The need for a postal club was the basis of this society forming in 1931
How is your club different from a traditional one?
We are the club that comes to you. There are 32 Circles with around 12 members in each, open to members countrywide and beyond. We have 14 Print Circles that use postal folios issued on a monthly rota system. Two of these are dedicated Monochrome Circles, one of which is for darkroom prints only.
We have eight PDI Circles that operate again using folios issued on a monthly rota system. There are two dedicated Natural History Circles and one dedicated to images taken using a phone or tablet, all the others are open. We have an AV Circle; the members produce four AVs a year. During the pandemic, our Zoom Circles were born. They are discussion-only groups that meet once a month. Besides the open Zoom Circles there are two Infrared Circles, two Monochrome
Circles and two Circles dedicated to panels. Each Circle is autonomous and run by a Circle Secretary. We are affiliated to Surrey Photographic Association.
When was the club founded?
In July 1931 C Rae Griffin wrote to Amateur Photographer pointing out the need to form a postal club to cater for miniature prints and to provide critique of one’s work by fellow photographers. The response was such that in September 1931 the first folio was put into circulation with 25 members who stuck their own piece of blank paper on one edge of the print to provide a comment sheet. The group called themselves the Photographic Miniature Postal Portfolios, known as PMPP.
The word miniature applied only to the print size (a maximum of 12 sq in). Today C29 and C30 still applies this ruling. In 1936 large print Circles formed, called Photographic Postal Portfolios of Great Britain or PPP. In 1945 it was agreed that the Society should be called United Photographic Postfolios of Great Britain.
What does your club offer new members?
Firstly we help to find a Circle that suits their needs, with the opportunity to try the Zoom Circles before deciding which one suits yo
