Tag: The Pilton Partnership

Community First: Saying Goodbye to our Donald

The North Edinburgh community said goodbye to one of the area’s most recognisable figures on Friday. Donald McDonald was a community stalwart for as long as anyone can remember, and his passing leaves the community a poorer place.

Donald was born in Pilton Crescent and lived there for almost all of his life.

He lost his mother at a young age and was brought up by his father and grandmother. Young Donald and his dad were inseparable and went everywhere together.

A shy boy, Donald did not excel at school but loved music, and the bond with his Ainslie Park music teachers Mr and Mrs McIntosh endured for many years after Donald left the local school.

He went on to work with Scottish Ominibuses, later SMT and Eastern Scottish and it was there he developed a deep love for transport, particularly buses and ferries.

He was made redundant during the Thatcher years and never worked again, but put his energy and enthusiasm to good use as a volunteer across his beloved North Edinburgh.

Donald served on a wide range of boards and management committees across North Edinburgh over many years, showing a rare commitment.

During the week, Donald would call in to visit many of his favourite projects, spending time talking to staff. He was a diligent board member, too, often turning up hours early for his own wee pre-meeeting session!

Invariably Donald would be carrying his trademark shopping bag, which was filled with a cornucopia of papers, articles, photographs and a wealth of material he was always keen to share. Sometimes during meetings he would delve into his bag and produce an item of interest; often interesting, certainly, although not always relevant to that particular meeting!

As well as being a North Edinburgh Edinburgh News board member Donald also distributed the free newspaper every month, and he often went far and beyond his own patch to share the NEN.

Weekends would see Donald attending his local Granton Parish Church, where he was a faithful member of the congregation all of his life, and also touring the length and breadth of the country, using public transport to visit far flung places to attend exhibitions, displays and shows.

Dunoon, Arbroath, Melrose, Stirling … Donald visited them all, and he made sure the North Edinburgh News was distributed in some places far outwith the Greater Pilton borders!

I remember fondly, too, his unlikely partnership with another local legend, ‘salty sea dog’ George Scammell. For some years the pair were a double act; North Edinburgh’s own Little and Large. They were doughty supporters of the campaign to save the SS Explorer, which languished, rusting and unloved, in a quite corner of Leith Docks. It took many years, but the campaign was ultimately successful,

Donald would be involved in so many campaigns and could be always be counted on to support his community when it mattered. Deputations, protests, public meetings, Donald would be there. For Donald, it was always community first.

He was an active member of many groups over the years: Granton History Group and Pilton Environment Group (PEG) are just two and in more recent years he enjoyed the debate, discussion and visits with Royston Wardieburn’s Spring Chickens and Power to the People groups.

Despite his years of commitment and dedication to his community it was absolutely no surprise that Donald was aghast when Royston Wardieburn’s management committee proposed to name a community room in his honour. Donald didn’t want any fuss, didn’t want to be in the limelight: community first.

I for one am very happy that Donald finally relented, and a plaque now bears his name in the Centre where he played such an active role and participated in so many activities over the years. I hope he was quietly proud.

Goodbye, then, dear Donald. You will be fondly remembered with great affection by all who knew you across our community.

Betty McVay: A formidable wee wumman with the heart of a lion

THE NORTH EDINBURGH COMMUNITY TURNED OUT IN FORCE TO SAY A FINAL GOODBYE TO BETTY McVAY THIS WEEK:

I first met Betty back in the 1980s. I can’t remember what the details now, it was such a long time ago, but it was something to do with Drylaw Telford Community Council, Pilton Sporting Club and Pilton Central Association. What I do remember was some advice from PCA’s development worker, who helpfully warned me: “Betty’s bark is worse than her bite”.

I received quite a grilling from the feisty wee wifey who was Betty McVay that day. Fortunately she didn’t actually bite me, and while her bark was certainly sharp enough, I did survive the ordeal.

That first encounter was the first of so many over the forty-odd years that followed, and I found that her initial suspicion and mistrust was built on years of community experience. Betty was scathing of ‘incomers’, projects and community workers being ‘parachuted in to help the poor people’.

Maybe because we shared a common background, both born and raised in the Old Town, we developed a bond and a trust that grew over the years.

Betty could be painfully forthright about many things and many people. Woe betide any worker or politician who tried to soft soap Betty: sometimes I would wince when she turned her withering fire on some hapless individual or other along with a steely stare that would curdle milk!

The wrath of Betty was a force to behold, but there was another softer, gentler side to her too. She was fiercely supportive of causes she believed in and was a loyal friend to so many individuals and organisations it would take just too long to list.

I felt really privileged to receive an invitaion to attend Betty’s 80th birthday party at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre – it was as if I had made it at last and finally accepted into Betty’s ‘circle of trust’ after all these years!

I worked with and learned from Betty in a number of organisations and campaigns over all those years: initially through the Pilton Partnership and Greater Pilton Community Alliance – the ground-breaking initiative to break down barriers between North Edinburgh’s individual communities and work together as one to tackle poverty.

I remember I interviewed Betty when she was awarded an MBE for her service to communities – ‘Arise, Oor Betty’ was the headline on our front page splash!

Then there was the Edinburgh Community Representatives Network, joining forces with other communities to challenge the inequities of the (unfair) Fairer Scotland Fund. We lost that fight, but Betty had many successes too – the jewel in the crown being the establishment of her beloved North Edinburgh Childcare Centre.

In later years, when Betty was supposed to be slowing down after a health scare, I worked with her through Community Action North to organise an Older People’s event as a final activity to wind down Pilton Central Association.

I would schedule an hour for those planning meetings, which we held at North Edinburgh Arts – but that was never going to happen! The agenda quickly went out the window and Betty embarked on a roller coaster of stories and recollections, barely pausing for breath and covering a spectrum of local, national and even international characters and events spanning half a century and more! We did find the odd ten minutes to discuss the event we were supposed to be planning, though!

It was never easy to make sense of my notes after these marathon sessions, but the Older People’s event did take place eventually and it was a great success!

And even in those final years, right up to the end, it was always a joy to spend time with her, especially when there was a wee spark of the old venom: she may have mellowed, but Betty was still Betty! Biting back, right to the end.