ILFORD AND DISTRICT AQUARISTS AND PONDKEEPERS SOCIETY
THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS 1934 to 1984

Revised by Rab Dingwall

The following article appeared in our club Magazine in 1984 with no authors credit. I reprint it as it was first published and have added a further section on the years since 1984.

This year, 1984, The Ilford and District Aquarists' and Pondkeepers' Society celebrates its Golden Jubilee as one of the largest and most active Aquarist Societies in and around London.

Early in 1934 a small group of fish-keepers, stimulated no doubt by the new Aquarium that had recently opened at the Zoological Society of London, met in each others' homes in the Ilford area. By 1935 the Society was large enough to hire rooms at the Vine Institute Ilford and later at Essex House, High Road, Ilford for their monthly meetings. By 1938 the Society was successful enough to reduce its membership fees to 3/6d (17.5p) for single membership, 5/- (25p) for a double and only 2/- (10p) for junior members.

Minutes and records of those attending meetings have been preserved from all but the earliest years until the present day and provide fascinating reading. The entry for Monday 4th September 1939 reads: "Speaker:- Mr L.C. Betts, Subject:- Fancy Goldfish, Present were:- No meeting owing to outbreak of war on Sunday 3rd September." The Society staggered on for five months but finally closed down for the duration of the hostilities.

On 30th April 1946 the Society was revived with seven members of the pre-war committee present. In July 1947 a furnished aquarium was installed in the Children’s Ward at the local King George's Hospital and this aquarium has been maintained to the present day by a rota of interested members. In 1947 thirty two members had subscribed 67/- (Three pounds, thirty five pence) to purchase and install the three-foot iron framed aquarium.

Early successes in the breeding of *new' fishes by Society members included: Cherry Barbs in 1946 (the female was obtained from a man in Portsmouth, the male was local) Glowlight tetras, over silver sand, in the same year Zebra Danios were spawned in 1948 over marbles and in 1949 angelfish were persuaded to lay eggs on bamboo sticks. This interest continues and Society members bred the difficult Discus in 1981.

The Ilford Society was well represented at the Festival of Britain in 1951 and won the National Club Tropical Furnished Aquaria class organised by the National Aquarist Society. There were twenty nine entries and the Cup that was won is still presented annually to the Society member making the greatest contribution to the Society throughout the previous year. In the fifties the Society won The National Molly Championship and the London Fighter Championship (both three times) and the National Platy Championship twice. Society members also amassed a large collection of Water Life diplomas. In the Sixties the Society was particularly strong in Coldwater Fishkeeping. Numerous awards were won throughout the country together with many firsts in Coldwater Furnished Aquaria Classes.

The Society has continued to grow on this firm and historic base to its present membership of over eighty active members. Monthly meetings are held with guest speakers, table shows, quizzes, auctions and the like. In addition outings, visits to out of town aquatic businesses and exhibitions and social functions are arranged. Annual competitions for garden ponds, home aquaria, furnished and novelty show jars and new ideas are held and the most recent popular event is the car rally/treasure hunt.

The highlight or the Society's year is the Annual Exhibition at the Ilford Town Hall that has grown from a small evening All classes table show, begun in the late fifties, to the present unique Closed Show and Exhibition that is thought to be the largest fish show in the country where all the fishes benched are owned and exhibited by the members of a single Society. Today the Ilford Society is an active member of the Federation of British Aquarists Societies and the Redbridge Arts Council. Additionally it was a founder member of The Association of Essex and East London Aquarist Societies. During 1984 the Ilford Society will be holding an exclusive Golden Jubilee Celebration and Convention at the London Zoo and will be inviting twelve specialist speakers to the regular monthly meetings and expanding still further the Annual Closed Show and exhibition.

During the year the membership is to present a new furnished aquarium to the Children’s Ward of our local hospital to replace the one presented in 1947. It is unlikely that this can be achieved this time on a budget of £3.35p. The Pond Competition and the Home Aquaria Competition will be open to all local people be they members of the Ilford or any other Society or not and it is hoped that many local fishkeepers and pond enthusiasts will wish to take part in this unusual venture to promote the hobby.

The Ilford Society meets on the second Monday of every month at the Churchill Rooms of the Wanstead Library, Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, London E.1l. at 7.30pm. Subscriptions are £5 single, £6 family and £3 junior. New members, visitors and old friends are all very welcome. Additional information can be obtained from Len Smith, 80 Mighell Avenue, Redbridge, Ilford, Essex.

The Second 50 Years

The 1984 celebrations were a great success The Jubilee meeting went ahead in the meeting rooms of the London Zoological Society with many old members and friends of the Society present. The Convention, sponsored by Sea Bray Aquariums, was such a success that we went on to hold annual conventions for a number of years afterwards with sponsorship from Aquarian through the FBAS. The Annual Exhibition, which previously was held in the Lambourne Room at Ilford Town Hall, was a tremendous achievement in that the Show filled the main Town Hall Exhibition Room and the Lambourne Room and drew in over 3000 visitors in the six hours it was open to the public. SeaBrays presented us with a brand new custom-built cabinet aquarium to replace the old one in King George Hospital’s Children’s ward. The Hospital closed in the early 90’s but the tank is still in use today in a member’s home.

Sadly both the Convention and the Annual Show fell by the wayside in the following years. It was the same old hands doing all the work and it was becoming a bit too much effort without new blood to help. Those same people also brought most of the fish exhibits along and it became a bit routine. Spiralling costs didn’t help either. We did however take part in a Festival of Fishkeeping held at Alexandra Palace building an enormous aquascape in the Club Tableau section. Built from salvaged dexion and plywood it was about 12 foot square and contained a stream, a waterfall, a pond containing gold three spot Gouramis and hundreds of begged, borrowed and appropriated plants artfully arranged by Den seaman, who sadly is no longer with us. Our efforts won us second place but many show visitors reckoned we should have taken first.

We have also made regular appearances at the Redbridge Town Show held each summer in Valentines Park Ilford. Initially we only staged a small exhibit with a tank or two inside the main marquee. In recent years we have staged our exhibit on an outdoor stand with much more space which has enabled us to put on a much bigger display usually with a pond (made of a few scaffold boards and an old liner, supported by wooden tent pegs).

Our annual coach trips to fishy establishments in the UK have more recently been developed into longer trips to Europe. Members now have been to Amsterdam, The Hague, Cologne and Rouen.

We still meet at Wanstead Library and fees are now a little higher than they were in 1938, £12.50 single £16.00 Family and £5.00 juniors. Our membership still numbers about 80 making Ilford probably the largest local aquarium society in the London area. However many of our newer members have arrived at Ilford following the closure of their own societies and that is a sad reflection of the state of the hobby at this time.

We have now entered the 21st century and as well as our newsletter we now have a website to keep our members and whoever else may be interested up to date on our activities.

See you at Ilford’s Centenary!

Rab dingwall