Croydon Camera Club
Croydon Camera Club

Croydon Camera Club History: 1890-2000

1960
The death of Dr Mees

The latter part of 1960 brought sadness to the Club upon learning of the death of Dr Kenneth Mees on 15th August in Honolulu at the age of 78. His career from the time he joined Croydon in 1901 is well documented in countless publications, as was the visit he paid in 1953 whilst still Vice President of Kodak Ltd. No other amateur photographic society can boast of having a member who ultimately directed the (then) largest commercial photographic company in the world.

County Federation of Photographic Societies

Croydon being in the County Surrey, received an invitation from Woking PS and Maiden CC to attend a meeting on 24th September 1960 at which it was proposed to form a County Federation of Photographic Societies. Two delegates, A. Richards and H. Stillwell, were seconded to attend, but never arrived as their car suffered a puncture en route! Eight clubs agreed to form the Surrey Federation with Selsdon CC being the nearest, but Croydon did not participate and it was not until 1973 that it eventually joined and took part in the Inter-Club Competitions.

But we were on the extreme edge of the County and within five years the Club withdrew as the journey across the county to battle with other clubs proved a deterrent to members' enthusiasm and participation.

Club too introspective

The decision not to join the new Surrey Photographic Federation brought into sharp difference the opinion of the President who considered Club activities should take precedence over other organised photography and B. F. Bullock who stated that because of this policy the Club had virtually no voice in organised photography outside Croydon. In the author's opinion the Club's introspective attitude was to be the basis of its gradual decline from this particular era with membership falling to an all time low of 48 in 1984 - the point of the virtual extinction of the Club.