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About our club

 

OUR ETHOS

Towcester & District Photographic Society’s stated mission is to;

“Promote the art and science of photography in the South Northants area and assist the membership in improving their standard of photography.”

The Club aims to;

  • Promote the art & science of photography in and around the South Northants area.
  • Assist the membership – whatever their technical or creative starting point – in improving their standard of photography.
  • Encourage membership from all sections of the community, including those who regard themselves as inexperienced and/ or would not normally consider joining a camera club.
  • Provide a regular programme of events which provide opportunities for life-long learning for all members, whatever their standard.
  • Create opportunities for photographers to take part in activities as part of a group that they may not be able to undertake as individuals.
  • Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and techniques amongst members.

TDPS MEETINGS

Towcester & District Photographic Society normally meets on alternate Wednesday evenings at Chantry House in Towcester between 19.45 and 21.45. We warmly welcome anybody who enjoys photography. Our members have a very wide range of photographic interests and ability and most find that they thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to share ideas and to learn techniques from each other and from visiting speakers, either before the formal session starts, during the midway break, or at the end of the session.

The Club updates its programme regularly and aims to cater to a spread of interests, mixing external speakers with informal, participative member sessions and sessions focussed on themes, techniques and improvement of members’ outputs. We’re always looking to incorporate practical sessions in our programme and are also always open to members’ suggestions on content.

TDPS is always eager to hear from people keen to show their work or demonstrate new techniques.

HISTORY

Towcester & District Photographic Society was formed in 2000 as ‘Towcester Camera Club’ and used to meet at Towcester Town Hall before moving to Towcester Scout Hut in 2001. The Scout Hut at that time was ok in the warmer weather but in winter was very cold, the only heating being from a couple of wall mounted fan heaters, which were so noisy that if we had a speaker the heaters had to be turned off in order to hear what was being said. At this time we were lucky if more than six members turned up to a meeting.
We stayed there until it was destroyed by fire in about 2002. At this point we needed somewhere to meet in a hurry, so one of the members at that time being a member of Towcester working men’s club managed to arrange the use of a room there until we could find somewhere more suitable. We then moved to the Methodist Hall in Greens Norton until the hall was closed in 2013. This was such a vast difference from the Scout Hut in that it was warm and comfortable and had better kitchen facilities, although parking did become bit of a problem in later years.

From 2013 until March 2026 the club met at St Michael’s Church Rooms in Silverstone.  Although the facilities there were very good, we always hoped to return to Towcester and in April 2026 we achieved this, with our new venue being Chantry House in the centre of Towcester.

In April 2021 members voted to change the name of the club from ‘Towcester Camera Club’ to Towcester & District Photographic Society. The name change was seen as an opportunity for the club to;

    • Increase its geographic appeal
    • Recognise that photography in the 2020s means more than cameras
    • Reflect the fact that we are a society of enthusiasts