Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015 - 20

Obituary
Alastair Hendrie at
BECTU conference:
his knowledge of
agreements was
second to none

Alastair Hendrie

T

cameraman

MARK DIMMOCK

he sudden and unexpected
passing of Alastair came as an
enormous shock to all those
in BECTU and the BBC who
knew him.
He was a loving and committed
husband to his wife Cathy for whom
he had been principal carer for many
years through her debilitating illness,
until her death earlier this year;
indeed Alastair had taken early
retirement to be able to spend more
time at home with her and his two
children Carol and Colin. Many of us
will remember the family trips they
took to conference in later times, with
their enormous vehicle and Cathy's
formidable wheelchair on the prom
at Eastbourne.
Alastair joined BBC Glasgow and
BECTU (or at that time its precursor
the ABS) in May 1975. He was to stay
with the BBC for over 37 years until he
retired in 2012, and it was in Scotland
he learned his trade as a cameraman
of the very first order. He worked
across all of their output, general
elections, Saturday night
entertainment programmes, sitcoms,
children's shows and period dramas.
Outside the studios though he loved
working on sports OB's - football and
rugby, but especially golf. He
absolutely relished ploughing round
the rain and windswept links courses
of the Scottish Open and The Open,

20

camera on shoulder following the
golfers through thick and thin. After
he retired he still worked freelance
for BBC Scotland in studios and on
location.
He was fiercely proud of his trade
and his skills, and those of his
colleagues, and was a fierce critic of
the BBC's attempts to diminish them
with the PDP proposals and the
growing "single person crews" they
enforced. The failed PDP experiment
showed how right he was, and
although there are now many semitrained camera operators across the
BBC, fears that they would be used to
totally replace trained camera people
were not carried out, largely due to
the reasoned opposition of Alistair
and colleagues, and the irreplaceable
skills they delivered.
Alastair was for many years a proud
member of the Guild of Television
Cameramen. He was also immensely
proud of working for the world's best
public service broadcaster, while at
the same time being fiercely critical
of the sometime arrogance and
destructive stupidity of senior
management, and of the petty and
vindictive treatment which could be
meted out to his members.
He was a marvellous BECTU rep in
Glasgow, representing his members
on the BBC Division, and for over a
decade served on the NEC. As chair

He was
fiercely
proud of his
trade union
and his
skills, and
those of his
colleagues

of the old Nations & Regions SDC
he was seconded full-time to the
union as a lay rep, but after a
year decided he would return to
the job he loved so much, though
of course this in no way lessened
his union activities and beliefs.
Many of us have fond
memories of Alastair at
conference and on the overnight
stays between meetings which
reps from the Nations and
northern regions endured. It was
at these times more than any that
we all got to know each other, at
various restaurants and pubs. His
Belfast colleague Willis McBriar
remembers being converted to
chicken alla arriabata, and indeed
Alistair never gave up his search
for the perfect spiciest arriabata
in cities across the world. He was
great company as we sat putting
the world, and the BBC, to rights.
Like so many, Willis was in awe
of Alistair's command of the rule
book, often moving next business
to "truncate boring and trivial
debate over nothing." As a
member of the BBC National Joint
Committee Alistair was often the
only person in the room to
remember and know about old
agreements on terms and
conditions, indeed as an
unsurpassed archive organiser
the only one to have an actual
copy of such agreements. Many
was the HR manager who had to
ask him for a copy!
He was a formidable and
hugely valued union member and
rep for all of his 37 years in the
industry. He was moved and
deeply touched when BECTU
made him an Honorary Member
in 2012.
He was a marvellous
companion, in restaurants and
theatres, and at gigs where his
passion for prog rock, Camel and
Bonnie Raitt never wavered.
Alastair will be deeply missed
by all who knew him, all those
members he represented so
vigorously and effectively over
the decades, the officials he
worked alongside, and those of
us who were fortunate enough
to spend time with him outside
work.
Our thoughts are with Carol
and Colin.
Mark Scrimshaw

Stage Screen & Radio December/January 2015
Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015

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