Memorial Archives - Aberdeen Voice

Duke of Rothesay, Cabrach Community Inaugurate Cairn

Aug 282015

The Duke of Rothesay attended a ceremony on Sunday in the Lower Cabrach, one of Scotland’s most remote communities. He had come to lay a wreath at newly-constructed memorial cairn. Suzanne Kelly attended.

The Cabrach is perhaps best known for its dramatic, beautiful scenery and for being the home of whisky.

The Gordon family residence is here in the sparsely-populated area, home to generations of Scotland’s first family of whisky.

The Cabrach cairn, in the Lower Cabrach area, is a new, beautiful dry stone monument to those from the area who fell not only in World War I, but in all subsequent conflicts.

Until recent research revealed the truth, it was thought that the number of those from the Cabrach who fell in the Great War was far less than one hundred. The truth emerged that perhaps some 300 lives were lost.

This was mainly to illness. When the recruits left the area to go to war, they had little in the way of natural immunity, and many were tragically killed by disease.

Prince Charles – the Duke of Rothesay as he is known in Scotland – laid a wreath and talked to an assembly of residents. This wreath was red poppies with three white feathers with a card which read:

“In special memory of those from the Cabrach, and the parishes of Rhynie, Lumsden and Dufftown who lost their lives during the First World War. Charles”

One of those present was John Gordon. As a young man of 16 in World War II, he was kept in the area to do essential agricultural work and to serve on the Home Guard. He told Aberdeen Voice:

“I joined the Home Guard; I got my medal about 10 year ago. This medal is the Royal Observer Corps. I was in and saw the bombing that happened in Aberdeen. The Germans flew over here too; they dropped a bomb on the Upper Cabrach. Aye, they put a bomb up there in the Upper Cabrach.”

After the Duke left, a second ceremony was held for the entire community with music and the Lonach Pipe Band and a huge spread of food. Photographs of the cairn in progress over the months adorned the community centre walls.

Marc Ellington spearheaded the project; funding for which mainly came from the Gordon family.

Ellington said:

“Each and every aspect of the construction of the cairn has involved members, both young and old, of the Cabrach Community working closely with master craftsman Euan Thompson, a specialist in traditional dry stone construction.

“As well as being one of the finest memorial cairns to be built in Scotland in recent years, this is an outstanding example of what a local community, working together with energy and determination, can achieve.”

Both Ellington and community leader Patti Nelson gave speeches and thanked everyone who assisted and who attended. Marc was assisted on the day by Gemma Louise Cook.

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Roadside Fountains Of The North East

Aberdeenshire, Featured, History 2 Responses »

Jan 162014

By Duncan Harley.

Scotland once had an abundance of roadside fountains. Predating the public water supplies of the Industrial Revolution, they provided drinking water to travellers and as often as not their beasts of burden.

Many roadside wells are sited above natural springs and most are situated where both man and beast would require re-hydration after having toiled up some rural one in five slope or down some twisted and slippery coastal track.

Cairnie near Huntly has one such well.

Situated on a bend of the A96 north of Huntly, it would have been a welcome rest for all who used the road between Inverness and Aberdeen in Victorian times.

Dated 1897 and with a Gothic style fountain complete with a lion mask spout over a stone trough this roadside well is inscribed ‘Victoria diamond jubilee fountain 1897’. Few records remain as to its provenance however its position on a loop of an old General Wade military road may indicate that the present triangular structure replaced an earlier roadside drinking fountain or well.

The Cairnie fountain seems typical of the breed. Similar designs can be found in other locations around the north east of Scotland.

A few miles further north from Cairnie, on the road to Drumuir, is an almost overgrown concrete fountain near the old Mill of Botary.

Dated 1883 and with a with a missing spout over a stone trough this roadside well is inscribed with the lines from Psalm 104.10

He sendeth the springs into the valleys
Of my store take thou freely
And rest thee at need
Then onward true hearted
I bid thee God Speed
But thank Him who sends me
Ere thou leavest my side
That thy water is sure
And thy bread He’ll provide.

James Pirie’s ‘The Parish of Cairnie’ of 1906 describes the structure as being of concrete construction with lines composed by Rev James Wilson M.A. former headmaster of the Central School of Keith.

According to Google however, the author of Psalm 104.10 was none other than the biblical King David of Israel who was known for his diverse skills as both a warrior and a writer of psalms. It is difficult to decide which source to believe.

On the road from Keith to Tomintoul lies perhaps one of the most iconic of all of those triangular concrete roadside fountains.

The B9009 runs from Keith to Tommintoul and skirts the iconic Ben Rinnes. Some 15 miles from Keith lies the Glenrinnes estate. Apart from a few isolated farms, some fine views of Ben Rinness and occasional red squirrels crossing the highway there is not much to see at the roadside. There is the obligatory war memorial at Glenrinnes of course and a fine one it is indeed!

Many Scottish First War Memorials are in town centres, some are on roadsides but this one sits in the churchyard where, no doubt, the young men whose names are carved on the front would have worshipped of a Sunday.

All would have died in the mud and squalor of some unworthy French or Belgian battlefield and none are buried here at the foot of the mountain which they would have seen each day as they left their front door to work on the farms and crofts of their native Banffshire.

The inscription below the satire reads ‘In memory of the men of Glenrinnes who died in distant and glorious fields’ and there are eighteen names written below.

In these times of fast travel and no time to spare, the eighteen young men of Glenrinnes might be all but forgotten were it not for James Eadie.

James was a brewer who made his fortune in Burton on Trent and Glenrinnes was his Scottish Estate.

He had started off in the tea trade but quickly diversified into supplying malt to brewing houses before moving into the brewing of ale on a previously unheard of industrial scale and thus making his fortune. Born in 1827 he became Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Banffshire in 1900 just a year before the death of Queen Victoria and died in 1904 just 6 years after buying the estate and taking on the title.

Meanwhile of course a war in Europe was brewing. It was not to break out until nine years after James Eadies death of course but one cannot help but feel that the landed classes would have been at least in part aware of the impending slaughter which was soon to decimate the youth of Scotland.

James Eadie was born in Blackford, Perthshire in 1827. He was one of 14 children born to William Eadie and Mary Stewart. His father was owner of a small brew house in Blackford and both parents ran a hotel and livery stable business in the town.

In 1842, James was sent to live with an uncle in Staffordshire where he learned business skills and began supplying malt to brewers in Burton on Trent. In 1864 he established a brewery in Burton. The rest is of course history. The brewery, despite several ups and downs flourished and survives to this day as Bass.

James Eadie became quite rich. As a benefactor of Burton and several other towns, he funded chapels and public buildings including a rather fine commemorative well at the foot of Ben Rinness. In his later years he became a Justice of the Peace and a Depute Lord Lieutenant of Banffshire. He died in 1904 at Glenrinnes House not quite six years after buying Glenrinnes Estate.

The roadside fountain was commissioned in 1902 and built of grey and polished pink granite for the occasion of the coronation of Victoria’s successor, King Edward the Seventh.

Situated some 17 miles from Tomintoul, it is somewhat overgrown today. In fact a pair of shears and some stout nettle proof gloves might be useful should you decide to stop and view.

The inscription on the front reads:

“Erected by James Eadie Esquire of Glenrinnes, DL Banffshire, in Commemoration of the Coronation of their Majesties King Edward the Seventh and Queen Alexandra, 9th August 1902”

The fountain contrasts sharply with that memorial to the eighteen young men of Glenrinnes who left the glen to fight and die for their country all those years ago.

In a way though, both the roadside fountain and the Glenrinnes War Memorial combine to enable the present generation to maintain a sense of history since James Eadie’s drinking fountain sits beside a small lay-by and provides a reason to stop on the journey from Keith to Tomintoul and at least a chance to find the names of those lost men in the churchyard on the opposite side of the highway.

With the 100th anniversary of the 1914-18 war fast approaching and having virtually passed from living memory it may serve us well to stop at such roadside places to reflect for a short while on those distant events.

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Wilson’s Last Stand: Fochabers Fountain Commemorates

Featured, History, Information, Opinion 8 Responses »

Aug 152013

Michael Caine may have successfully defended Rorke’s Drift against the Zulu army but the truth of the Zulu War turns out to be slightly different from the Hollywood version. Duncan Harley examines a slice of Scottish history commemorated by a Fochabers fountain.

Over the years, I have often driven past this Morayshire fountain, never thinking to stop and read the inscription. Today I took a wee look and discovered that it is a tribute to Major Allan Wilson, late bank clerk of Fochabers.

Lord Chelmsford had famously invaded Zululand without the knowledge of the UK government in the hope that he could capture Cetshwayo, the Zulu king, before London discovered that hostilities had begun.

Things however did not go smoothly, and this monument is a link to those events.

The fountain erected in memory of Major Wilson was commissioned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and is inscribed:

Erected by the natives of Fochabers to commemorate the heroic stand made against the forces of the King of Matebeleland by Major Allan Wilson of this town who with a small band of comrades fell bravely fighting against overwhelming odds near the Shangani River in South Africa on the 4th of December 1893.

Allan Wilson (1856-1893) was born in Glen Urquhart, Ross-shire, and is best known for his leadership of the Shangani Patrol during which he met his death, making him a national hero in Rhodesia.

On completion of his bank apprenticeship in Fochabers, he went to the Cape Colony and joined the Cape Mounted Rifles. He fought in the Zulu War and the First Boer War and was promoted to Sergeant. After taking his discharge he became a trader and gold prospector and earned a commission in the Basuto Police.

Later, he joined the Bechuanaland Exploration Company as Chief Inspector and was sent as their representative to Fort Victoria (now Masvingo) in Matabeleland, serving as the senior officer in the Victoria Volunteers. He became a Major and was killed while leading the Shangani Patrol during the First Matabele War.

Wilson is buried, along with most of his patrol and with Cecil Rhodes, in Matabo Hills, Zimbabwe.

When the First Matabele War broke out in 1893, Wilson was given command of the Victoria Column and appointed to the rank of Major. He led the Shangani Patrol in search of King Lobengula and on 4 December, he and thirty one of his men were cut off from the main column and killed by the Ndebele warriors.

In desperation, and only hours before his death, Wilson sent Frederick Russell Burnham and two other scouts to seek reinforcements from the main column commanded by Major Patrick Forbes.
Unfortunately, the battle raging there was just as intense and there was no hope of anyone reaching Wilson in time.

The incident achieved a lasting, prominent place in Rhodesian colonial history and is considered to be the British equivalent to Custer’s Last Stand.

A patriotic play, Wilson’s Last Stand, was written and it ran in London for just over two years. In the play, it was claimed that in killing Wilson and his men, Lobengula lost eighty of his royal guard and another 500 Ndebele warriors. Wilson seemingly, was the last to fall and the wounded men of the Shangani Patrol loaded rifles and passed them to him during the final stages of the defence.

When their ammunition ran out, the remaining men of the Patrol are said to have risen and sung, God Save the Queen. Once both of Wilson’s arms were broken and he could no longer shoot, he stepped from behind a barricade of dead horses, walked toward the Ndebele, and was stabbed with a spear by a young warrior.

The truth may have been slightly different, but that’s show business for you, I suppose!

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Grumpy Jack’s Corner No.3 – Thanks For The Memorials

Opinion, Satire and Humour 1 Response »

Jan 182013

Duncan Harley reflects on Life, the Universe and Everything. A sideways look at the world and its foibles.

Salmond Cleans Up.

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond this week announced the creation of a fund to restore Scotland’s War Memorials. To be called the Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund it will “allow for the sensitive restoration” of the 6,000 or so memorials in villages, towns and cities across the country.

Every town and village has at least one memorial and many more are dotted about the landscape at crossroads, local vantage points, inside churches and public buildings.

Many of course are well maintained by individuals, local groups and civic authorities.

The Inverurie Town Square statue is a very good example, as is the quite moving Roll of Honour found within Insch Memorial Hospital in Aberdeenshire. Insch, of course, being one of a very few towns which chose to use funds gained via public subscription to build a hospital instead of a statue to commemorate the dead of war.

The sons of the folk of Premney, Old Rayne, Colpy and Insch are very well remembered on the carved plaque in the entrance hallway. If you are in the area, I would certainly recommend you call in and have a look, a wee sob and a reflection on the nature of mankind.

Hasta La Vista Madrid

Alongside the above, my personal favourite is the plaque in Aberdeen’s Music Hall commemorating the local folk who fought and died for democracy during the Spanish Civil War (July 17 1936 to April 1 1939).

It’s not a well known memorial and it’s a bit forlorn and quite scratched. In fact, you can easily miss it unless you know where to look. There are only a few names on it and they compete with the notice board and leaflet display for attention.

However, somewhat unusually for a war memorial, it includes those who fought and survived alongside those who died at Ebro and Gandessa during 1937-38.

The Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund is seemingly open for applications right now, with funding available over the course of the four-year centenary commemorations, from 2014 through to 2018.

I’d get in quick though, if I was you, since if you divide a million pounds by 6,000 memorials, that works out at £166 for each project, if I’ve got my maths correct.

I personally will be asking Aberdeen City Council to restore the Spanish Civil War Memorial to its former glory. I am sure that £166 will buy a few a nice new frame and some scratch remover.

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‘Ghost Bike’ Memorial Event.

Aberdeen City, Featured, News No Responses »

Jun 282012

The rain stopped for a while last Sunday, but the sky was suitably overcast to set a sombre mood for the ceremony which installed Aberdeen’s first Ghost Bike. Paul Kohn writes.

ghost-bikers-milenas-mum-hannah-and-friends-pic

A group of around twenty cyclists set off from the beCyCle workshop in Old Aberdeen for the ride down to Garthdee roundabout where the memorial to Milena Gott-Konopacka has been installed.
Milena was knocked off her bicycle by a tanker driver in July 2009, and died eighteen months later in hospital after a long and finally unsuccessful struggle to recover.

Milena, a promising science student at Aberdeen University, was 20 when the accident occurred.

The ride from Old Aberdeen to Garthdee was not without its lighter moments: the contrast between Benedikt on the ‘high bike’ and another beCyCler on a recumbent turned quite a few heads on Union Street as we passed. There were some lovely cakes, and the usual great sense of camaraderie that develops when cyclists ride together.

On arrival at Bridge of Dee we were met by Milena’s mother and family. She had come over from Poland for the event, and was visibly grieving but happy to be sharing that grief with some of Milena’s Aberdeen friends. There was a brief but moving ceremony as those present placed flowers on the Ghost Bike.

When I returned to the spot about an hour later, I saw that Milena’s mum had also returned to spend some time alone at the memorial.

All credit to Hannah Krueger and her friends at beCyCle for organising a moving and ultimately highly affirmative event . We were all happy to participate, although we hope that no more Ghost Bikes will be necessary in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen’s First Ghost Bike To Be Installed

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Jun 072012

By Paul Kohn.

Ghost Bikes are small and sombre memorials for cyclists who have been killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all-white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque.
They serve as a reminder of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise-anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists’ right to safe travel.

The first Ghost Bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. Currently, there are over 500 Ghost Bikes in over 180 locations throughout the world.

For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow cyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us.

National Bike Week is coming up, from 16th to 24th of June. In Aberdeen, events are being co-ordinated by Aberdeen Cycle Forum,
http://www.aberdeencycleforum.org.uk/index.php?pf=news.php&nid=131

As part of the week’s activities, beCyCle, the community workshop based in Old Aberdeen, is organising the installation of Aberdeen’s first Ghost Bike, at Garthdee. It is being placed in memory of Milena, a beCyCler who was hit by a lorry three years ago.

BeCyCle comments,

“Please join us when we take the Ghost Bike from Aberdeen University to the roundabout in Garthdee.

“This event will also see the launch of the beCyCle cycle helmet. There will be drinks and a snack provided.”

This journey starts at 1100 at the beCyCle workshop on High Street, Old Aberdeen, on Sunday 24 June.
http://becycle.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/aberdeens-first-ghost-bike/

Plant-a-Tree In Palestine Project: Aberdeen Represented

Articles, Community, Featured, History, Information, News No Responses »

Jan 122012

On January 2nd an Aberdeen-based member of Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) took part in a new project to re-plant trees in previously devastated areas of Palestine. Dave Black, along with other members of the Stop the JNF international delegation, joined individuals from a nearby refugee camp, trade union representatives, youth activists, Stop the Wall campaigners and representatives of political parties. The group planted 111 trees, representing the number of years that the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has been in existence, playing a key role in Israel’s policy of displacing and dispossessing Palestinians.

The JNF controls land that the organisation openly decrees is solely for the benefit of Jewish people; non-Jewish people are not able to live or work on the land and it can only be sold or rented to Jewish people.
The organisation is a quasi-governmental one, with extremely close ties to the state; it is often referred to as a para-statal organisation.

Despite the JNF’s clearly discriminatory policies, the Israeli state maintains this strong relationship with the organisation.

The trees were planted in Tulkarem district, formerly one of the richest and most important districts of Palestine. In 1948, most of its lands were taken and dozens of villages destroyed. The JNF played a key role in the destruction of some of these villages and the ethnic cleansing of their population.

The land where the trees have been planted, in the city of Tulkarem, was historically part of the agricultural land of the city. However, in 2002 the Israeli military bulldozed the entire stretch of land, supposedly for “security reasons”. Tulkarem has also been one of the districts most affected byIsrael’s illegal separation wall, which has destroyed some 8.4 square kilometres of olive and other fruit trees, 37.3 km of water networks, 15 km of agricultural roads, as well as irrigated agricultural land in Tulkarem, Qalqiliya and Jenin districts.

Despite poor weather on the day there was a large turnout and the event was welcomed by those involved. A representative from the Palestinian Farmer’s Union explained the importance of such events that bring different groups together:

“the participation of farmers, youth groups, friends from various organisations and others increases belief in the justice of our cause and the belief that we are not working alone against the Occupation. The land that was so important land to us was uprooted by the Occupation”.

He also added that the event was timely because of the ongoing attacks by settlers on Palestinian land.

Aberdeen’s ties to the project were already significant as the local branch of SPSC last year raised £650 for the Plant-a-Tree in Palestine project.

Over 5 days the group walked 84 miles along the path of Hadrian’s Wall, raising awareness of the Stop the JNF campaign and also of the separation wall.

The group’s efforts went towards funding the planting event in Tulkarem. It is hoped that the Plant-a-Tree in Palestine project will build to support the ongoing struggle of Palestinians to rebuild by providing resources for villages to plant trees that are indigenous to Palestine’s natural environment and agricultural life.

The delegation included members of Palestine solidarity and campaign groups in Scotland, England, the United States, France, Austria, as well as a representative of Midlothian Trade Unions Council. The main activity of the delegation was 5 days of fact-finding and educational visits around Israel and the West Bank, followed by the day of tree planting in Tulkarem.

The group visited Al-Araqib in the Naqab/Negev desert, a Bedouin village which has been destroyed 33 times since July 22nd 2010. The trees of the village have been destroyed and thus the village’s livelihood and the JNF has been instrumental in displacing the Bedouin people of this area.

Within clear view of the village that remains is the Ambassadors Forest, one of the JNF’s many forests in Israel. As the delegation spoke with villagers, including the sheikh of the village, a truck drove by on the sandy, desert road. The truck was on its way to provide water for the new JNF trees; the wrong trees planted at the wrong time, thus requiring much additional water. The village of Al Araqib has no water supplied to it, but instead villages have to watch trucks drive past on their way to irrigate trees that are steadily taking over their land.

The group also spoke to a staff member of the UK ambassador’s officer in Israel, who was visiting the village in preparation for the visit of the British ambassador and Parliament Under Secretary of State Alistair Burt.

The chance meeting allowed the British members of the delegation to raise the issue of the UK’s complicity with the JNF and Israeli crimes, and specifically Early Day Motion (1677) which was tabled last year and currently has over 50 signatories.

The Early Day Motion outlines the discriminatory nature of the JNF and calls for the revocation of the JNF’s charity status in the UK. The motion also criticises the Prime Minister’s patronage of the JNF, a situation which was addressed for the first time since the foundation of the JNF when David Cameron stepped down as patron last year.

For the first time since its creation not one of the three main party leaders in the UK are patrons of the organisation.

Later in the week delegates visited refugees in Ramallah (in the West Bank) who had originally lived in the Palestinian village of Imwas. The refugees told the group the fate of their village in 1967 when it was overrun by Israeli forces set on taking the Latrun Salient, a hillside seen as a key strategic target.

Photos were shown, taken from exactly the same position, that illustrated the dramatic changes to the village and land in the 1960s and 70s. The first photo showed part of the thriving village, the final one showing what is now known as Canada Park.

Canada Park is one of the many parks and forests that JNF has been responsible for establishing in Israel, or in this case Israel and the West Bank. Sections of the park, such as where the village of Imwas once stood, are within the Palestinian side of the “Green line”, or armistice line drawn up at the end of the 1967 war. However, there is no sign of this and almost all visitors to the park remain oblivious, nor is it explained that the walls of the park entrance are built with the bricks of the houses of Imwas.

Delegates visited the park along with Said, a direct descendant of a family which was displaced from Imwas. Said stood with his own children at the remains of his father’s house, now only the barest of remnants. The group was also shown the other remaining evidence of the village: unmarked, unprotected memories scattered around the archaeological set-piece of Roman Baths for tourists to enjoy. The gravestones of villagers stand just a few feet from one of the park’s picnic benches – a stark, chilling image.

Another JNF park, British park, was also visited. This was of special interest to the UK participants on the delegation.

The park is built over 2 Palestinian villages: Ajjur and Zakariyya. The villages were 2 of the roughly 500 villages where massacres and forced population transfer of Palestinians from their lands in 1948.

This period is known by Palestinians as the Nakba – Arabic for “catastrophe”.

The JNF played a key part in planning the Nakba and then went on to expropriate the land of Palestinian refugees and proceeded to build parks, such as British Park, on the land using funds raised by the JNF around the world.

In 1948 the village of Ajjur was populated by 3000 people. Three of the original houses of Ajjur remain today, including what was previously a clinic and is now a winery serving the new Israeli towns that now intersperse British Park. Where the market of Ajjur once stood is now inhabited by a play-park and some, presumably, “British” sheep; a favourite picnic spot for those visiting British Park.

On the fifth day of the delegation the group visited Al-Walaja, a town that was established in the West Bank after the original village of Walaja was destroyed; the JNF went on to build the Kennedy memorial on the land. After years of living in caves near the original town, the new town was established and former residents could return to some form of normality. Normality, that is, until the development of Israel’s illegal Separation Wall, which is set to once again devastate the village.

The wall is still under construction and already surrounds much of the town, but when complete will completely surround the town. Residents will be forced to use an access road controlled by the Israeli military if they wish to leave. This wall will cut residents off from much of their agricultural land, and will inevitably lead to displacement away from the town as residents look to find viable employment.

The locations visited by the delegation left those involved in no doubt of the JNF’s deep complicity in crimes against Palestinians, past and present.

Witnessing the situation that faces so many Palestinians inevitably shocked, saddened and deeply moved those involved.

However, none of the delegates failed to be inspired and in awe of the resistance of the Palestinian people who fail to lie down and accept the injustice that has been forced upon them.

Many different forms of resistance were seen, some large and obvious and some more subtle but no less impressive. The commitment to resistance of those that were encounters served to emphasise the important of the ongoing efforts around the world to show solidarity with Palestinians, such as the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment campaign against Israel.

The Plant-a-Tree in Palestine project is one such way in which people can resist the injustices enforced by the JNF and the Israeli government.

The project will never be able to compete with the financial clout of the JNF and the 240 million trees that this has allowed the organisation to plant in Israel and the West Bank. However, the project does allow a positive way to act against such crimes, enabling Palestinians to resist ongoing attempts at dispossession.

As Stop the Wall Co-ordinator Jamal Juma pointed out, it is also serves as an ideal way to educate those affected, Palestinians young and old, about the role of the JNF in the dispossession of their homes. The project also offers great potential for future collaboration between Palestinians and the international community to take part in non-violent resistance against the Israeli government’s attempts to entrench the illegal occupation of the West Bank, dispossess Palestinians within Israel of even more of their lands, and take away the rights, enshrined in international law, of 7 million refugees to return to their homes in Israel.

For more on the Stop the JNF campaign: www.stopthejnf.org
Join the Palestine campaign in Aberdeen: Aberdeen@scottishpsc.org.uk
Visit: www.Facebook.com/Spscaberdeen

An Interview With Maggie Craig – Part 1

Articles, Community, Creative Writing, Featured, History, Information, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 122012

Voice reviewed ‘When The Clyde Ran Red’ a few weeks ago. So impressed was David Innes with Maggie Craig’s excellent take on a vital part of Scottish history, that he spent an afternoon in her cosy kitchen on the wrong side of the Balloch, discussing the book’s background, her passion for the subject, and much more besides. Here is Part One of that interview.

How much of your background is in ‘When The Clyde Ran Red’?

A lot of my background. My dad was very involved with Labour politics and was an Inverness town councillor in the 1940s. He moved to Glasgow and became election agent for Cyril Bence, the Labour MP for Dunbartonshire East after Davie Kirkwood, in the early 1950s.

My dad was born in Coatbridge in 1913, so grew up during the Depression. We were told stories about them going over the farmer’s dyke to nick a few neeps and the farmer turning a blind eye because he knew everyone was really hungry.

In fact my dad’s in the book. I discovered a big pile of my dad’s papers which showed he’d written to the Commissioner of Distressed Areas about the Scottish Allotments Scheme for the Unemployed. He was a great gardener and a railwayman and you know how these two things go together.

People say, “Let’s not talk about politics”, and you think, “If you ignore politics it won’t ignore you”. It was my dad’s lifeblood. I remember him crying about a neighbour’s baby who’d died and they’d no money even for a coffin. This would have been, I suppose, in the early 1930s. They wrapped the baby up in brown paper, and he said, “Tied up like a bloody parcel”, because nobody had any money.

There was always the big hoose and the mine owners. He went apoplectic about Sir Alec Douglas Home, who they were working for at one point, because they were living in the lap of luxury when their workers were living in poverty.

My dad was one of about ten and they were really a bright, clever family, and there was this idea that girls who were clever were going to work in factories at 14 and the boys didn’t get a chance either. It was such a waste of potential.

I remember my aunt telling me about how the doctor would come out. It cost five shillings, but they’d a good doctor who’d say, “I’ll get it next time, Liz”. My aunt says they were on first name terms with the doctor, who must have been an idealistic man who saw himself on the same level as the miners he was treating. When you think of some doctors now who insist on their status, it’s an interesting turnaround.

You grew up in the Glasgow area?

I grew up in Clydebank. My dad then got a job as station master which moved us from Clydebank to Bearsden, quite an interesting culture shock! My mother had come from a farm, and the station house we lived in came with a third of an acre of ground which my dad was proud of. It was semi-rural. He came from Carnwath and loved being in the country.

If you go there now the industry’s gone and it’s back to being a rural area. A lot of these Clydeside places were. There were shipyards and tenements, but you went up to the farm to buy eggs. I think there was a love of the land even in industrial areas.

My mother’s from Barthol Chapel on the Haddo House Estate and she used to talk about Lord and Lady Aberdeen. I don’t think her family was as poor as my dad’s, but she told me that her mother sometimes had to sell their butter and buy margarine. That really hit me – the one benefit of being on the land is that your children are going to have healthy food, but that wasn’t always the case.

I think their rural background helped them speak fantastic Scots. There are words my mother used that we still use, like “fair forfochen”. Because my dad came from what he called the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire he had that rich Scots and that’s all running through the book too.

I think there’s an obvious really good prose rhythm in the book, and that possibly explains it, but it’s your passion for the subject that really shines through.

I grew up with it and thought a couple of years ago that it was time I wrote another non-fiction book. I thought, “What do I feel passionately about?” and the book’s the answer.

I went and looked at some of the other books and some of them are pretty dreadful. The Legend of Red Clydeside is hard going, and you come up against the party line quite often. The Marx Memorial Library gave me permission to quote from Helen Crawford which a lot of people said they wouldn’t allow.

You also have to make a judgement about what’s been written and have to say to yourself when reading some of the memoirs, “You’re presenting yourself in a bit of a heroic light here”. I love the wee vignettes, and I don’t think they’re frivolous. Like when James Maxton gives Davie Kirkwood a clean hanky when he gets arrested because he always liked to have one. Somehow you think, “Well, that’s true!”

I think I had a passion to write about it because it seems to have been forgotten. People are talking about austerity nowadays, and I think, “Not yet”. We’re not at the level of poverty where people couldn’t go to work because they didn’t have a pair of shoes, or they had to share a pair of shoes with their sister.

We’re now seeing the prospect of our children doing less well than we did, which is very hard because you want your children to do better than you’ve done. Both my husband and myself are working class kids who’ve made good but you feel as though you’re almost being hit for that – the idea that if you can afford to send your kids to university, you have to bear this cost. This is fine, but you don’t have the cushion that someone like David Cameron has. I had to have a full grant to go to university otherwise I couldn’t have gone.

Next week: The author speaks about her books on the Jacobites, ‘Bare-Arsed Banditti: The Men of the ‘45’ and ‘Damn Rebel Bitches; The Women of the ‘45’, and how this period of Scottish history is misunderstood and worthy of re-evaluation.

Those of you who want to meet Maggie and hear a bit more about her influences have the opportunity on Saturday 21 January when she and fellow writer Kenneth Steven will be at The Central Library, Aberdeen at 11.00 to talk about their love of books.

Old Susannah No.58 – The Lie Of The Land

Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Articles, Community, History, Information, Opinion, Satire and Humour No Responses »

Nov 142011

Old Susannah pays her respects, but is unable to maintain her silence as she takes a look around what has been happening in our vibrant and dynamic city and beyond.

Things continue to be vibrant and dynamic this week in the Granite City. On Friday 11 November some 4o-plus people gathered for a minute’s silence to mark those who fell in war. Robert Martin who works nearby in Golden Square told me he first started coming to Union Terrace Gardens for the traditional minute of silence a few years back.
“What better, more peaceful place is there in the heart of the City to have the minute of silence,” he commented.

A gardener tried to tell the group they should be at the war memorial instead – he could not understand that we were all happier in the Denburn Valley.

For the record, this was not a celebration of nationalism, or glorification of war; it was a gesture of respect for those who lost their lives in war. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just stop killing each other, and sort out economic and social problems another way? Maybe that day will still come.

Then there was the enjoyable opening night at Peacock for its winter exhibition. The 400 or so works are on show until 23 December and are all for sale. Alicia Bruce is offering small prints of her iconic photo portraits from the Menie Estate which had such a good reception when she exhibited at Peacock. There are abstracts, portraits, beautiful drawings, and even one or two offerings of mine.

A quick word about litter.

During the week I asked an older man who’d dropped litter to please pick it up. He explained (with some interesting vocabulary words which I must look up) that ‘he didn’t know me’, ‘he didn’t have to’ and ‘I could not make him.’ It was a very impressive display indeed.

Days later I was at Sainsbury’s Berryden, and groups of students (probably just over 20 people in total) had stopped by the store to get their lunch. They had wrappers, bags, papers, serviettes, bottles and so on. And as I waited for a bus, I saw each and every student put their trash in the trashcan near the bus stop.

I am pretty sure they were from St Machar. My appreciation to them and the other people who do the right thing. It’s not difficult, it’s not brain surgery. It does however make a huge difference.

But whatever you were doing this week, everyone’s thoughts were with one brave man who is fighting a valiant struggle of his own. Yes, Stewart Milne’s case went to the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The Press & Journal had no room for this story on the day, due to the breaking news that geothermal energy exists. This astonishing front page special even had a picture of a volcano to illustrate it. I had personally expected a story about a cow with a ladder on its neck, but the geothermal story did the trick, and between it and the massive ads for Milne Homes, no room remained for the little matter of our City being called to the Supreme Court.

Then, Friday, the P&J did run with a story on Milne, which leads neatly to a little definition or two.

Negotiate: (verb, Eng) to settle a conflict or disagreement by compromise.

Those of us who read the Press & Journal story will have felt sorry for Stewart Milne. He claimed the matter could have been settled had Aberdeen City council accepted his offer of negotiation.

According to the P&J, Stewart Milne Group claimed:

“We have offered to go to independent arbitration on several occasions over a long period of time,”

Usually negotiations happen when both sides have a valid argument or case to make. To refresh everyone’s memory, the City sold land at Westhill to Mr M for far less than it was worth – the City’s clever business plan was not to sell the land on the open market, but sell directly to Milne (I am sure there was a great reason).

He got a great price on the understanding the City would eventually get any sale profit. In a really clever and not at all dodgy-looking business manoeuvre, the land moved from one arm of the vast Milne empire to the next, at a cost around £500k –apparently more than what the 11 acres cost in the first place. This was perfectly normal, and could have happened to anyone. Quite truthfully, Milne then indicated that there was no profit to share.

This giant poster in no way looks like a desperate advertising ploy, but it does paper over some cracks nicely.

The City and subsequent courts have disagreed with Mr Milne’s logic (shocking!), and rather than enter ‘negotiation’ over the £1.7 million under dispute, the City decided to see the case all the way through. Milne could have accepted the last court’s verdict, but he appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. If you’ve only got £60 million, then you’ve got to hold onto every penny these days.

The trial was televised, and although Old Susannah is no legal expert, it didn’t look all that great for Stew.

Now we just have to wait for the outcome – at which point no doubt everyone’s favourite football club owner will immediately give Aberdeen the £1.7 million it is owed, plus court costs. I think an apology is also due, and hope the City are drafting one to Mr Milne for taking things this far.

This expensive litigation obviously in no way impacts on the role Mr Milne plays in ACSEF, the City and Shire’s invention which is helping us out of economic chaos. Aside from the bang-up job ACSEF has done so far for our city’s shops, it’s created a brilliant logo for itself, and now has a great big vibrant, dynamic mural at McCombie Court. This giant poster in no way looks like a desperate advertising ploy, but it does paper over some cracks nicely.

In light of Stewart’s logic concerning negotiation, the next time you get mugged or have your wallet snatched, don’t go to the law. Just find out who’s got your money and negotiate to get some of it back. Sorted.

Reading this story about how Stew wanted to negotiate, I wonder if I’m not having déjà vu. This sense comes from the P&J article some time back, when Milne and everyone’s favourite forum, ACSEF, were taking over Peacock Visual Art’s project and turning it into the great City Garden Scheme.

Just before the final, decisive and divisive voting on the project took place, ACSEF / Milne said that Peacock had been offered some kind of 11th hour alternative, but were unwilling to strike a deal. Of course if you read the full story, you would have eventually discovered Peacock said ‘we were never contacted about any deal.’

I hope in future any Peacock person, Aberdeen City legal rep, etc. will just ‘negotiate’ when Stewart wants something – it will save the taxpayer lots of money to just go along with him from the start.

In fact, when I think of Loirston Loch, the Triple Kirks glass box scheme, Pittodrie and so on, I wonder if we haven’t just started to say yes to him already.

Geography: (noun) study of terrain, locations, types of environments and areas.

If you are out there, Pete Leonard, Director of Housing, perhaps you might consider a geography lesson or two. Pete insists Tullos Hill is ‘urban’. The hill is next to all the lovely industrial estates which have helped make Aberdeen the profitable centre of the universe it is, but the hill just isn’t all that ‘urban’. It’s covered with plants, grasses, wildlife, pre-historic cairns and so on.

Here in Aberdeen, there is a complete separation of contractors and councillors

On the word of Mr Leonard, I went to Tullos Hill the other day assuming it had been urbanised. I looked for fast food, a coffee or a monorail ride, but there was nothing of the kind to be found.

It struck me that Ms Malone (who has lately been very, very quiet) might want to look for a new initiative to push. Perhaps if she abandoned the ‘tree for every citizen’ scheme and maybe had ‘a monolith for every citizen’ and/or ‘monorail for every citizen’ scheme, it might increase her popularity. As I hear it, an improvement in her popularity stakes is currently the only possible direction.

Aside from Tullos, other urban areas in our city are easy to recognise by the well-maintained roads and footpaths, the general cleanliness, the complete lack of any crime, and all the many open local shops.

Corruption: (noun, English) a state of dishonesty, lack of integrity, self-interested behaviour of a person or body in a position of trust.

Edinburgh has faced accusations of council corruption. (“At least it couldn’t happen in Aberdeen!” I can practically hear you say.)

For openers, according to the BBC, the hospitality records are incomplete. ( This contrasts with our city’s up-to-date, perfectly set out, fully inclusive records which seem to indicate some councillors went to absolutely no events whatsoever in 2009 and or 2010). But that’s the least of Edinburgh’s problems.

Edinburgh’s councillors are in the firing line for ‘possible fraud and serious wrongdoing’ with regard to building works and property.

Audit Scotland could not decide if the city was just a wee bit disorganised, or if there was a whiff of corruption

It also looks like a city councillor had a holiday paid for by a contractor. Here in Aberdeen, there is a complete separation of contractors and councillors. In those rare occasions when a councillor is somehow connected to a contractor, then they stay well out of any possible conflict situations.

Some years ago we had our own little trouble with Audit Scotland, you may remember.

They had a few uncertainties after a detailed investigation of our city’s property selling activities. There were questions as to why so many properties were being sold below value. Audit Scotland did tell the city to stop selling property at knock-down prices, and otherwise pay attention to details – like who is actually buying your property and what it should sell for. In the end, Audit Scotland could not decide if the city was just a wee bit disorganised, or if there was a whiff of corruption. In the end, they invited our local police to look into the issues.

After a completely thorough, detailed investigation, the police found nothing untoward. Old Susannah is not sure when the investigation was conducted. Then again, I’m not sure when exactly Stewart Milne Group started advertising on police cars, either.

Next week: hopefully a Milne court and FOI case update; a fond look back at the careers of John Stewart and Neil Fletcher, who are not going to run for re-election in May.

Stop press: Christmas Gift Solution: Tired of the usual old boring gifts – the handbag-sized bottle of vodka, the city council carriage clock or branded pen? Look no further for your gift requirements: The City is selling photo prints of its greatest moments. Rather than taking a picture of St Nicholas House or the ACSEF logo yourself to make a welcome gift for a loved one, just go to the City’s website.

What is the most popular subject on sale? Why the Lord Provost of course! There are only about 750 photos of him in action this year but fret not: there are two other years of Lord Provost photos as well. Make a lovely print on canvas, or can be sent to an artist to create a portrait in oils. I just might buy a photo of the Lord Provost handing over a gift and turn it into a mug, a mug for some reasons being the first thing that springs to mind.
See: http://aberdeencitycouncil.newsprints.co.uk/

Stop press 2: there will be a further extension for getting your entries in for the Union Terrace Gardens art competition – more news soon!

City Remembers Hiroshima

Aberdeen City, Articles, Environment, Information, News No Responses »

Aug 242011

Aberdeen’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament group has held a memorial service marking 66 years since the nuclear attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War Two. Philip Sim attended the annual event and brings us the following account.

There was a healthy turnout at the event on the banks of the River Dee, where speakers and spectators alike braved the pouring rain and swirling winds.

The service included speeches from a range of political and community groups, including SNP MSP Maureen Watt, Nathan Morrison of the Labour Student’s Association, Gordon Maloney of the Aberdeen University Student’s Association, and Clive Kempe of the Green Party.

Hiroshima Memorial on the River Dee from Philip Sim on Vimeo.

Messages of support were read out from Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, and Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran. Poems and songs were recited, all conveying the same broad anti-nuclear message.

After a minute’s silence, the group lit two hundred peace lanterns, one for each thousand people killed in the nuclear attacks on Japan in 1945, and floated them down the River Dee as the sun went down.

CND rallies were also hosted in Dundee, Ayr and Paisley, while people gathered to hear speeches in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens and Glasgow’s west end.

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