Margaret McKay M.P.

[West Ender]

Originally Posted by wadey

Isn't Margaret Beckett's sister local as well?

If her sister is local then, surely, she would be as well.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by West Ender

If her sister is local then, surely, she would be as well.

I thought that as well , but didn't want to appear "thick" in case I had missed something

[garinda]

Beckett's sister is a nun. Though I have no idea where she lives.

She should get thee to a nunnery as well, for all I care.

The long faced, caravaning, husband employing, grace and favour peppercorn renting, mealy mouthed, unapologetic expense whinger, shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as my new Ossy born, firebrand, heroine.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by garinda

The long faced, caravaning, husband employing, grace and favour peppercorn renting, mealy mouthed, unapologetic expense whinger, shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as my new Ossy born, firebrand, heroine.

A brilliant description! Karma sent. However, I'm slightly concerned about your new heroine. Someone who admires and visits one of the most repressive, murderous regimes in history, responsible for the deaths of millions of people, seems a bit dodgy to me. And yes, I know she left the communist party eventually. But if she'd joined Mosley's Blackshirts and visited Nazi Germany in the '30's, would you have been able to put it down to youthful naivety, even if she'd renounced her past?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

A brilliant description! Karma sent. However, I'm slightly concerned about your new heroine. Someone who admires and visits one of the most repressive, murderous regimes in history, responsible for the deaths of millions of people, seems a bit dodgy to me. And yes, I know she left the communist party eventually. But if she'd joined Mosley's Blackshirts and visited Nazi Germany in the '30's, would you have been able to put it down to youthful naivety, even if she'd renounced her past?

Until her book arrives in the post I can't really comment, although she was chosen to go to Russia in 1927 by the Accrington Weavers, Winders, and Warpers Association, aged only sixteen, only ten years after the revolution, when to many it still seemed like some worker's Utopia. It will certainly be interesting to read her opinion of working conditions in the still newly formed Soviet Union, compared to those we had in Lancashire at the time.

I doubt at that time she saw any of the terrible things that had already happened, and would happen later under Stalin.

[Wynonie Harris]

Well maybe, but I agree, she seems a fascinating character. What puzzles me is that very few seemed to have heard of her, until you unearthed her...I certainly hadn't. It's almost like she's been airbrushed out of local history...I wonder why?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

It's almost like she's been airbrushed out of local history...I wonder why?

That does seem a shame.

Like I say at the moment, until I read her autobiography, I can't really comment on her politics.

Though I would be able to forgive any youthful and naive idealism, especially in those turbulent inter-war years, a period of history I find fascinating, especially the way the political world was portrayed as being very black and white, with a clear case of left versus right.

I'd certainly be more forgiving than I am of any youthful desire to enter politics for personal cynical advancement, rather than an idealistic hope of helping others.

What I do admire is a local mill worker who found herself sitting in parliament, via a route that was still unusual for women of her class, and unlike other women who did the same thing, which was usually through grammar school system and then university, such as Barbara Castle.

Her mother was a Catlow, and a Methodist. Since Ossy had a much smaller population then, and my family were also Methodists and mill workers, some involved with the local Labour party, I'm even more fascinated by her story, especially if she was known by any of my relatives.

I'm off now to research the provenance of my 1920's dining table and chairs, which was given to me by some Ossy Catlows who were Methodists, and who were of a similar age, and to check old sunday school photographs we have when her mother would have been attending in the 1890's.

[Bernard Dawson]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Well maybe, but I agree, she seems a fascinating character. What puzzles me is that very few seemed to have heard of her, until you unearthed her...I certainly hadn't. It's almost like she's been airbrushed out of local history...I wonder why?

She hasn't been airbrushed out of local Labour Party history. Her story is truly remarkable, when you think that a girl brought up in Ossy in the early 1900s and went on to achieve what she did.

I mentioned in a previous post that she wrote several letters to Jim Ainsworth, when Jim was writing he's book on Labour history in Accrington

Jim incidentally is a Stanley fan, and he sits just behind me in the stand. I'll try and collar him at the match on Saturday.Maybe I can get him to come on Accy Web to explain more about Margaret Mckay

[wadey]

The long faced, caravaning, husband employing, grace and favour peppercorn renting, mealy mouthed, unapologetic expense whinger"
Not keen then?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by wadey

The long faced, caravaning, husband employing, grace and favour peppercorn renting, mealy mouthed, unapologetic expense whinger"
Not keen then?

Not unless she romps home in the next Grand National.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by Bernard Dawson

She hasn't been airbrushed out of local Labour Party history. Her story is truly remarkable, when you think that a girl brought up in Ossy in the early 1900s and went on to achieve what she did.

I mentioned in a previous post that she wrote several letters to Jim Ainsworth, when Jim was writing he's book on Labour history in Accrington

Jim incidentally is a Stanley fan, and he sits just behind me in the stand. I'll try and collar him at the match on Saturday.Maybe I can get him to come on Accy Web to explain more about Margaret Mckay

Sounds interesting, but I must take you to task on your last comment. How can he sit behind you in the stand? I stand behind you, with Cashy and other chaps, and, although seats have invaded the sacred slopes of the Clayton End, there are definitely none behind you!

[Bernard Dawson]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Sounds interesting, but I must take you to task on your last comment. How can he sit behind you in the stand? I stand behind you, with Cashy and other chaps, and, although seats have invaded the sacred slopes of the Clayton End, there are definitely none behind you!

I've to be honest, I'm siting in the main stand this season. I wanted to stay under the cowshed, but there not letting any Stanley fans go there.

I do realise that it's got absolutely nothing with the life of Margaret McKay M.P.

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by Bernard Dawson

I've to be honest, I'm siting in the main stand this season. I wanted to stay under the cowshed, but there not letting any Stanley fans go there.

I do realise that it's got absolutely nothing with the life of Margaret McKay M.P.

OK, well, in that case you've got a double. He was standing with Jeff at one of the last two home matches (Lincoln, I think). I hope he doesn't run on the pitch or anything...you could end up getting barred!

Apologies for thread wander!

[Bernard Dawson]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

OK, well, in that case you've got a double. He was standing with Jeff at one of the last two home matches (Lincoln, I think). I hope he doesn't run on the pitch or anything...you could end up getting barred!

Apologies for thread wander!

I stood in the Clayton end for the Rovers friendly probably next to Jeff. But in the league games I've been in the stand. I was at the Rotherham away game with Jeff, could have been that one

[garinda]

...and it's said women can talk!