My father, Frank Chalmers, was a journalist and political activist who additionally achieved a level of fame as a wild swimmer.
All the time eager to take to the open water, Frank by no means missed the New Yr’s Day “dook” within the River Tay close to Dundee, the place he was born, and in his 40s launched into a collection of intrepid swimming feats.
In 2003 he grew to become the primary Scotsman in 50 years to barter the infamous Corryvreckan whirlpool off the island of Jura, and he marked his fiftieth birthday in 2005 by swimming the Channel. In 2008 he very almost swam all the way in which throughout the treacherous Pentland Firth from Orkney to the Scottish mainland – a pioneering escapade that was the topic of a documentary, Crossing Hell’s Mouth, proven on the BBC in 2009.
On land Frank, who has died of most cancers aged 69, had a protracted profession as a subeditor and later editor, together with on the Morning Star newspaper, Well being Service Journal (HSJ) and the Meals Requirements Company. He was additionally a union consultant (father of chapel, FoC) for the Nationwide Union of Journalists (NUJ).
Rising up in Dundee, Frank was profoundly affected by his household’s tales of poverty within the Nineteen Twenties and 30s, and realized to be an activist by following his plumber father, Frank, and mom, Daisy (nee Clarke), into the Communist celebration. He and his three brothers, Douglas, Iain and Scott, attended Kirkton excessive complete.
Frank organised his first protests in school, together with in opposition to corporal punishment, and continued on that path whereas learning economics at Dundee College, the place he campaigned in opposition to hire rises in scholar lodging. In 1976 he started a PhD, however determined to desert it after two years to work for the Younger Communist League, first as its Scottish secretary after which as nationwide organiser.
In 1981, with my mom, his then companion, Helen Whitelaw, he moved to London – the place I used to be born – to develop into south-east area TUC marketing campaign organiser for the Jobs for Youth marketing campaign. Not lengthy afterwards he made it on to the entrance web page of the Guardian – and right into a Steve Bell cartoon – when he outwitted safety guards to harangue the prime minister Margaret Thatcher from the pulpit of a London church.
The identical 12 months Frank switched to working for the Morning Star newspaper as an editorial assistant, coaching as much as develop into a subeditor in 1983 earlier than shifting in 1985 to HSJ. 4 years later he went freelance, engaged on numerous well being publications earlier than spending 14 years on the Meals Requirements Company, the place he edited its magazines from 2001 till his retirement in 2015.
All through his time in journalism Frank was essentially the most affected person subeditor and editor conceivable, but in addition a formidable negotiator for the NUJ, together with as FoC at Macmillan publishing, which owned HSJ. It was at an NUJ assembly in 1997 that he met his new companion, Ros Bayley, a fellow journalist.
Frank’s biggest expertise was bringing folks collectively together with his humour, compassion and love of music. A eager guitarist and songwriter, he organised group occasions at Lissenden Gardens in Kentish City, north London, the place he lived with Ros, hosted a month-to-month music occasion entitled Thank Frank It’s Friday, and introduced out an album, Lissenden, together with his band This Is the Story in 2023. His Burns Nights celebrations had been well-known.
Frank is survived by Ros, me and his brothers.
