with Ernest Higginbottom vice chairman, John Gough secretary (John is the current competition secretary) and Brian Mellor treasurer. Membership at this time was quite strong varying from thirty to forty members.
In December 1993 Brian Mellor died suddenly and David Parkes took over as treasurer.
During 1994 there was an outing to Gloucester with a second visit to the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, which gave members and friend the opportunity to take some prize-winning photographs. Following the sudden death of our chairman.
During 1995 to avoid increasing membership fees, a very successful raffle and tea break was introduced with the raffle prize donated by members. This has continued and is an important source of revenue for the society.
At the 1995 AGM, Ivor Evans was elected chairman with Philip Macey taking up the reins of secretary a position he has continued to hold even though he now lives in Chester. Myk Briggs took over as competition secretary and a very successful evening was organised by Myk with subjects from still life to live animals, birds and models together with two time lapse photography sets. Myk also donated a Starters Cup to encourage new workers who only submit small sized prints. Due to increasing work commitments Myk relinquished the post of competition secretary and this was taken over by Brian Cattell. Myk Briggs (the current President) did however provide the Society with a website to promote the Society. This can be found on www.pant.co.uk/ops
Since 1996 we have been sponsored by Oswestry Builders Merchants who have been generous to not only assist us financially but also provided the away evening in 2001 for the Society by allowing us the use of their premises in Maesbury Road for an evening of photography with models.
At the AGM in April 1997, Frank Davis was elected as treasurer.
The Society put on a members AudioVisual show in 1997 which was shown at Morda Village hall and co-ordinated by Colin Powell assisted by Brian Cattell. The Society exhibited at the Heritage Centre and later put on a display in the window of the Staffordshire Building Society. The publication of member's photographs in The Oswestry & Borderlands brochure generated some income toward the replacement of a new auto-focus slide projector. The balance being obtained from a grant from the Oswestry & District Arts Association and the purchase was completed in time for the new season in September 1997.
At the 1998 AGM Haydn Roberts was elected as Chairman and John Gough was elected as competition secretary.
The 1999 AGM started by recording the death of three good photographers and friends. Henry Roberts was a past president amongst many other position he had held in the society. Alan Kettle the 1999 president and Mike Dickenson who was the projectionist.
The Society had a stand at the Photo Action 99 show at the NEC Birmingham where member's pictures were displayed and a competition was run, the prize being an afternoon studio photographic shoot. This competition certainly put the Society on the map with such a useful prize, even people from Durham entered. It was actually won by a Shropshire photographic society member.
The new millennium gave the Society an opportunity to exhibit prints in the recently refurbished Oswestry Guildhall as well as a page about the history of the society in the Oswestry Town Millennium Book.
During 1999 and 2000 there were talks by the renowned Bob Moore FRPS and Barrie Thomas the guru of PhotoShop (a computer digital imaging programme) for those interested in digital photography.
The 2001 / 2002 season has seen a change in format starting with a practical session of photographing dogs, followed the next meeting with Birds of Prey being displayed in front of the camera by Colin Humphries.
Howard Davis, one of our previous members who moved away, returned to show his pictures of mountains taken in weather when most people do not even think of going outside.
There was also a return visit by Glyn Jones ARPS, DPAGB of the Wrexham Camera Club, who compared photographic prints before and after adjusting with digital imaging.
Included in talks given at short notice was Professor Cullimore of Titanic Fame who gave a very stimulating talk. Professor Cullimore is the brother of Terry, one of our long time members. The final speaker of last season was Photojournalist Richard Stanton, who showed some stimulating pictures delivered with an enthusiasm which inspired everyone in the room. He also gave an important insight into planning ahead to get the picture you want.
At the AGM held on 17th April 2002, Haydn Roberts resigned as chairman due to his work commitments and was replaced by Raymond Platts who had been the society's projectionist, Bill Evans replacing him as projectionist. Haydn Roberts agreed to serve on the committee as vice-chairman. Ron Ankers resigned as president but agreed to stay on the committee. At the request of the new chairman, Myk Briggs agreed to become the new president. The other officers being Philip Macey as secretary (elected in 1995) Frank Davis as treasurer (elected in 1997), and John Gough as competition secretary (elected in 1998).
On the 13th June 2002, the Society held its annual social evening at The Sweeny Hall Hotel where Richard Dawson one of our main prizewinner was our youngest and most recent member. To encourage younger members we now have half price membership for the under 21's.
It is hoped that in this 46th year of the society we can attract some new members to this active and worthwhile photographic society. The Society covers a broad spectrum from traditional chemistry processing to digital photography in the new millennium and always welcomes new members and new ideas. This first meeting of the new season is on the 11th September and copies of the Society's programme are on view at the Library, Heritage Centre and at Abbeycolour in Oswestry.

Raymond Platts (Chairman)
August 2002