Sheila Rees.

Many people, specially those in Whiting Bay, were saddened to hear of the death of Sheila Rees, who lived for many years in Glen Ashdale, with her husband, Arthur, until his death. Sheila was robustly Left-wing, a member of Arran Against the Bomb and a life-long supporter of the Woodcraft Folk, and she made highly original contributions to the writers’ group that ran for some years.
At a non-religious ceremony in the chapel at Lamlash Memorial Hospital, members of Sheila’s family spoke simply and movingly of their memories of her. Her children recalled the warmth and security of their early years, and Sheila’s daughter Janet recalled the wonderful deserts her mother used to make. ‘No meal is complete without a pudding,’ she remembered with a smile.
As one of the people present, this struck me as a broader truth than it might seem, and gave rise to a poem in Sheila’s memory. With her family’s agreement, we reproduce it here.

Requiem for a Communist

For her, it was so clear.
Virtue did not sit on some high cloud
but breathed among the confraternity
of those who are alive, no single one
born to the right of privilege and none
condemned to the rubbish heap
as though not mattering.

The picket line, the carrying
of the brave flag, had always been
practical, a present need,
less the answer to a bugle call
than the provision of a good pudding
of care and courage,
raspberries, equality
and cream.
Alison Prince