Helping those in need plays a big part in the life of Elisabeth Manson.
And as community planning and engagement manager with Dumfries and Galloway Council, Liz, from Castle Douglas, devotes much of her energy to doing just that.
With responsibilities including community work, lifelong learning, alleviating poverty, inequality and hardship, and youth work, it’s a big ask.
“I’m very proud of my amazing team of around 100 staff who cover the whole of the region,” says Liz.
“And of course during Covid pandemic their work has been crucial.
“We work very closely with local community groups, for example, on foodbanks and resilience.
“We support volunteering, community councils and many other organisations and seeing the kindness that people have shown to each other during these difficult months has been both humbling and inspiring.”
The day job can be rewarding, Liz says, and she takes particular pride in helping to make a positive difference to people’s lives – especially those coming to Scotland seeking sanctuary.
One example has been her involvement in the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme, through which 20 families, some Christian, some Moslem, began life afresh in Dumfries and Galloway after escaping the horrors of civil war.
“They are very brave people to have come over from their homeland to a very different country and culture,” Liz says.
“The adults are now in employment and contributing to our local economy.
“And all the children are doing well at school.
“They have been very careful to protect their identity and traditions.”
Given the region’s ageing population, Liz believes that any influx of young people, no matter where they come from, can only be a good thing.
“You are bringing in people of working age with families,” she says.
“They add to the working age population as well as population growth.
“The Syrian families have also brought with them a richness of culture to our region.
“They have been joining in Burns suppers and are amazingly hospitable people.
“And we have been learning about their culture too.”
Liz is a big supporter of Massive Outpouring of Love, better known by its acronym, MOOL, which is linked to Dumfries and Galloway Refugee Action.
The local charity aims to “spread love, kindness, unity and understanding throughout the region and across the globe”,
As well as collecting and delivering aid and human kindness to those in need at home and abroad, MOOL provides assistance to refugees in Dumfries and Galloway and those living under terrible conditions at camps in Calais, Lesbos, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Hungary and Jordan.
“They have supported us and the Syrian refugee programme,” Liz says.
Liz, 55, has held other roles with the council and worked for local government body COSLA.
She was also secretary of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, the pressure group which in 1988 produced drew up Scotland’s Claim of Right for Scotland, the historic declaration of Scottish popular sovereignty which paved the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament a decade later.
As an active member of the Dumfries and Galloway Interfaith Group and Interfaith Scotland since 2000, the message of peace and love also imbues Liz’s work as an elder with the Church of Scotland in Castle Douglas.
And although Covid has curtailed physical get-togethers, recent times have not all been all doom and gloom.
“During the pandemic we have been having Zoom services,” Liz explains.
“More people have been joining in than would get along to the church service on Sunday morning!
“People have had more time to reflect on things and are looking for some kind of spiritual support and meaning, not just the Christian faith.
“All faith communities are reporting that they have more people joining in Zoom talks and prayer opportunities.
“That’s one aspect of the pandemic that faiths have been responding to in a positive way.”
Liz has also been a member of the Castle Douglas Fairtrade Group for over 10 years and the council’s representative on the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, on which she was elected vice-chairperson in 2019.
“I’m passionate about fair trading because of its contribution to supporting the poorest and most disadvantaged producers in the world through fair wages, no child labour, promotion of gender equality and addressing climate change through good environmental practices,” declares Liz.
“Working with the schools over the years has been especially rewarding and good fun.
“We have produced a directory, held a fashion show and had a coffee producer speak to the high school assembly.
“It’s been good to support the Food Town events and Civic Week with our ‘Fair Lucky Dip’ stall.”
Born in the Queen Mother Maternity Hospital, Liz left Glasgow aged two when her father Andrew got a teaching job at Lenzie.
The Mansons moved to Dumfries and Galloway after Andrew’s career took him to Sanquhar Academy, then to Dumfries when Liz was 16 when her mother Ruth became school secretary at Lochmaben Primary School.
Growing up in Sanquhar was a “very happy” experience for Liz, at a time when the town was much more of an industrial centre.
“Sanquhar was a fantastic community, very positive and full of social events,” she says proudly.
“There was the Century Aluminium factory and a lot of European money coming in.
“We had Sidlaw Tiles and the Brocks fireworks factory and working there could be a dangerous job.
“Sometimes you would hear a bang then a minute later the sound of an ambulance heading to the factory!
“It was a super place to grow up in.”
Liz was captain of the school hockey team – but 40 years later prefers more gentle exercise.
“I have not picked up a stick since!” she laughs.
“These days I’m chair of the Dumfries Historical Dance Group although I have only been a member for a couple of years.
“They have a very excellent leader in Sue Knight from Lochmaben who researches all the choreography.
“We tailor the dances to numbers and ability although everything has been suspended since last March.”
Next on Liz’s list is to research her family’s genealogy.
“In Shetland there are hundreds of Mansons,” she laughs.
“I have been up there but I have not done any family ancestry yet.
“Presumably there’s Viking blood in me somewhere!”
Family genealogy aside, one of Scotland’s most controversial royal figures has captivated Liz since childhood.
She first came across Mary Queen of Scots as an eight-year-old at Sanquhar Primary School when P4 teacher Mrs Gallagher provided the class with a book of potted biographies of famous people, one of whom was Mary.
“There was something about her that I found quite fascinating,” says Liz.
“Mum took me to a bank on Sanquhar High Street where there was a plaque commemorating Mary on the wall.
“The fact that there was a location in the town with that connection really caught my imagination.
“Dad was interested in history too and as a family we would go to places where Mary had been.
“Because she travelled extensively throughout Scotland there were plenty of opportunities to follow in her footsteps!
“You can go and stand in a room and see the things Mary touched and the letters she wrote.
“You can hold a prayer book that she owned.
“You can go to places that you know Mary was there.”
Liz is now president of the Marie Stuart Society, which was formed in 1992 to mark the 450th anniversary of Mary Queen of Scots’ birth at Linlithgow.
The group seeks to broaden public knowledge of the queen’s life and times through research, lectures, activities and publications.
Part of that work is educational, with an emphasis on introducing Scottish schoolchildren to a history hitherto unknown to many.
“The society has worked with the Scottish Qualifications Agency to incorporate material on Mary into the curriculum,” explains Liz.
“The SQA had asked if they could use some of our research, where she stayed, where she went, as part of its Scottish history course work for schools.”
Liz never tires of telling Mary’s story, always aware that the queen’s faults and virtues were often forced upon her shaped by the cruel hand of fate.
“For every book that has been written about her religious tolerance, personal charm and many travels around Scotland, there will be another that will be negative regarding her decisions during her rule and her personal choice of husbands.”
Galloway’s connections to the ill-fated queen, while sorrowful and poignant, hold a special place in Scottish history.
“After her army was defeated at Langside in 1568 Mary’s last meetings were at Dundrennan Abbey,” explains Liz.
“You can connect the places she visited during her flight, stand at Abbeyburnfoot and feel that this was the place from where she left Scotland forever.”
Liz has spoken about Mary’s life and times at SWRIs, schools, friendship groups and historical societies.
“I will go to speak to anybody about any aspect of Mary,” she says.
“Marie Stuart was a fiercely passionate woman and patriotic for France and Scotland.
“But after Francis died she ended up returning to Scotland and trying to rule a very difficult country.”
