A brief history of Crawley Camera Club

The beginnings of Crawley Camera Club go back to 1961 it was then known as the ‘Ifield and District Camera Club’. The original meeting places were in the Ifield Community centre and later in a school hut. Some time later a Nissen hut in Tilgate forest (vacated by the Canadian forces after the war) was made available by Crawley Council. The Club rented one of these.

The Club installed a darkroom, and studio activities were a regular feature. One night during a photo session the heater which ran on paraffin, exploded, covering the model with sooty spots! However, the Club continued to thrive and in April 1981 moved to one half of a bigger Nissen hut on the same site.

In early 1987 the club expanded into the other half of the hut to enlarge the studio area. The dividing wall was removed and construction of the new studio was just getting under way when disaster struck. The great storm of 1987 hit the south of England. Most of the huts, being around trees, were damaged and some were totally destroyed. The Camera Club hut escaped with no serious damage but the electricity to the huts was supplied by overhead cables which were demolished by falling trees, and as the trees fell the roots destroyed the water supply and the drainage system. The site was totally closed until trees could be cleared and the site made safe but this was not a high priority. At this time the Club membership was 99.

After much debate the Council decided to replace the Nissen huts with purpose built huts at an estimated cost of £500,000 (all 30 or so huts were occupied by hobby groups and clubs of all kinds). The Tilgate Forest Recreation Centre, of which the huts are a major part is a unique venture by Crawley Council and one of which they are rightly proud.

During the next two years we were without our permanent premises and the Club met in various halls around the town. We suffered the unusual (for us) problems of caretakers flashing the lights at precisely 10pm, double booked halls and last minute cancellations. This affected our membership which fell to less than 20.

The plans for redevelopment were eventually revealed. We were excited at the prospect of a brand new hut, and even with our reduced membership we were confident enough to commit ourselves to taking on one of the bigger huts. We had to wait while they were built, which involved much moving of equipment between huts as clearance and demolition took place. Our old hut was used as a temporary store for weight lifting kit belonging to the Bar Bell Club until it too was demolished, and when our present hut was built it was used as a workman’s hut for a while.

We moved to the Hut in April 1989. We had photography club premises which were unique in the locality. The overall size being about 20 metres by 8 metres. When we moved in it was a mainly a bare shell. Our members worked hard and built a kitchen, darkroom, changing room and lighting store. Our darkroom was equipped for colour and black and white work, and our studio made available a good selection of lighting equipment.

Some time after we had settled in we installed a false ceiling to cover the open rafters. For many years the Hut contained separate spaces for meetings, studio work and a darkroom. The Hut continues to go through interior changes (the latest in 2023) to keep it fresh, up to date and useful to our activities – social meeting space, practical workshops, member studios, print and digital competitions, talks and demonstrations, meetings with other local clubs such as the Crawley Art Society, etc. The space now serves as a flexible multifunctional meeting/studio space.

We meet twice a week throughout the year (because we can !). We are affiliated to the Surrey Federation (and with Sussex Federation as we are on the borders of both counties it wound down its activities in 2022). Since 1993 we have held an annual exhibition of members’ work in public locations around Crawley. In recent years it has been a regular event at The Hawth, Ifield Barn and Crawley Museum.

As well as the Hut, we interact and operate online. Club members can keep in contact via email groups, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. And our website provides access to current and historical information for an audience far wider than the Crawley area.

In March 2020 the Covid pandemic meant that the Club (along with most of the UK) could not meet together at the Hut for an extended period – and we introduced an online programme to keep our members involved in photographic challenges, competitions and talks from speakers from across the UK. The use of Zoom and our online photo competition platforms was a success in keeping in contact and attracting new members over the difficult period – and is now a part of Club programmes – with a mix of Hut meetings and online events to keep our activities interesting and convenient.