Obituary: Berwick local historian and photographer Jim Walker

Firstly, when he and his late wife Connie moved to live at High Letham, in 1977, then to Spittal where he resided for over 40 years.

It’s fair to say that Jim left a huge legacy to the town of Berwick when he died on April 11. His love of history and research, plus a wonderful talent for photography allowed him to produce 10 books which will undoubtedly remain an important part of Berwick’s visual archive forever.

In 2017 Jim handed over his lifetime collection of hundreds of monochrome images, equipment, documents, books and artefacts to the town’s Guild of Freeman in the hope that a permanent exhibition could be established within the town.

The work he was most proud of during his life was documenting, what he saw as, the end of the salmon fishing industry in the area. Many at the time did not agree with this predictions but he was to be proved right. He spent many years making friends with the local fishermen, going out with them in all weathers just to get that all important photograph. The result of this labour of love became of huge historic importance.

He subsequently produced his book ‘A wake for the Salmon’, and thereafter followed an exhibition in the town.

He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society and given an award from Eastern Borders Development Association to acknowledge the beneficial work he had done for the area.

Jim continued to do the same with books like ‘Secret Berwick’ which looked into obscure and long forgotten spaces in Berwick.

His last book, about the Berwick Smack, came out in 2020, written by him at the age of 95. This was an amazing achievement, still having such intellect and enthusiasm for the task.

He was also one of the founding members of the Friends of Berwick and District Museum and Archives. He helped relaunch Berwick’s History Society in the mid 90s and having joined Berwick Camera Club back in the late 1970s, was still president up until his death.

Prior to moving to the Berwick area, Jim was a bank manager with the Trustees Savings Bank and from a young age always had an interest in photography. Family holidays to Spittal always gave him the fondness he had for the area.

Laterally, even up to his last few weeks, he would get visits from local people needing to quiz him on his knowledge of Berwick and local history, but also to listen to his fascinating stories of his life.

At the time of Jim’s death he was one of only two remaining from the 25th Dragoons. We always used to say as a family that he was like a cat with nine lives…many of these used up during his war time in the Dragoons, when he survived driving the notorious Sherman DD amphibious tank. These tanks, launched miles out at sea, frequently sank losing the crew.

Thankfully Jim was able to live to the wonderful age of almost 98, leaving many memories of him as a true gentleman, author, historian, speaker, friend and the person who has left a wonderful illustrated and written history for generations to come.