Service Awards

At Paisley Colour Photographic Club's AGM and Prize Giving evening on 21st April 2022 the membership had the pleasure of awarding the richly deserved title of Honorary President to Duncan McEwan.

Bridge of Weir resident, Duncan, has dedicated much of his life to the Scottish amateur photography scene, having first becoming a member of the Club in 1971. More than half of Duncan's 5 decades as a Club member has seen him serve in one formal capacity or another, including being President 9 times, Vice President 6 times, a Council member 12 times, External Competition Secretary 16 times, Internal Competition Secretary once, Chairman of the Nature Division of the former Paisley International Exhibition for 8 years and its Overall Chairman for 4 years.

At national level, Duncan has previously been added to the Scottish Photographic Federation's Roll of Honour for meritorious service to club photography in Scotland as a speaker, judge and for his work with the former Paisley International Exhibition.

His legendary talent as a photographer has also been recognised by Sony ( one of the world''s pre-eminent camera and lens manufacturers) with whom he has served as an ambassador.

Duncan was delighted to receive his honorary title, with outgoing President Ken Dow presenting him with a framed certificate and a Scottish Photographic Federation silver medal inscribed with his new title.

The SPF would like to add it's congratulations to Duncan McEwan who became a member of the SPF Roll of Honour in 2003. Below is the citation read out by the then SPF President Campbell McNair when Duncan was presented with his Certificate as part of our Federation Centenary celebrations. 

Duncan has been synonymous with the best in Scottish Photography for very many years.

As a member of Paisley Colour Photographic Club, he has held most of the posts within the Club including President, as well as Chairman of the world famous Paisley International Colour Exhibition. He has also been Convener of the Renfrewshire Inter Club Competition.

He has exhibited very successfully both in the United Kingdom and overseas, gaining many top awards, and has acted as a selector at most, if not all major exhibitions in the United Kingdom and in some cases has done so several times. He is very highly regarded for his knowledge and expertise as a judge particularly in his favourite subjects of landscape, sport and natural history.

He spends most of his time photographing these in his native Scotland. Duncan travels great distances each year to deliver his many lectures or to judge at the photographic clubs throughout Great Britain, these often having to be booked two years in advance, such is his popularity.

He has been judging and lecturing for more than 20 years. In addition, there can be few if any major photographic publications in this country which have not at one time or another used his work to illustrate an article or had him as a winner of their particular competition. He is also frequently asked to provide articles for such magazines or to test equipment and write a report on these tests.

As organiser of the Minolta Club in Scotland he arranges meetings on behalf of this Club at various venues throughout Scotland, thus enabling Minolta enthusiasts to take advantage of these events no matter where they live.

He is a highly organised and motivated photographer whose contribution to the Photographic community in Scotland cannot be overstated. 

On the 7th October 2021 Andrew West of Fraserburgh PS was added to the SPF Roll of Honour. He was presented with his Roll of Honour certificate by the SPF President Gordon Rae. Andrew joined Fraserburgh Photographic Society back in 1958 when the club had only been on the go for some 7 years. Since then his only break from the club was during 1959 to 1961 when Andrew was based in Wales with the RAF on national service. So if you do the maths, Andrew has been a member of the club for 60 years, an amazing length of time.

In 1976 Andrew was elected President of Fraserburgh PS, a position he was to hold for 43 years. In the absence of other candidates he also took on roles as Secretary and as Treasurer, so it can be confidently said that Andrew has kept the club going through all sorts of changes.

The Roll of Honour nomination was supported by Allan Gawthorpe, a Past-President of the SPF and Fraserburgh’s President Mike Chandler. The SPF were delighted to approve this nomination for someone who has been on their Club’s committee for such an exceptionally long time, possibly even one of the longest ever serving officebearers!

You can read all of Andrew's citation below.

John Coyle, a member of Penilee CC, was awarded the APAGB for service to photography in June 2015, after the opening of the Scottish Salon. John was one of our Roll of Honour recipients in 2003. 

This Award was instituted in 1984 to be national recognition of individual club members who have given meritorious service over many years within the PAGB community of member Federations and affiliated Clubs.

A Certificate and Badge are presented upon grant of the Award and holders may use the letters APAGB after their names.

Both the Nominator and the Nominee must be members of clubs affiliated to the PAGB. Nominations must be made on the approved nominations form as published on their website (click here).

It must be accompanied by a comprehensive Citation and a separate Record of Service, each completed by the Nominator who vouches for accuracy. Nominations do not require prior approval by Club or Federation but the PAGB Awards sub-committee will inform the PAGB Exec Member of the Federation of the Nomination.

A copy of the full Guidance and the Nominations Form is available to download from the PAGB website (click here)

The JS Lancaster Medal was instituted in 1998 to recognise exceptional service to the PAGB, and is named after its first Secretary. Award holders may use the designation 'HonPAGB' replacing any previous award of APAGB.

Anyone considering making a nomination should contact the PAGB General Secretary to be put in touch with the Awards Subcommittee Chairman. Further details are available on the PAGB website (click here) .

The SPF has had two recipients of the JS Lancaster Medal since its introduction in 1998 -

Rod Wheelans, Dumfries CC

Libby Smith, Carluke CC

Below are the Current List of Roll of Honour recipients. Sadly a number have passed away over the years. 

A number of years ago the SPF Executive took the decision to keep recipients on the list even if they had passed away. This means that this record may be incomplete as some records were lost before this time. If you can help by supplying information that may add to the early recipients we would be pleased to hear from you. Also, if you can add to the Clubs/Organisations that the individuals above belonged we would also be grateful to hear from you. All information to be sent to the SPF General Secretary.