3
Grand Marshal Gail Porter flanked
by Charlie and Howie Nicholsby
who created the kilt she is wearingSuch a perfect day
Edinburgh was well represented in the Big Apple
By PHYLLIS STEPHENTHE DAYS LEADING up to the New York City
Tartan Day Parade were blisteringly hot - 86
degrees F. Thankfully the air cooled a little for the
parade down Sixth Avenue led by Portobello’s
own Gail Porter, accompanied by the samba
drumming group, Pulse of the Place.
They all wore the World Fair Trade Tartan
devised and promoted by Tania Pramschufer
who runs the socially active business, Hand Up
Events - and you will know her work from the
Castle Street Market.
The story of the tartan is that it reflects the
colours of Fair Trade - the shades of green
and blue. Scotland has been a Fair Trade
nation for ten years now and the idea to use
the tartan at the 25th Tartan Day Parade also
neatly celebrated that.
Tania explained how the idea for the tartan
came about in about 2009. She said: "I was
putting on the Christmas Market in Castle Street- it was then in a big marquee and was called the
Ethical Christmas Fair. At that stage I had people
coming from Peru and Bolivia, Kenya and all the
way from Tanzania.
"My mum gave me a whole lot of tartan to
decorate the marquee I was putting all the drapes
up and so forth and then the thought came that it
would be great if we had a Fair Trade tartan. I
thought about the colours really which would be
representative of the work that we did.”
One of the first events which was staged after
Scotland gained Fair Trade status was organised
by Tania and featured the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
This month, in an event at Usher Hall on 13 May,
the band will appear with Shooglenifty at the
World Fair Trade Day celebration. Gail Porter
will present the evening and we are sure she will
be wearing her mini kilt with a difference created
for her by 21st Century Kilts on the High Street.
Having the design for the tartan in place, Tania
is now working with ALLppa Peru who will
make the tartan from alpaca into “lovely wraps
and scarves", and she is also working with
Maximising Employment to Serve the
Handicapped (MESH) in India which helps
women with leprosy and other conditions by
giving them work. The main thing for Tania is
that however it is made, the tartan must be
produced in accordance with the ten principles
of Fair Trade.
Tania said: “To see the tartan in New York was
important, but when I will get a personal high is
when I am in the Peruvian mountains with the
weavers weaving the tartan in alpaca. We are
working on the colours and the dyes, but we
might go there next year.”Tickets for the World Fair Trade Day event
are available from the Usher Hall website
http://www.usherhall.co.ukBy STAFF REPORTERUCU MEMBERS at Queen Margaret
University (QMU) will strike in response to
management’s announcement that they
intend to withhold 100% of staff pay if
they participate in the national marking
and assessment boycott (MAB) which
began last month. Strike action will begin
on 10 May, the earliest date legally
possible under new legislation.
Sociology Lecturer Karl Johnson,
on behalf of QMU UCU, said: “Something
has gone very wrong at our university.
The decision to threaten staff who intend
to participate in the democratically-
mandated MAB with withholding 100%
of their pay, has seriously (one fears
irreparably) harmed the reputation of
our university and has revealed how
much Senior Management really value
the work we do. Senior Management
have taken the position that those
specific tasks are the only thing that
the institution cares about and pays
you for. Staff are being threatened
with a severe, disproportionate, and
uncaring punishment.”ONE OF THE MOST popular events in
New York around the time of Tartan Day
takes place on Ellis Island, and is now
celebrating its 21st year.
Due to demand the attraction produced
by The Learned Kindred of Currie has been
extended to mark National Park Week in
the USA.
The current exhibition traces the history
of Tartan Day from its humble beginnings
in Nova Scotia to today’s North American
phenomenon.
Among the many guest performances on
Ellis Island during Tartan Week was a show
provided by the Lindsay School of Highland
Dance from Stonehaven.
National Park Service estimates say that
more than 150,000 visitors have already
made the crossing to Ellis Island since the
exhibition opened on 6 April this year -
Tartan Day of course which was declared a
national day by the US Senate in 1998.
If you are a band or dancers who are
considering visiting New York next April
the producers extend a warm welcome
to anyone wishing to participate in the
2024 programme.UCU members
strike action
Tartan Day on
Ellis Island
Martin P McAdamPulse of the Place wowed the
New York crowd on Sixth Avenue