It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Stan Bewick AFIAP, APSA, APAGB, on the night of 7th – 8th July 2023.
A funeral service for Stan will be held at 9.45am on Monday 24 July at Tynemouth Crematorium, Walton Avenue, North Shields, NE29 9NJ.
Stan’s family would love everyone to join them afterwards for light refreshments at Stan’s favourite place, the Grand Hotel Tynemouth, 14 Grand Parade, NE30 4ER. Refreshments will be served in the dining room from 11am.
Stan joined Tynemouth Photographic Society in October 1957 and was quickly recognised as a valuable member.
He was Secretary for 5yrs, 1969 – 73, President from 1974 – 76, Treasurer 2006 – 07, and prints competitions secretary from 2008 – 10.
For 25yrs he was our syllabus secretary and until a couple of years ago ran the weekly raffle and was the checker of our annual accounts.
Stan was made a life member of Tynemouth PS in 1986.
He was a very good photographer, taking both slides and negatives long before digital came in. He was one of the first members of Tynemouth to make his own 20 x 16in Cibachrome colour prints. Another member at that time had a fully automated Cibachrome system set up at home, and made superb prints. Stan told me that if he could get prints to such quality, he could beat the other member on composition – which he did eventually, with his manual system. Even at that time however he was aware that these were produced using ‘awful chemicals.’
Regarding the NCPF (Federation). In 1971, Stan became a member of the Federation executive committee, being elected from the floor. In 1972, he became the first editor of the Federation Newsletter – ‘Northern Focus’ – and then became their secretary for 5 years in 1976. 1984 saw Stan take the helm of the Federation, as President for two years, and for many years he played a very active role to the Federation in other capacities. He served on various sub committees and was their Archivist until he retired from that role just a few years ago. In the 1990s he chaired the Federation Centenary Committee, making sure that the celebrations were memorable and worthy and he himself produced the Federation Centenary Handbook.
Stan liked to keep up with technology, but never bought new equipment just for the sake of it – indeed he was quite frugal. As far as I recollect however, he was the first member of our club to buy a digital camera – a Pentax compact. (He was a dedicated Pentax SLR user.) Very generously, he offered to loan it to me for a Swiss holiday, insisting that I took it. (I was still taking slides.) I was scared stiff!
I recall that he demonstrated an early version of Photoshop to members and produced a picture of a Tynemouth landscape, which included a rowing boat and boatman dropped in from a slide taken in Staithes. We were amazed. He gave several demonstrations in the early days of digital and almost worshipped the work and tutorials of Barry Thomas.
In honour of his work to the Federation, in 2003 Stan was given the accolade of the first NCPF Honorary Life Vice President. This was for exceptional service to the Federation, and according to the rules, included at least 40yrs club membership.
He had numerous acceptances in International Exhibitions, such that he was able to gain his AFIAP.
As keeper of our own archive, Stan set about digitising and recording our large collection of glass plates, slides, and negatives. These now number over two thousand.
About three years ago he decided, without telling our club members, that we should produce a book showing archive pictures based on the Old Borough of Tynemouth. He took on the task alone except for asking Dorothy and I to vet the pictures and proofread the script. This was published in November 2021 and has been a good seller, generating along the way a useful sum for our club funds.
We are immensely proud that Stan stayed with Tynemouth PS for all these years. He was an exceptional servant to this club and the wider Photographic community.
In April 2019, as my last duty in the role as TPS President at the time, I was proud and honoured to award Stan the position of our first Honorary Life President.
18th of March 2023 was the 120th Anniversary of Tynemouth Photographic Society and we celebrated with a lunch. Stan attended that, and for that special occasion, and as a keepsake for members who attended the event, he produced for us a booklet of a condensed history of the Society.
In our society, until just last year, he was well known for bringing in large bags of delicious home grown tomatoes, which he enjoyed handing out to members.
Stan was a good friend to me, as well as being a fount of knowledge on all things regarding the NCPF and Tynemouth PS. Dorothy and I, other club members and many in the wider photographic community will miss him tremendously.
Stan passed away peacefully in his sleep, in hospital. He has a brother, Dennis in North Shields, and a niece Amy in Darwin Australia. His sister Brenda and David his nephew live in the USA. All were coming together in Whitley Bay to celebrate his 90th Birthday on July 14th. We pass on our deepest condolences to them and are grateful that Stan chose a life with photography, and TPS in particular, as his hobby.
Howard Wilson, President Tynemouth PS
8th July 2023
Northern Counties Photographic Federation 