The Wakefield Camera Club is affiliated to the 'Yorkshire Photographic Union' (The YPU) to which most of the other Camera Clubs in Yorkshire belong. The YPU was formed in 1899 at the instigation of Bradford P.S. who invited the known Yorkshire Clubs to a meeting in the Bradford Grammar School. Some 13 societies were present. The total number of clubs at that time has been variously reported to be between 27 and 40. The meeting agreed that a union was desirable and Wakefield was one of the twelve founder members of the YPU together with Batley, Beverley, Bradford, Brighouse, Halifax, Heckmondwike, Hull, Keighley, Leeds, Rodley, and Sheffield.

There are now some 50 clubs in Yorkshire affiliated to the YPU who all benefit from the services provided by the Union, the main ones being the panel of judges available for judging club and inter club competitions, the panel of speakers and lecturers available to clubs, and organising the annual exhibition.

The annual exhibition is held in May each year at a venue arranged by the sponsoring club. Members may submit up to five mono prints, five colour prints and five slides which are judged by a panel of 3 judges from the Photographic Alliance Of Great Britain (The PAGB, of which more later) The best 200 prints and 200 slides are selected for display at the exhibition with awards for best entries in various categories

The 2005 exhibition was held in Scarborough where 202 prints were accepted out of a submission of 1430 from 43 clubs, and 201 slides accepted from 745 submissions from 41 clubs. It is a measure of the effect of the increasing popularity of digital photography to see that in 2003 the number of print submissions was 1046, an increase of nearly 37% in two years. After the exhibition the prints and slides are made available for viewing by clubs.

 From all the submissions, a separate panel of three judges from the YPU, select prints and slides for submission to the PAGB annual exhibition. This operates in a similar way to the YPU selection process where the best entries are accepted for display at the exhibition. The exhibition pictures are later circulated to the regions for viewing by clubs.

 The YPU hold two delegate meetings each year to elect the officers of the Union, arrange venues for future exhibitions and other matters affecting clubs. The Wakefield Camera Club delegates are John Bickerdike and Maurice Biglin. The 2006 exhibition will be held in Todmorden on 6^th May.        

See www.ypu.org.uk