I have never started a club but the first thing I would do is check how near the nearest clubs are. Will anyone want a more local club. Then find ways to tell people about your club idea. Camera shops, free adds in local papers, local shops etc. If anyone is interested arrange to meet in a pub and have a good idea / plan about what you want the club to do, how it will work.

Thanks Arthur - will start investigating, but I believe my local club is very musty and full of older, more settle in their way people.

Where about in the country are you - there are already many clubs around. If there's nothing local you might try contacting the local paper and running a competition to generate interest.

In my experience having been the president of our local camera club, and chairman of the national Triumph Stag Owners club in the past, small clubs of this sort can be very political and are very hard work on the organisers - tread carefully would be my advice :)

Im in North East England

Quote."Thanks Arthur - will start investigating, but I believe my local club is very musty and full of older, more settle in their way people."
Then I would go to your local club and find out if its as musty as you think. If it is then you will know for sure and what you don't like about it. You could find a non-musty group within the club and not need to form a club of your own.
Don't try to pinch non-musty members. However if you start a non-musty club you may find they like your club more.

I only have a little experience of camera clubs (I have only ever been involved with one club and that was only for a year or so). The club I joined was a new one which sounds like it could be a ready good place to meet some other local photographers and share ideas. However I quickly found that it was all about competitions and had a real 'I'm better than you' attitude. I think if you do set something up you need to work hard to avoid it becoming another such club (speaking to other many camera clubs end up the same way).

The new group that I am now involved in is focusing on being a photography group rather than a camera club. The aim of it is to be a place to share knowledge and ideas and to help each other to develop. We are trying to avoid competitions entirely and making it about techniques and useful tips rather than just seeing who has the biggest and best gear. Once the group is more established we are planning to set up a mentoring scheme to help the newer photographers in the group. If you do try and set something up then expect it to take a while to get going, and be prepared to be flexible in your ideas. Also be prepared for potential bad feeling from the existing club.

Thanks Arthur, I understand your sensible advice, and sorry if my use of musty was offensive, maybe it was the wrong word.

What are you all up to over the wekend with your cameras?

DigiDiva. I did not find the use of "musty" offensive. I know what you mean. I looked at joining a club some years ago where digital was almost a swear word. I did not join.

I've been spending a lot of time settng up my photography website - the images are the easy bit, having an archive on digital and scanned negatives going back 15 years. It's the words that really take the time...
Once it's ready, I will post on here for reviews.
Otherwise, I have been out to some local venues for early spring flowers, and a sunset shoot up on top of the Pennines last night - very windy, and the promised underlighting didnt materialise as I hoped, but I made one worthwhile image which I will post on the gallery here. Looking ahead, I'm planning a day trip to the Farnes for the puffins at the end of May (a much better time for them!) and a coastal sunset shoot.