Brian Wilson's Obituary for Davie Lambie

[Sgeir]

https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituarie ... VeSn3XNGLg

I was very sorry to learn of Davie’s passing.

A Saltcoats lad, Davie was much admired locally for his academic success at a time when few working class students could aspire to Glasgow university. As Brian Wilson wrote, Davie came from a family that was completely rooted in the labour movement. The ILP had been strong in Saltcoats and Davie inherited that fiery brand of democratic socialism.

His mother Beanie was much loved for improving the lives of people in Saltcoats and the long before becoming burgh treasurer, Davie’s father Bob, as a young socialist, had opposed the “Great War”. As a youngster, I was enthralled by Bob’s stories of crossing the US with the Wobblies (IWW - Industrial Workers of the World) and then working on a trading schooner in the Pacific. Davie came from a household where labour and union activism was the norm and one of the very few places where you could be invited in for a cup of tea and a discussion about the American socialist Daniel De Leon.

It is more than 50 years since I left the area, and I last saw Davie and Netta at the massive demonstration against the invasion of Iraq in Glasgow. We lost touch over the years, but I was one of many for whom Davie had been a great mentor, something I shall never forget.