David Wilkinson
David Wilkinson who was a founding member of our club has sadly passed away after a long illness.
David was instrumental in developing what was a Society for the Appreciation of Art into the club that we have today.
The Society was setup after the second world war and members met monthly in Beverley Art Gallery. The artist Fred Elwell was a leading figure in the Associationand it ran successfully until 1953 when he wasn’t able to continue due to ill health and membership dwindled. A number of artists in the town wanted to continue to meet up and so the Beverley and District Art Club evolved.
Like many clubs it went through periods of change and interest waning. David was passionate about the club and so in 1984 when the numbers dwindled to only a few members he worked with other members to promote the club, he wrote the club rules and laid out the aims of the club. to help clearly define what the club was about.
The hard work paid off and they did attract new members.
David wrote a short history about the club in which he wrote that he hoped the information would prove useful
to those who came after.
Today many art clubs are closing which mirror the situation that David described over forty years ago.
So in answer to David’s comments a resounding yes as his experience was not only useful it was inspirational.
Beverley and District Art Club is still going , run by a committee with the same aims as when it was formed including a love and appreciation of art, shared experience of creativity. To move forward we have had to reassess where we are at, make changes and work hard promoting the club but as he also wrote in that short history hard work can pay off.
David is pictured 5th from the left in this old cutting from the local newspaper
Image shows David presenting prize to Liz for a card competition a few years ago.
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