Fred McDermid

Fred McDermid, who has died aged 87, was a multi-talented powerhouse whose expertise embraced an eclectic field of endeavours from surveying to politics, community work, drama and preaching.

Always a supporter of lost causes, he took on George Robertson and Margo MacDonald in the famous 1978 Hamilton by-election and trailed in fourth but went on to chair the Scottish Liberals.

In his professional life he had worked on projects including the construction of wartime airfields and finally retired half a century later, aged 72. In his own community his unstinting activities earned him a civic award for outstanding service.

One of three brothers, he was born into a family of shipyard workers in the Glasgow district of Partick, and was educated at Hyndland School, leaving abruptly at 15 when the Second World War broke out.

He began an apprenticeship as a quantity surveyor with Danskin & Purdie and volunteered for Air Raid Protection duties, later recalling vividly the Clydebank blitz and how the experience turned men into boys overnight.

Having spent the first few years of the war working on building projects, he served in the army for two years towards the end of the war, stationed in Wales and East Anglia. But in the late 1940s he suffered two bouts of TB and his family moved to Stonehouse in 1950 to escape the smoke and pollution of Glasgow. Having been told he would need to live a very quiet life, true to form, he proceeded to defy the advice.

He took up an appointment with architects Alex Cullen & Co in Hamilton as a quantity surveyor in the early 1950s and joined Stonehouse Congregational Church, where his building background proved an asset. He soon found himself on the Congregational Union’s building committee, visiting and advising on congregational church properties throughout Scotland.

He met his wife Margaret through a drama group that he and some friends had started in the church. They married in 1957 and went on to have two children, Magnus and Oighrig, who both live in Canada.

The church played a huge part in his life and he eventually served as Congregational Union president for several years. He stepped up to the pulpit in the late 1960s, doing more and more lay preaching work during the 1970s and 1980s and, in 1986, joined the Lanark Evangelical Union Church as pastor. He held the post until last year when he retired through ill health.

Meanwhile, he had also entered local politics and served as an Independent councillor on Hamilton District from 1967 to 1970 before joining the Scottish Liberal Party. He ran for election as an MP several times, most notably in the 1978 Hamilton by-election – held, unusually, on a Wednesday because the opening game of that year’s World Cup was on Thursday, June 1 – which stopped the SNP in its tracks when Labour was victorious.

He knew there was never a hope of him winning (he polled 949 votes) but enjoyed the experience and the opportunity of standing for parliament. However he continued his work with the Scottish Liberals and eventually became chairman in the early 1980s.

Within his own community of Stonehouse he was also a tireless contributor, involved in many committees and projects over the years. He helped revive the Stonehouse Pipe Band and the Stonehouse Gala Day, which had lapsed for almost a decade. He was also involved in the community council, chaired the David Livingston Trust and helped raise thousands of pounds as chair of the local Christian Aid Committee, a post he held until recently.

This year also saw him honoured by South Lanarkshire Council with a community service award for his dedication to local people and organisations.

A talented public speaker, he was renowned on his home turf for votes of thanks at various events and he travelled around many clubs and associations giving talks on numerous subjects. Passionate about the works of Robert Burns, he gave many immortal memories at home and to the Scottish Society in Nova Scotia.

Gregarious, articulate and witty, he was also outspoken on a range of subjects, corresponding regularly through The Herald’s Letters page.

He will be remembered too for his wicked sense of humour, his love of colour and his own kaleidoscopic wardrobe. Fittingly for a man who sported a bright yellow waistcoat in the 1960s, strutted through the 1970s and 1980s in cream jackets and jazzy checked trousers and latterly favoured red blazers, he stipulated his funeral dress code should be bright clothing and no black ties.

He is survived by his wife, their son and daughter, and three grandchildren.