Archibald Herbert Bevan

Born: June 27, 1925;

Died: February 23, 2015.

Archibald Herbert Bevan, known as Archie, who has died aged 89, was a teacher, campaigner and community activist who in the 1970s co-founded with the composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and others the St Magnus International Festival. The festival has since grown from its small beginnings on Orkney to become one of the country's most highly regarded arts events.

He was born in Lewisham, London, the third child of Margarita Anne McColl from Mull and Herbert John Bevan from Shropshire, although Archie never met his father, who died through illness before his birth. With he only a few months old, the family headed north to Stromness, to live with Rita's sister, May, who was married to Captain Geordie Porteous, and owned Porteous's Shop and Bakery. After May and Geordie moved to Hopedale, Rita took over running of the shop and bakery and Archie spent his early years running errands for the shop, taking rolls on a tray on his head up the street from the bakery. When he was 13, he joined an expedition down the west coast of Scotland, to visit the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow. He visited Clydebank, and stood under the bow of the Queen Elizabeth which was then under construction.

In 1942, in common with others of his generation, he signed up to join the Royal Artillery, and after training in the south of England, followed his brother John to India. By 1947, with independence looming, he was keen to demob and start his studies and managed to get early release and boarded a troop ship back to Britain. He joined Edinburgh University gaining an honours degree in English and on completion of his teacher training course at Moray House, returned to Orkney to take up his first teaching post in Finstown, under the headship of Frank Kent.

By this time he had made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Cromarty, from Toab, in East Mainland, who had been staying with her uncle, Dr Cromarty at Seafield House in Stromness. They married on 24 July 1952, and took up residence at Craigielee in Finstown. However, it was not long before Dunard on the back road was vacated by his brother John and family, and Archie and Elizabeth moved into Stromness.

During this period, Mr Bevan became a member of the Stromness Town Council. The most contentious issue of the time was housing, or rather the lack of it. He joined the campaign for change, but it was an uphill struggle at that time. In 1953 he was also a founding member of the Stromness Debating Society becoming president in 1957.

He was a life long socialist and member of the Labour Party. The early 1960s saw participation in CND marches between Stromness and Kirkwall and he was a member of Ian McInnes campaign team, when McInnes stood as Labour candidate in the 1966 general election.

1970 saw an event which was to have a big influence on Mr Bevan's life. The family were staying at the Mucklehoose in Rackwick, with the poet George Mackay Brown, when some friends arrived for the day. They had brought along with them a trendily dressed visitor from the south, who was keen to meet George. The visitor was Peter Maxwell Davies, and so began a long friendship and working relationship. Maxwell Davies turned George Mackay Brown's story into an opera, and the question was, 'where would the premiere be?'

A plan was hatched, over mugs of homebrew round the Hopedale kitchen table, for it to be held in the cathedral. And so, in 1977, the St Magnus festival was born. The early years of the festival, with its "strange" music, were a struggle for many unaccustomed ears, but with the committed support and involvement of Norman Mitchell and Dick and Glenys Hughes just to mention a few, the festival went from strength to strength.

Hopedale for many years felt like the base camp of the festival. Mr Bevan became chairman, followed by co-artistic director, and eventually, honorary president.

Meanwhile, in his day job, Mr Bevan had been appointed deputy to Ian MacInnes, who had become rector of Stromness Academy; 1988 finally saw him retire but not wanting to be at a loose end, he entered broadcasting, hosting Moot Point, on Radio Orkney.

When George MacKay Brown died in1996, Mr Bevan was appointed his literary executor, and so began another chapter of his life. There was much unpublished work, and, together with Brian Murray, Mr Bevan made it a mission to get it into print. The small room above the front door was converted into an office, and many new publications followed, culminating in the printing of the Complete Poems in 2005.

At various times, Mr Bevan was also a founding member of the Orkney Heritage Society, a member of The Hoy Trust, a member and vice chairman of the Orkney Health Board, and over a number of years walked the entire coastline of the Orkney Mainland with his brother John.

He was awarded the MBE in 2000 for services to the St Magnus Festival, and in 2012 was made an honorary fellow of the Association of Literary Studies. By this time, the Alzheimers he had been diagnosed with a few years earlier was taking its toll, and he was unable to attend the award ceremony in person.

Despite his illness, he continued to take his favourite walk round the West Shore for as long as possible, and after that could still be seen walking the length of the street to get his daily papers from Raes and favourite cakes from the Co-op. Towards the end he became more and more reliant on Elizabeth who had always been his rock.

He is survived by Elizabeth, his children Peter, Graham and Anne, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.