The club is looking to increase in size which will allow both new and established members to gain more from photography. We are organising presentations and workshops designed to educate and entertain in a friendly club environment.
Current membership consists of a broad range from beginners to professionals, all with varying interests and expertise in the diverse aspects of photography - be it monochrome, colour, portraiture, landscapes, pictorial, wildlife, etc. and while digital now dominates film still plays a part. Many members are producing excellent work thanks to "Photoshop" and other software programmes.
As one of the oldest existing photographic societies (we celebrated our centenary in 1999), we think you will agree that there have been many monumental changes in photography over the last 100 years and the activities of the City of London and Cripplegate Photographic Society (CCPS) and its members have evolved similarly. The earlier participants did not think of posterity when keeping records and retaining the results of their photographic endevours. We do have some papers which go back through the years but there are gaps in the documentation.
It is interesting to read the Minutes relating to the inauguration of our Society :
"On Wednesday 4 January 1899, under the Chairmanship of the Reverend A. Barff, six members of the General Purpose Committee of the Cripplegate Foundation met with the Clerk, the Surveyor and the Manager of the Cripplegate Institute. A discussion that day was minuted thus: It has been proposed by several members of our Photographic Classes to start a Photographic Society to further develop and continue the work of the Classes.
The Society would have its headquarters at the Institute, and the subscription would be a nominal one of about five shillings per annum. Mr Ward, our Sub-Librarian, is the Secretary, pro tem."
And so the Cripplegate Amateur Photographic Society was formed, with ten applications for membership received.
The Society was honoured by the Governors (of the Cripplegate Foundation) becoming Presidents. It was further agreed that it would help the successful starting of the Society if the preliminary printing, which would come to about £7, could be included in the Institute account.
It was resolved, that the necessary permission be given to hold an Amateur Photographic Society at the Institute without charge for use of room. And so the society which was later renamed City of London and Cripplegate Photographic Society was born.
The Society has had many distinguished members over the years including Richard Nutt (FRPS, EFIAP), Cyril Hale (FRPS) and Vic Attfield (FRPS) among many others.