End Pensioner Poverty was the theme of Saturday’s march and rally in Glasgow.
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Pensioners for Indy partnered with Believe in Scotland to put on this event. it was a big jog and we have been involved with the planning of it over the past six months. Members from our Fife, Glasgow, Selkirk and Ayr groups were in the steering group, along with some of the Believe in Scotland team.
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Marlene Halliday, who is Treasurer of our National Coordinating Group as well as a member of the Glasgow Group,was one of the speakers at the rally.
There are two suggestions for action in Marlene’s talk. One is about addressing pensioner poverty by creating a Scottish Pensioners Payment similar to the Scottish Child Payment. The second is about addressing the two thirds of older voters who are still not convinced about independence. She intends writing her speech up for the National and if possible talking to Young Scots for Independence at their conference next month.
Here is her speech:
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Mary McCabe, Co-Convenor of our National Group as well as a member our Greater Glasgow group, has written some more about the day:
Saturday was a glorious day in all senses. Even the sun turned out for the first pro-indy march of 2024.
This was the first time Pensioners for Indy has been involved at the organisational level of a major demonstration (in partnership with Believe in Scotland) and members from our branches in Edinburgh & Lothians, Selkirk, Dumfries & Galloway, Fife and of course Greater Glasgow all brought their banners to march behind the big horizontal banner we’d commissioned for the occasion. Alan Logue, our National CoConvener, brought his Indy-Trailer to park beside our stall. Thanks also to Sheena Stephen and Neil Querns-Anderson who stayed in George Square looking after the stall while the rest of us were away on the march.
Speakers included First Minister Humza Yousaf, Iona Soper, James Robertson, Jane McAllister, Pat Kane. Other celebrities who turned out included Martin Compston. Marlene Halliday, our esteemed National Treasurer, made a rousing and informative speech on behalf of Pensioners for Indy. She also got to walk along next to Martin Compston at the head of the March!
We were joined by pro-Gaza marchers who chanted “Freedom for Palestine; Freedom for Scotland; Freedom for Everyone.”
Our flags and T-shirts and Morag Simpson’s delicious fruit cakes flew off the Glasgow Pensioners for Indy stall. I sold a copy of my novel “Two Closes and a Referendum” and with donations we made £188.60.
Onward and Upward. There are at least a dozen more pro-indy marches planned for 2024 with the first (under the auspices of All Under One Banner) being again in Glasgow in a fortnight’s time, on May 4th.
Unfortunately the recording didn’t pick up Mary’s vote of thanks but it did get her very final words of the day. Let’s not forget them.
If you’d like to know more about how the thinking behind putting on this rally and what its aims are, have a look at our blog post Pensioners on the March!
