Dennis Harvey

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Founder of the Ravenshead and District Photography Club

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The RDPC began as a group under the aegis of the Ravenshead U3A in January 2012. Dennis put himself forward as co-ordinator of the Photography group on the day when anyone interested in joining the organisation made their way to the old Church Hall and signed up to become a member. Among those seeking new interests was Glynne Payze, a retired teacher and now semi-professional photographer who had been running his own photography and videography business since 2006.

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Glynne approached Dennis and offered his help with running the Photography Group, and Dennis willingly accepted the offer. They co-ran the group until 2019, meeting every month in the Village Hall, when – for various reasons – they left the U3A and became an independent group calling itself the “Ravenshead and District Photographic Club" (RDPC).

In its new, independent form, the group flourished, now able to offer membership to a wider age range and geographical scope.

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Using his IT knowledge gained over many years as a hobby, Glynne created a website to publicise the group. It also gave us a platform for advertising the group's activities and publishing our work.

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In early 2023 Dennis was beginning to suffer ever-increasingly poor health, and in June he asked Glynne to take over the running of the club entirely, as he no longer felt able to contribute. It was with the greatest sadness that we lost him on October 18th 2023, finally succumbing to the health issues he had been facing for over a year.

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The RDPC members decided that, in his memory and as a gesture of thanks for his unstinting work, we would institute an annual presentation called the “Dennis Harvey Award”, celebrating the achievements of the most successful photographer of each year, presented at the January meeting to the member who had scored the highest number of points in our monthly competitions.

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