I am sorry to tell you that a long standing and stalwart member of the club, David Barrett, died on Thursday 31 March. When I first joined Ludshott Photographic Club, David,  a founder member of the club, was the Competition Secretary, internal and external.  He ran it all from paper lists – no computers were in evidence then. The competitions were either prints or slides, and David taught me how to label the slides – upside down – and to mask them where necessary; there was no easy cropping in those days.

David had a wonderful sense of humour, and always joined in enthusiastically at serious meetings and fun socials alike. He helped with everything, and did very well in club and SPA competitions. He loved architectural photographs and portraits and ran the first portrait workshop for club members.

Kathleen Bird

Gordon Rae knew David well. He says

I worked with David at ICI in Fernhurst, and we cheerfully competed against each other in the annual friendly photo competitions there in the late 70s and 80s. Then I drifted away from photography for many years until David cajoled me into joining Ludshott in 2007 with something new called a “digital camera”.

I cannot thank him enough for all the fun, friendship and help I have enjoyed ever since in LPC, even though when I showed one of the best flower photographs I have ever taken his remark was “Not that bloody poppy again!”

A message from Brian Thomas:  “Very sad, he was a good friend to me too when I joined the club, and was always supportive and made helpful critiques of some of my efforts, but in his inimitable style he would also gently reproach your efforts if you then didn’t pay attention to his words. A fine photographer and such a valued club member. My thoughts are with his family at this time.”

Caroline Lemka: “I’m very sorry to hear that.  I knew David well having worked with him at ICI in Farnham for the best part of 15 years.  He was always the unofficial photographer at any department event.  In fact I introduced him to computing!”

David at an SPA Awards dinner in 2007 with Tony Riley and Kathleen Bird

David on drinks duty at the club’s 10th anniversary social in 2005 with Les Howard and Jim Henson.

(Click on the thumbnails above for a larger picture)