Compiled by Duncan Gray for the 75th anniversary dinner.
History records that Kirkintilloch Camera Club was conceived in Turner’s Garage, which was just off Waterside Road. The garage proprietor was Peter Turner, and in 1950 he was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. He would happily talk about it with anyone who was interested, such as one of his customers, Jimmy Milne who was a member of Glasgow and West Photographic Association. They spent winter evenings in Peter’s office discussing their hobby and, before long, a few other people had joined them. They were a group of seven by April 1951, and it was then they decided that they should form a proper club. An advertisement was duly placed in the Kirkintilloch Herald inviting interested parties to a meeting at the garage on 21st June. This attracted nine people, and they formed the new club, with Peter Turner being provisionally appointed as president.
The membership fee for the first year would be 10/-. From the beginning, the constitution stipulated that beginners and ladies would be encouraged to join, and that wasn’t just so the tea would be made. Having an interest in photography was the important thing.
Adverts were placed in the paper and posters stuck up around the town. The opening meeting was arranged for 1st October 1951 in the Conservative Rooms, which were in that bit of that High Street that disappeared when the new road was built in the 1970s. Twenty six people turned up for that first meeting, which must have felt like a big success.
By early in 1952 the club was advertising itself as meeting every Monday evening in the YMCA Halls, which were roughly where the Virgin Bank is now. The YMCA had agreed to rent a room and facilities to the club for 15/- per week, to be available every day except Sundays.
One of the first guest speakers the club had was George Williamson, who was a photographic dealer from Glasgow. If that name sounds familiar, we’ve been competing for the Williamson Trophy against the Falkirk and Stirling Clubs, annually since 1958. George provided the trophy and judged the first competitions. Some of us fondly remember Williamson’s camera shop at the Charing Cross end of Sauchiehall Street too.
The first club season ended with what was to be the annual print competition. Peter Turner had donated a trophy and his wife Fanny was there to present it. He was embarrassed when his own print ‘Spring’ was announced as the winner.
For the second season, the membership fee had risen to £1. The YMCA became unavailable due to renovation and meetings temporarily moved to the British Legion Hall, which was above the William Low grocers shop at 42 Cowgate. It was filthy and almost derelict. This was the year the club started having the four monthly competitions, which we still do today. The A and B sections date back to 1957.
As the 1950’s went on and became the 1960s, the club continued to thrive, with a lot of activities today’s members would recognise, talks and competitions. The Kirky Herald reported in 1959 that the SPF Portfolio was shown one night. It was a slide show then, proper sides, a proper projector. The members, it said, did not entirely agree with the judges verdicts.
In 1964, Kirkintilloch was celebrating its own anniversary, it was 150 years since it had become a royal burgh. The Camera Club was prominent in the events, not only having a stall at the grand exhibition, but also providing a slide show “People at Work and Play” which went down well.
1964 was a significant year. Kirkintilloch had being undergoing regeneration, and the club had been moving from venue to venue as buildings were demolished in the name of progress. Wanting a permanent home, the members made the brave decision to purchase and adapt the building at 34-36 Eastside, which had been condemned.
The history of our building is interesting. The owner, who had died that year, was Mr A E Pickard, who was very well known then as an eccentric millionaire showman. He had been a prolific property dealer too, among his many assets had been Formakin House and Bannockburn House, which is known to some of our members today. He once stood as a General Election candidate in Maryhill as an ‘independent millionaire’. He didn’t get in.
An agreement was struck between the Pickard family, the council and the club. To save the costs of demolition, the building was sold to the camera club for the nominal sum of £1.
The building had accommodated six homes, so it was a huge amount of work to convert it. Plans were drawn up and planning permission obtained. Walls were torn down, floors were ripped up, the stairs were designed and installed, dampness and fungus was tackled, lorry loads of debris were taken to the coup. The club owes a great deal to those members who provided so much labour, and money, over the five years it took to complete the job in the 1960s. And then there was major maintenance in 1974, 1990, 1998, 2001, and right up to the present day. Let’s also appreciate the various bodies who we’ve had grants from over the years too.
By the start of the 1965 session, Turner House, as it had been named, was ready for its first use. At least, the meeting room and kitchen were usable. Plans for a darkroom, a studio and a cloakroom were still to be completed.
All this was the basis for the successful, long-running club KCC has been. We’ve even had guest speakers ‘off the telly’ attend. In 1967 we had a slide show featuring the travels of no less than Tom Weir. Then in 1991, the club’s 40th anniversary meeting featured travels on the West Highland Way, presented by Jimmie McGregor.
In 1971, our club hosted the 55th Scottish Salon of Photography. There were over 2000 prints and slides displayed from around the world, with no less than 17 images coming from our own members. We also hosted a PAGB exhibition in 1973.
Perhaps our best ever competition results came in 1987 and 1988. We took the best club award at the 1987 Scottish Photographic Salon, then in 1988 we came second as a club in the SPF’s annual slide competition. With that came a place representing Scotland in the PAGB championship down south.
More recently, the club has kept up with the times and new technologies. It seems strange now, but there was suspicion of auto-focus lenses at first. Then came the revolution as photography moved from analogue to digital. The president at the time, Andy Alexander, had been working in a camera shop, and he warned the club that he’d seen the future which was coming. There were some members who quickly embraced the possibilities, while others had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
A significant event of this century, of course, was the COVID pandemic, which brought a premature end to the season in 2020. Being able to keep going through that period using Zoom, running DPI only competitions, and even attracting speakers from further afield than usual, helped get us through the locked down months. Sadly, we didn’t come through unscathed. The Stewart Bell Trophy competition which we run today is named after Jack Stewart and Dugald Bell, who we lost at that time.
I haven’t quoted many names so far. There have been many people who deserve mentioned for their contributions over the years, but they’d fill another page or five of this, so just a few examples.
We could mention Dr Andrew Blair. He was president in 1961, but he’d been winning club competitions since 1955. He was a well known speaker, judge and president of the Scottish Photographic Circle. He donated the Blair Plate which is still awarded today.
There was Tommy Cruikshanks, the blacksmith who designed and built the clubhouse stairs. He was also an active member for thirty years, served as president, and was an expert in black and white prints.
Malcolm Gillies, once Provost of Kilsyth, was our president from 1980 to 82. He won 51 club competitions over the years and the vast amount he did was recognised with the Photographic Alliance Award for Meritorious Service in 1992.
The club would have had its first Lady President in 1968, but Vice President Irene Rodger moved to Canada instead. Marjorie Allen took that honour, in 1996.
And of course we also have to mention Andy Alexander and Gordon Baird, who’ve been here for more than half of the club’s history.
We could mention Dr Andrew Blair. He was president in 1961, but he’d been winning club competitions since 1955. He was a well known speaker, judge and president of the Scottish Photographic Circle. He donated the Blair Plate which is still awarded today.
There was Tommy Cruikshanks, the blacksmith who designed and built the clubhouse stairs. He was also an active member for thirty years, served as president, and was an expert in black and white prints.
Malcolm Gillies, once Provost of Kilsyth, was our president from 1980 to 82. He won 51 club competitions over the years and the vast amount he did was recognised with the Photographic Alliance Award for Meritorious Service in 1992.
The club would have had its first Lady President in 1968, but Vice President Irene Rodger moved to Canada instead. Marjorie Allen took that honour, in 1996.
And of course we also have to mention Andy Alexander and Gordon Baird, who’ve been here for more than half of the club’s history.
I recommend you read the “First Fifty Years” booklet, it’s available on the website, to read about so many more.
So here we are today. We don’t have over a hundred members like we once did, and we’re not competing at the very highest levels, though we’re making progress. We do though, still fulfill the founding aims from 1951, good fellowship and an interest in photography.