Brian Crawford Obituary

This week (1^st April) the Society has been running for 72 years and through that time there have been many stalwarts of the club who have done more than could be asked of them to promote or support the Society. It is with sadness to inform you that on the same day, the passing away of just one of those, past member and Exhibition Coordinator Brian Crawford. He was always really enthusiastic about the club, always willing to try something, always enjoying a laugh with other members. Sometimes he could come across as direct or maybe a bit forceful but that was just his way to get things done, underneath he was a really nice guy.

In the first season that Brian joined the Society he took on the role of Exhibition Coordinator following in the footsteps of Terry Clarke. Doug Couzens remembers explaining to Brian that it was a huge task that he would be taking on, especially as he had just joined the Society and had little or no experience of Photoshow.  Brian replied assuring that he was more than confident as he had organised many events when he worked for Sharp, the electrical goods manufacturer.

Terry had already set the standard for the exhibition when he stood down but Brian went on to raise the bar even further. Over the years Brian had the initiative to go to great efforts to raise the profile of the Society and Photoshow.

Brian introduced Cookson’s the removal people to replace Peter Benson’s van when it finally failed it’s MOT beyond repair. This at the time seemed to be the ideal choice as Brian had acquired two very large fibreglass cameras from the Blackpool Illuminations, which would later be used in the St Annes carnival advertising our Society. He also introduced two television screens on loan from Brotherton’s for the showing of the digital images at Photoshow. Brian invited various dignitaries including the Town Crier to open the 2012 exhibition to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. He also re-instituted the young photographer’s competition with the local schools. Due to illness Brian had to step down from his role and Andy Dickson volunteered to follow in the footsteps of Brian’s sterling efforts as he took on the responsibility after Photoshow 2013.

Brian embraced the creativeness of Photoshop and with the assistance of Andy Ogilvy he introduced the CreARTive section in Photoshow. Who could forget those images of a skeleton on a surfboard or the cottage being painted by numbers?

But there is one more thing that Brian will be remembered for and that is he introduced a weekly Newsletter delivered by email which could be used at short notice for urgent matters and which brought the membership closer.

Our thoughts are with Barbara and his family.