 | 'To many, Margaret was a politician, but to this community and this church she was simply Margaret. The person we knew was part of our town, part of Lossiemouth, part of Moray.' Reverend Thomas Bryson, 25 th March 2006. |  |
| 'To many, Margaret was a politician, but to this community and this church she was simply Margaret. The person we knew was part of our town, part of Lossiemouth, part of Moray.' Reverend Thomas Bryson, 25 th March 2006. | |
HUNDREDS of mourners said an emotional farewell to Nationalist MSP Margaret Ewing yesterday She was described as a true 'flower of Scotland' as around 500 people packed into St Gerardine's High Church in her home town of Lossiemouth to pay tribute to the politician, who died on Tuesday.
Ewing, 60, had received treatment for breast cancer in 2002 and had been ill for some time.
Fellow politicians joined her husband Fergus Ð also an MSP Ð and her mother-in-law, the SNP veteran Winnie Ewing, for the funeral service.
George Reid, the Scottish parliament's Presiding Officer, was among the mourners, as were SNP leader Alex Salmond and his deputy Nicola Sturgeon. Representatives of Scotland's other main political parties also paid their respects to the former teacher, with education minister Peter Peacock among the congregation.
Also attending were many members of the public and constituents from the Moray area that she had served for almost 20 years as an MP and MSP.
Ewing was born a ploughman's daughter and went to school in Biggar but went on to become the parliamentary leader of the SNP in Westminster, and also fought Alex Salmond for the leadership of the party.
Former SNP leader John Swinney delivered a moving eulogy to the woman whom he had first met 23 years ago.
'She struck me that night as a kind, warm, determined and courageous person,' he said. 'And at no stage in the intervening 23 years of our friendship did my opinion of Margaret change.
'Those values of kindness, warmth, determination and courage shone through the bright, fulfilling life that Margaret lived all her life.'
Swinney recalled how she burst on to the Westminster political scene when she became one of the country's youngest MPs in 1974, taking East Dunbartonshire with a tiny majority.
He said: 'What she lacked in the size of her majority Ð it was only 22 votes Ð she made up with an abundance of intelligence and glamour.
'The dull, male-dominated establishment of the House of Commons was brightened up by a charming, vivacious, principled Nationalist who had the very rare ability to speak from the head and the heart at the same time.'
There were smiles as he spoke of one party fund-raising appeal she had made during Margaret Thatcher's government. Swinney recalled how Ewing had accused the Tories of stripping Scotland of its assets and said she would have to 'strip for Scotland'.
She then pulled off her jumper to reveal a T-shirt with the words 'Thatcher is a bam-heid'.
'Margaret Ewing was wise and Margaret was fun,' he said. 'Maggie, you were a flower of Scotland.'
The Reverend Thomas Bryson had begun the service by reading the opening words of Flower of Scotland in tribute to Ewing, who had planned to stand down as an MSP at next year's election.
He said: 'We come here to pay our sincerest and honest respects, give our condolences and to pay tribute to someone who was exceptionally special to Scotland. She was a true flower of Scotland.'
The minister said there was no greater champion of independence and recalled how Ewing had converted his assistant, a Londoner, to vote SNP. And he said: 'I asked her how she got on with Jack McConnell and she said 'I'm getting there, but I need a little help from God'.'
He added: 'To many, Margaret was a politician, but to this community and this church she was simply Margaret. The person we knew was part of our town, part of Lossiemouth, part of Moray.'
But he also recalled her sense of humour, telling the congregation about her response when asked what she was going to do when she retired: 'She had been watching Crufts and was thinking about getting a dog to walk and a wee job down the chippie.'
The service ended with Ewing's coffin, draped in a saltire, being taken out of the church to the sound of the congregation singing Scots Wha Hae.
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