LET US ACT FOR OURSELVES: SELECTED WORKS OF FREDDY ANDERSON

A GLASGOW PERSON SEARCHING EVEN TODAY FOR A REAL HISTORY OF HIS OR HER CITY IS ALMOST IN THE SAME BEWILDERED STATE AS A FOSTER-CHILD LOOKING FOR ITS REAL PARENTS. IT IS SO WELL CONCEALED. THE MASTERS OF CULTURE HAVE DONE THEIR TASK EXCEEDINGLY WELL.

Freddy Anderson, The Culture of Glasgow, 1988

CONTENTS

Preface Introduction Recollections of Freddy In His Own Words The Culture of Glasgow POEMS THEATRE PROSE Postscript Acknowledgements Further Reading

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This collection was compiled and edited by Joey Simons

Preface by Paul Anderson

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his pamphlet is a great introduction to Freddy Anderson's poetry, plays and prose. Joey Simons has made a tremendous job of giving context to these works. Of course, those presented here (and we plan to produce a wider collection as interest in Freddy is mounting) were a big part of my childhood along with my brother Dermot and sister Isobel. There are so many memories here for me. Indeed an embarrassment of riches that I prize more than gemstones.

The Garthamlock News, The Easterhouse Voice… Freddy was orientated towards the community and worked tirelessly for the improvement of ‘ordinary’ folk. He almost singlehandedly established the tenants association hall which eventually became the first pub in the area. He attended preliminary meetings for most of the developments in Easterhouse including the Summer Festival and The Voice. The latter I helped to collate till the Great Miners’ Strike came along. Everything we did that year was geared to supporting the miners financially and politically. The East End Support Committee’s Burns night in Shettleston was a highlight for me in particular.

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Looking at Freddy is like looking at a kaleidoscope with so many patterns and colours. He also embraced the folk scene. At the age of six, I walked into the living room only to find a group of big hairy men called the ‘Dubliners’ all asleep. Freddy co-edited, with Willie Gallacher, the Scotia Folk newsletter, solidifying his role in the Scottish folk revival in which, with Hamish Henderson, he was a major partisan. There were so many individuals who brought it all to life, now household names. Matt McGinn being one outstanding example.

Freddy was a polyglot and helped me through college. He was widely read and never out of the Mitchell Library. He was a storyteller and won various competitions at folk festivals. I have often thought that his major works – the novel Oiney Hoy and the play Krassivy – deserve a place in the school curriculum. Every Scottish child should at least know of his poems The Blackberry Man, Bonnymuir, and The Sunbright Flower of Peace.

This pamphlet will help establish his rightful recognition in Scottish history.

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