It’s big, bright, bold and hugely colourful – you really can’t miss Kirkcaldy’s vibrant new mural.
The artwork – on the gable end of a building in Kirkcaldy’s Hill Street – captures the moment unsung political heroine Kath Duncan led 30,000 people on an anti-poverty march.
Born in 1889 in Tarbert, Argyll, Kath spent much of her childhood in Friockheim in Angus, but later moved to Kirkcaldy, which she always considered home.
A working class woman who hailed from a humble background, Kath fought for social equality, influenced some of Scotland’s most historic uprisings, formed a friendship with Winston Churchill (and helped him win his by-election campaign in Dundee in 1917), and rubbed shoulders with suffragettes such as Emmeline Pankhurst.
But despite leading some of the biggest civil rights campaigns of the 20th century, very view people have heard of Kath Duncan today.
National treasure
Multi-award-winning filmmaker and activist Ray Barron-Woolford has been on a mission to see the fiery redhead recognised as a working class hero and a national treasure since he read an article about her online.
He has written a biography and a play and made a documentary about Kath – and his dream to have a huge street artwork dedicated to her came to fruition with its completion on February 18.
The mural to honour her life of campaigning, created by London-based artist Boudicca Collins, marks the moment Kath led 30,000 people on a march from Deptford on the gas works on Old Kent Road, South East London, against high charges for the poor.
Artistic licence
Ray, however, had no qualms about using a bit of artistic licence in the creation: rather than featuring the faces of people in London, the Kirkcaldy mural features local people who helped shape town, chosen by members of the community.
They are: Adam Smith, Gordon Brown, Fred Copeman, Clementine Hozier, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and an Edinburgh milkmaid who Ray says represents “the hidden impact of people of colour who have called Kirkcaldy home for generations and yet their role and importance has been erased”.
The mural forms part of what Deptford-based Ray hopes will become a ‘Kath Duncan Arts Quarter’ in the Fife town.
Next on his radar is a Kath Duncan ‘lighthouse community hub’ which will occupy an abandoned building on Hill Street and act as a vibrant place for all to use, from schools to artists to community groups.
It aims to be the UK’s first working class, social justice, civil rights archive and community hub.
Kirkcaldy – Kath’s true home
It was in Kirkcaldy that Kath (nee McColl) lived and found love, marrying fellow teacher Sandy Duncan at the Carlton Tea Rooms on Christmas Eve, 1923.
Kath, who was jailed twice for her activism, spent a few years in Kirkcaldy as a teacher at the East School – now Glebe Park – after the First World War.
She died in the town in 1954 after returning to live with her sister.
The five-foot-two redhead was a communist who stood up for her community in London where she gave speeches, organised marches and was a fierce fighter for the poor.
She campaigned against slum landlords, poverty and low pay – despite her heath suffering through spells being chucked into jail for her activism.
Recent research has shown that Kath was a lesbian and used her London home to create a safe space for lesbian and gay men at a time when homosexuality was illegal in the UK.
Pivotal moment
Ray says her time in Kirkcaldy was a pivotal moment in her life.
“As a teacher in the Fife town she was reading and writing letters for men who were coming back from the frontline during the First World War – that really shaped her politics,” he says.
“She was formidable and this is why I say she is the most important female civil rights activist of all.
“Between the wars she was one of the leaders of every major campaign; the activism for the suffragettes, her friendship with the Churchills and Clement Atlee, her involvement with the Spanish Civil War, union activism, the General Strike and anti-fascism.
Left to find her tribe
“It’s 100 years since Kath Duncan left Kirkcaldy to find her tribe in London and build her legacy as a hugely important civil rights leader whose politics still shape the way we live today.
“While the political leaders in Scotland were happy to leave Kath in the shadows, failing even to erect any plaque to her community, social justice and civil rights activism, it was the ordinary people of Kirkcaldy who, like Kath, became extraordinary raising the £10,000 to create the mural.
“Many local residents gave up their time to help paint, and ensure everyone had breaks and hot drinks.”
Liberty
Ray’s play about Kath’s activism, Liberty, has so far won 26 international film awards.
“It’s the most successful LGBTQ-driven film ever and is even being screened in Iran, Uganda, Egypt and mainland China – countries in which it’s still a crime to be LGBTQ!” he says.
“Kath’s story is about our times and I’m sure everyone in Kirkcaldy will be proud she is becoming a global hero even after death.”
- The mural will be officially unveiled on International Women’s Day on March 8.
