ASPS Reunion

2013 is the tenth anniversary of the Abingdon Film Unit, but it also marks the sixtieth anniversary of its pioneering predecessors, the Abingdon School Photographic Society, or ASPS for short.

Ut Proficias, the first film made by Abingdon schoolboys, premiered in the school’s Biology Lab in July 1953.
On Saturday 21 September we welcomed back nearly thirty former ASPS for a reunion. Among those who attended were Jeffrey Heavens, who contributed to the making of that first film, whilst Ted Brook appeared in it but had never seen the final product.

The ASPS made perhaps two dozen films between 1953 and 1968, when formal filmmaking at Abingdon seems to have stopped until the launch in 2003 of the AFU. The ASPS films, nineteen of which survive, are now on DVD, allowing us to marvel at both the differences and similarities between life in the 50s/60s and today.

The reunion afforded opportunities for ASPS members to share memories and reveal to our modern-day filmmakers the tricks of their trade. That generation was clearly a remarkable collection of young men, who achieved excellent results with very limited equipment. So it was fitting that the reunion also afforded a chance to remember John Toplis and John Horrex, the teachers who did so much to support and guide the ASPS, and of course Michael Grigsby who kick-started the making of films at Abingdon and, like John Horrex, passed away earlier this year.

All in all it was a tremendous day.