MayDay 30 years ago

There were maybe a handful of hundreds at the MayDay march and rally this year, but when I was a girl, thousands marched behind proud bright union banners and party placards to take over the whole of Holyrood Park in what was then known as the Miners Gala. There were stalls and rides and raffles and a big stage for the speakers and performers, and we kids would run crazy being sent on fools' errands (run up to the chapel on the crags, kids, and first one there gets a sweetie). There is no Miners Gala now, because there are no miners- all across Fife and Lothians the pits are now closed down, but I do remember...

My parents sent me to Socialist Fellowship, which was a kind of baby CP, and the couple who ran our group would organise a bus to take us and the other SF groups from Glasgow through to Edinburgh for the big day. The group was a real mixture of kids, including academics' brats, working class kids and immigrant kids (at that time, particularly from Chile and the Punjab), and every week we'd have singing (my favourite), and play games, and try to learn our Socialist Fellowship Precepts, printed on wee red and white cards. I was in that group for years, and all that time it was run by a wonderful couple called the McFalls, Gracie (4 foot nothing, but a big wumman) and her towering bearded husband, Wullie. Their teenage daughters Linda and Lesley helped out too. That was a long time ago, but I still think of them now and wish them well. Thanks, Gracie.