Tribute to BBC cameraman Ken Davies

Former BBC cameraman Ken Davies from Carmarthen died this week at the age of 86. Alun Lenny, a former reporter with Newyddion, pays tribute to his colleague.

During my 26 years as a BBC staff reporter for S4C News and Wales Today based in Carmarthen, I worked with Ken Davies on hundreds of news stories.

Rarely has anyone been so dedicated and enthusiastic as Ken Davies was during his career as a TV news cameraman.

He was on call 24/7, driven by the real newshounds urge to "get the story" and ensure that BBC and S4C News got it first. His contacts were second to none.

Originally from the tiny seaside village of Cwmtydu in south Ceredigion, Ken Davies established a photographic studio and camera shop in Carmarthen in the 1960s.

He shortly started filming mute 16mm black-and-white footage for BBC News.

By the early 1980s he had his own camera crew covering news stories for BBC Wales Today and Newyddion on S4C. As film gave way to video in news gathering, Ken embraced the new technology with relish.

'Spat at'

During the 1980s I accompanied Ken to countless second home fires in the early hours of the morning during the Meibion Glyndŵr arson campaign; waded waist deep through surging flood water to reach the tragic scene of the Glanrhyd rail disaster near Llangadog in 1987.

We were spat at by flying pickets and harassed by police officers who did not know us during the miners' strike, left a hippy camp in a hurry accompanied by a shower of stones and bottles, and braved hypothermia to reach trapped villages during the great snows and -20C temperatures of 1981-82.

Getting the best pictures could mean risking life and limb. On one occasion, Ken got trapped on the wrong side of a boundary fence during a massive blaze at a Pembrokeshire oil refinery and was lucky to escape alive.

We would race to video inject points at TV masts near Aberystwyth, Crymych and Llanllawddog to send footage "down the line" to Cardiff, determined to keep our record of never missing a single deadline.

I do not think viewers realised the quite heroic effort made by news crews to get the story on screen in an era where news was led more by events than issues.

Ken Davies did not suffer fools gladly and could be quite sharp at times to those less dedicated and hard-working than himself.

But he was also one of the kindest and most generous men I've ever known. No favour was too much trouble for him. He thought the world of his wife Morwenna, who showed great dedication to Ken during his long final illness.

Ken Davies died on Wednesday, 6 January, 2016 aged 86. His funeral will take place at Narberth crematorium on 18 January.