Tributes to Dingwall Field Club stalwart Elizabeth Leask, a nature lover who was also a gifted amateur photographer
TRIBUTES have been paid to a Ross-shire woman who helped to resurrect a popular field club started by her father and made her mark as a gifted amateur photographer.
A private funeral for Elizabeth Leask has taken place in Dingwall.
Ms Leask had spent her early childhood in England, but came to Dingwall when her father took up the post of county architect.
After leaving Dingwall Academy, she trained as a librarian in Edinburgh and worked there for some years. Subsequently she returned to Dingwall and the county library in Tulloch Street, transferring later to the academy libraries at Dingwall and Tain.
For a while she was also involved with the Job Creation Scheme and supervised a cataloguing project for Dingwall Museum.
Elizabeth’s father was a founder member of the Dingwall and District Field Club, which had been disbanded by the time she returned to the area. But always deeply interested in the natural world and wildlife, she re-established the club, thereafter known as Dingwall Field Club, and for many years was its dedicated and enthusiastic president.
Photography was another of her great hobbies. She was a long-standing member of the widely-respected Dingwall Camera Club and she won many prizes in photographic competitions, particularly for her slides.
She was often invited to give slide shows to clubs and groups and these proved very popular. Dedicated to her art, she would frequently go out very early in the morning, or in severe wintry conditions, to capture special effects and sightings of wildlife.
She was also a member of the local RSPB group for many years.
Members of Dingwall Field Club were greatly saddened to hear of her death. They still derive much enjoyment from the club’s field trips, and several went to pay their last respects at the graveside.
