Southsider Maggie Wilson dies

Pic from Evening News 2002

On Tuesday this week Southside stalwart Maggie Wilson passed away.

I searched the archives and came up with this quote from a 2002 article in the Evening News, which gives a flavour of just some of the activities in which she has been involved over the years.

As chair of the South Side Association, a community organisation based in the Nicolson Centre on Clerk Street, she’s been at the coalface of voluntary work for 30 years.

She first helped out in a campaign against a proposed ring road which would have demolished thousands of houses in the area. Caught up in the success of that campaign she pledged to spend as much time as she could trying to help her area benefit from better facilities.

"I started volunteering after I had major surgery and all my hair fell out", Maggie says candidly. "I was at a low ebb but I decided to get on and do something positive instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself. The first campaign against the ring road was a success and very invigorating. Then I started doing youth work and things just grew from there. Young people need somewhere to meet and gather with friends. Bringing young people in off the streets and getting to know them is the way to combat vandalism."

 She was awarded an MBE for community service in 2003 as the article at this link explains. More details on another campaign she was involved in here.

Maggie was, I think, seventy five.