David McKendrick

He then went underground as a miner - like his father - and knew the miners' loyalty and brotherhood. He served as an NUM representative, as a councillor in Motherwell, aged 26, and in the steelworks at Ravenscraig, before making the decision (with a wife and six children to support) to train first as a probation officer, then to embark on the applied social studies course at Glasgow University. His early social work career was in Motherwell until being appointed depute director of social work at East Kilbride in 1974.

The formation of Strathclyde Regional Council in 1975 took him to Hamilton as a divisional social work organiser for Lanark sub-region in a team of four whose continuing relationship even after retirement and to date earned them the sobriquet of the Last of the Summer Wine Crew. In 1985, he was appointed district social work manager for the north-east of Glasgow, where he spent the next 10 years before being appointed director of social work for North Lanarkshire for the last year of his working life.

McKendrick had a particular interest in mental health, whether for those affected by psychiatric illness or by learning difficulties. In the latter field, he led the way in promoting services and changing policies so that people with learning difficulties were more involved and listened to, and liberated from perpetual attendance at centres by opening up a wide range of learning and work experiences.

After retirement, he was called upon to help an ailing but worthwhile organisation PHEW (Parental Help- Evenings and Weekends - originally a small co-operative) and his influence in securing and expanding this led eventually to the provision of the PHEW hostel in the centre of Motherwell (by this time Practical Help - Easy Ways), an innovative respite care provision for people with learning or multiple disabilities with which he continued to be involved as secretary right up to the beginning of this year.

In the field of psychiatric illness, he was instrumental in setting up the Lanarkshire Association for Mental Health (LAMH) through the audacious medium of persuading the Aberlour Trust to sell a small children's home to Strathclyde, which, in turn, leased it to the association rent free to provide accommodation for people leaving Carstairs state hospital on completion of treatment, and paid for by the DHSS.

The revenue generated by this facilitated the gradual development of LAMH, of which McKendrick was honorary president, and which last year celebrated its 25th anniversary. It is now a major player in its field with a staff of 70 and a turnover just under £1.5m.

McKendrick had a particular gift for drama, producing and presenting many ambitious shows, pantomimes and revues in his local area, but also extending to such venues as the Mitchell Theatre in Glasgow, with priority given to casting people with learning difficulties, or recovering from psychiatric illnesses.

McKendrick acknowledged the way in which social work training transformed his perceptions and enabled him to "get inside other people's heads" so that he could better understand them to find options for change. During the miners' strike of 1984-85, it became necessary to explain to miners why Strathclyde had to stop paying money to those without families - a thankless task for anyone, but McKendrick volunteered to do it and returned much moved by their dignity.

A founder member of the British Association of Social Workers in 1971 and chairman of the West of Scotland branch, he supported his profession and his colleagues by helping to formulate policy as well as practice to it. (He resigned as a matter of principle because BASW was against the provision of financial assistance to miners' families, but he renewed his membership later.) He used knowledge and learning to satisfy his curiosity and he continued to pursue this, even graduating this year MSc in Public Policy, on the same day as his grandchildren.

In his last post as director of social work for North Lanarkshire Council, he relished the opportunity of setting up a new department from scratch and he is recalled by Alexis Jay, his former depute and now the chief social work inspector for Scotland, as being compassionate and people-centred. Above all, he was concerned to ensure that social work services were delivered in local communities and as close and accessible as possible to those who needed them.

His full-blooded laughter was infectious, never more so than when relating the performance of his national service duties as a medical attendant in the Royal Air Force at Stranraer, with no fewer than four Celtic players in the station's football team.

McKendrick's family came first and last (though they may not always have seen it that way) and he attributed his strength to the devotion and support for his inspiring wife, Cathy. Their Christian faith was unswerving and lived out daily in its practical application. He and his family set an impressive and moving example of living with a terminal illness. By Dick Poor and Bob Nummey