(Though technically not about the original Live Aid or Band Aid, but a consequence of them )
This is about a series of concerts around the world called Live 8, held on the 20th Anniversarry of Live Aid and the influence it had on schools in Scotland and their partnerships with Schools in Africa and also my first real interest in Bob Geldof as a person and what made him tick. These concerts were specifically to persuade the G8 Nations to Drop The Debt and support the Make Poverty History campaign. . One of these concerts was held at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh . Bob was in town for about a week and the support and publicity was huge. The Final Push it was called. I think there was about a quarter of a million folk walked in support from The Meadows to Murrayfield Stadium. Busloads came from all over the UK and further. Bob was on TV a lot and what he said made sense.. I was never really into him or the Rats in the 70s and 80s and i did not particularly like him. I was a Nursery teacher at the time, managing 60 under 5s a day,. Edinburgh is the most multicultural City outside London and we had many nationalities in the class. On our Campus was Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools. All Scottish Schools were encouraged to partner with African Schools for our MUTUAL benefit. Our partners were a similar set up of schools in South Africa. We spent a long time getting to know each other. Head Teachers visited in both directions. Senior pupils form the high School made regular trips and even taught some classes. African pupils visited us and stayed with local families. The South Africa Head teacher came to our school for a week and when he spent time in teh Nursery he was amazed that the childre actually used sand and water trays for learning experience. It took time to guage what was needed. I have been retired 14 years, but can recall crate loads of book, pens paper, desks, chairs and other basic equipment that we take for granted being dispatched. Even the young ones in Nursery took part in fundraising and donating good quality toys, books jigsaws. Head teachers also went there with money as you could not send it by post. Eventaully there were hundreds of schools all over the UK involved. Later in the same year Bob and his solo Band embarked on a Uk tour, playing Perth. I knew nothing about his solo music, but by this time I was really supportive of what he and others were achieving and his absolute passion shone through, as it still does today. I was bowled over by his music and immediately bought any solo CDs I could find. He also met everybody queuing at the stage door, shook their hand and asked if we enjoyed the show. That was the first time I met him. And I found that I quite like the few Rats songs they performed too. I looked for some sort of fan club to join, but there was''nt one,.so I started the Geldof Appreciation Society on My Space, where I met many of you here, who are now very good friends. And I am still doing it on Twitter. It changed my life. Three years later I was widowed and this new Family became very important to me and has been such a good support.. I am very grateful for that.
( Sorry for this, but the partnership eventually ended after several years when the jolly head teacher who visited us suddenly disappeared with some money. Or so it was alleged. But I know we did make a difference. Both communities benefitted from thia time)
What a tremendous story, Irene!