"Christ yam,", he demanded, "Whit are us auld men tae dae if ye ever leave us - We're a divided frae yin anither. Kin ye no start up a Union afore ye go? Fur divided we fall."These are the words of Archie Meek to Tommy Ritchie, both patients in Hartwoodhill Hospital in 1971. Tommy was to go on to form the Scottish Union of Mental Patients which is the first known service user/survivor group in the UK.
I found this online when searching for something else: Scotland the Brave, an article by Andy Roberts which appeared in Mental Health Today in 2009. So I thought I would link to it as it gives an account of the mental health service user movement in Scotland from the early 70s.
Andy Roberts is the Secretary of the Survivors History Group down in London. His website is full of amazing information and facts and personal accounts of survivor history.
Oor Mad History as a project is about what happened in the Lothians - but Oor Mad History as a concept is about what happened everywhere in Scotland and indeed everywhere else. What do you know about what has happened where you live? How does it connect with what has happened in other places?
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