Helen Crummy
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(10 May 1920 – 11 July 2011)
was a founder of The
Craigmillar Festival Society, and served as the Organising Secretary for the group until 1985.
Biography
Helen Crummy was born in
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
, Helen Murray Prentice. She became one of the first residents in a new council housing estate at
Craigmillar
Craigmillar ( gd, Creag a' Mhuilleir, IPA: ˆkʰʲɾʲekˈaˈvɯʎɪɾʲ, from the Gaelic ''Creag Maol Ard'', meaning 'High Bare Rock', is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about south east of the city centre, with Duddingston to the north and Ne ...
in 1931 when her family moved to the estate which became one of the poorest areas of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
.
Her family were also neighbours of the family of Jack Kane, the first
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
Craigmillar Festival Society
The Craigmillar Festival Society started in 1962, after she asked the headmaster of the local primary school if her son, Philip, could be taught to play the violin.
He replied by telling her that it took the school all its time to teach these children "all three R's".
Helen with the local mothers group decided to show how talented their children were and started The Craigmillar Festival which grew to gain international acclaim.
[Hannan, Martin (2010)]
Martin Hannan: Sink estate that can turn the tide
, ''The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...
'', 23 March 2010, retrieved 2022-12-07
Her youngest son is the artist
Andrew Crummy, creator of the Great Tapestry of Scotland.
Honours
She was awarded an MBE in 1972,
and an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
by
Heriot-Watt University in 1993,
and is part of The Edinburgh Women of Achievement trail. She is also in The "Travelling the distance" sculpture at The Scottish Parliament and mentioned in The Bill Douglas statue at Newcraighall Railway station. On 21 March 2014 a statue, created by Tim Chalk, in her memory was unveiled by Richard Demarco and Ruth Wishart outside the East Neighbourhood Centre on Niddrie Mains Road, Edinburgh.
Publications
Her book, ''Let The People Sing!'', has been sold in many countries. Tells the story of The Craigmillar Festival Society. Her third book is the novel, ''Whom Dykes Divide'', was published in 2008.
Other publications are "Mine a Rich Vein" 2003; essay and editing: Arts The Catalyst Catalogue, 2004; The Heritage and Arts Trail for Craigmillar, 2009; Edited with Douglas Galbraith: Craigmillar Gold, Community Musical songs, 2004. She was involved in most of the publications that came out of The Craigmillar Festival Society from 1962 - 1985, including "The Comprehensive Plan for Action" (CPA) 1976, which is recognised as a milestone in Community Planning.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crummy, Helen
2011 deaths
1920 births
British activists
British women activists
People from Leith
Members of the Order of the British Empire