Scottish lass seeks…

The current heidie of my old school has received an CBE in the New Years Honours list. Mary McLaughlin has championed the use of technology in the school, vocational training and community involvement among other things and the girls at Notre Dame gie it a fright.
“Mary, Mrs MCLAUGHLIN Headteacher, Notre Dame High School and Principal, Notre Dame New Learning Community, Glasgow. For
services to Education. (Bothwell, Lanarkshire)”

When I was leaving secondary, the woman known as Sadie was nominated for a BEM (British Empire Medal). Sadie was unarguably the most important person in the school, even the heidie wouldn’t argue. Trust me you wouldn’t want to experience the wrath of the Sadie. Sadie was the toilet warden and patrolled the mean streets of 1960’s green and white tiling, mop and Ajax in hand, stubbing out smoking (whilst nipping out for a fly puff herself), keeping a clean patch and served over a quarter of a century. That woman deserved a medal and By George I Think She Got It! So Sadie ya bam morphed to Sadie ya bem. And the most amazing beehive hairdo with never a hair out of place. Bet she scrubbed up well for Her Majesty. So from toilet cleaners to headteachers, when it comes to serving the country, Notre Dame’s bagged them all.

You can download the audio from Mary’s (and pupil) session at SETT 2005 - ICT in a Curriculum for Exellence
BBC NEWS | UK | The complete New Year Honours lists

Other Scottish women with honours: Dame Evelyn Glennie (percussionist) just about single-handedly created the role of touring soloist percussionist, Heather “the weather” Reid (BBC Scotland weather), uber-geek into Physics, science and helping kids and women to get interested in science and technology, she spends a lot of her off-screen time supporting these kinds of projects.

Technorati Tags: New Year Honours, Mary McLaughlin, CBE, BEM, headteacher, school, Notre Dame, Sadie, beehive, Glasgow, toilet cleaner

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Sadly necessary. Domestic Abuse Campaign 2006

Domestic Abuse Radio Campaign Advert (MP3)

Technorati Tags: domestic violence, domestic abuse, women

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Anyone see what I mean about media imbalance? Barely a ripple of press commentary past the purely factual on Sheilagh Kesting’s Church of Scotland appointment it was well buried in the inside pages of the broadsheets, meanwhile an opinion poll about more than 50% of Scots wanting full independence has the media hanging on every word from the Cardinal. How to interpret the lack of ‘news’? Is it good? Maybe folk just don’t see anything newsworthy any more in women being appointed to top jobs, if so good. Maybe feminism has succeeded in pushing for equality, it’s the norm. But you’ve got to set these things in a historical context, it’s a change, a female minister at the head of one of the biggest non-governmental organisations in Scotland. Is the lack of proper coverage a reflection of ignorance of history or disinterest? I can’t help contrasting this episode with the splash that Eilish Angiolini made with her Lord Advocate appointment, that was all over the place. Ah but that was politics. Sad when the spiritual life of the nation is pushed so far out of the spotlight. Can’t help think that we’re losing something.

Technorati Tags: religion

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My God another ane! Female reverend is new moderator Sheilagh Kesting is the new moderator of the Church of Scotland. I say, steady on old chaps, is that two women at the helm within the last 5 years. Being Catholic I don’t really know what the Moderator does, except that the heidie rotates on a regular basis. This is good and bad, good in that a range of different people have a go at it, in the Catholic church an archbishop/Cardinal usually has to die in office first - bit of a bummer for ambitious souls. The downside for the CoS head is that they don’t get much time to establish themselves in the public limelight, you’ve only just got to remember the name before the next one’s being installed. It also leads to a really wierd imbalance of power in the media. The Catholic archbishops seem to get a hell of a lot more media time in proportion to the size of their flock. Moderators crop up every now again, going on peace marches and the like but when moral issues are in the news it’s strange how little their views are canvassed for by press. I don’t understand why.

Technorati Tags: Church of Scotland, Moderator, Sheilagh Kesting, church, religion, Christianity, Catholic

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I got a request to plug Newburgh Ladies Football Club.

Nae problem. Free Googlejuice here for all sites to do with Scottish Women.
Same crew at RedGerry.com also do the site for Celtic Girls (Tayside) Football Club. Loved the “Celtic Girls Is What Celtic Girls Are”

“…You may as our opposition try and stop us attacking and scoring goals, you may as an opposition attempt to stop us passing and playing the art of football, but you as an opposition will never stop us believing in the art of football because simply put the art of football will always be the Celtic Girls way…”

The “art of football”. Beautiful. Women, Scotland, Footie, great stuff!

Technorati Tags: Newburgh, Celtic, Tayside, Women's Football, Soccer, Scotland

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