Brian Eddington died last month at the age of 74 years. A North Edinburgh man through and through, he was born in Leith but spent most of his childhood and early years in West Pilton after his family were rehoused there (writes LYNN McCABE).
Brian lived in Drylaw for a number of years and then moved down to Muirhouse where he lived for more than 2 decades. He returned to Leith a few years ago when he was unable to return to his flat in Muirhouse after having part of his leg amputated.
Brian loved his community and was involved in many different groups, classes and local initiatives over the years. He was a creative person and found a second home in Muirhouse Festival Association (MFAC) where he developed a passion for community arts.
He was a member of the local drama group and was actively involved in the annual panto and gala. Brian was also involved in the Greater Pilton Print Resource (GPPR) (later Greater Pilton Design Resource/Source) and North Edinburgh News (the NEN), which provided so much rich source material for the Never Give Up project which Brian helped to produce along with fellow activists.
Brian had a passion for photography and history and he was able to bring together his local knowledge and his skills to document the ongoing changes and developments in Muirhouse which he witnessed first hand as a local resident. His photographs tell their own story about the process of regeneration and the impact this has had on his community.
In 2009, Brian joined North Edinburgh Social History Group along with Roberta Blaikie, Anna Hutchison, Brian Robertson and Ian Moore with a mission to record the history of activism in North Edinburgh.
Brian was a great person to have on board and relished trawling through 40 years worth of back copies of the Commune and the NEN and long forgotten photos, leaflets and posters which had been stored in dusty store cupboards and filing cabinets in local projects waiting for someone to find a use for them.
During the project, Brian was sufficiently movitated to get over his aversion to computers and managed to pick up some IT skills along the way which enabled him to access photographs of the area which had been digitalised by the Scotsman.
The project was a long hard slog and took 2 years to complete but the Never Give Up publication, exhibition and film gave Brian, the group and the wider community a great deal of pride in seeing their community accurately represented for a change.
It is an important piece of work documenting the rich history of North Edinburgh and the important role played by local people in their fight for social justice – a fight which continues until this day.
Following the launch of the Never Give Up project, Brian was involved in helping to establish a new adult education class called Power to the People : an introduction to the history of Protest in Scotland.
The class ran for a number of years and brought together new activists alongside people who had been involved in local and national politics. Inevitably perhaps, the focus of the class moved from studying politics and protest to actually doing it!
The Power to the People group were involved in many local issues over the years including cuts to local services and the campaign to stop the eviction of local families from their homes.
Brian’s love of history and politics continued until the end with his daily blog on facebook about important Scottish figures and events.
I’ll finish with a wee quote from Brian from the Never Give Up publication where he is talking about his time in Muirhouse drama group:
“We used to do street theatre about different issues. We did a thing about the poll tax where someone got arrested for not paying their poll tax. They got sent to a privatised jail.
“We basically done it any place where we could find people standing about. Folk thought it was hilarious. We handed out leaflets about the poll tax at the same time – that was the serious part of it. It was a good way to get across a serious message”.
Brian’s funeral service takes place this morning at 11.30 at Warriston Crematorium’s small chapel.
