Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Official Report 925KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is May Nicholson of the Preshal Trust.

Hello. It is lovely to be here with all of you today.

I was born and brought up in a famous place: Ferguslie Park in Paisley. People used to say about the street where I was born, “If you want to stay alive, stay away fae Logan Drive.” However, I would not change my upbringing for anything. We were a really poor community. We did not have anything materially but, boy, we had a great community spirit. Neighbours were good neighbours. The Bible speaks about being a good neighbour, and that is what it was like. If one person in our community was ill, all the rest would rally around. Today we have lost that unity in our community. We do not know or help our neighbours.

At the age of 15, I was an alcoholic. One night I went out and drank so much while popping tablets that I took an overdose. I lay in a coma for a week. When I came out of it, I was put in a mental hospital. At 15 years of age, I was wired into the wall and given what is known as electric shock treatment. That was the most frightening experience that a wee lassie of 15 could go through. When I had the shock treatment, I was not knocked out; it was given to me while I was wide awake.

I spent 11 months in the mental hospital, but the first thing that I did when I got out was go for another drink—that was the grip that drink had on me. However, 28 years ago, a wonderful thing happened. As you know, the life of a drunk involves shoplifting, lying in prisons—you name it. However, 28 years ago, I found a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says:

“when the Son sets you free you are free indeed”.

On that day, Jesus set me free from drink and all that goes with it. From that day, I have worked to help people like me.

A friend and I founded Preshal Trust in Govan and Linthouse. When I started the trust, I brought a kettle and a toaster from the house to a wee church hall; today we have bought our building. We work with alcoholics, with drug addicts, with people with mental health issues, with people who are socially lonely, with the gangs in the park, in Cornton Vale prison and in Shotts prison. We started the trust seven years ago with nothing; today I employ 17 workers. We work with all problems, but I am told that I work even with normal people. If you meet one, introduce me, because I have never in my life met a normal person.

We offer different courses, arts and crafts, a fishing club for the men and pool. We do loads of work on literacy and numeracy. I will tell you a wee story. Mary came along to our project. When she was six, her mother put her in a home. At 11, she ran away to find her mother, who told her that she would come back for her but never did. When Mary ran away, she asked a man where the Gallowgate was. He took her up a close, and you know what happened. When Mary turned up at our line-dancing class, we found out that she could not read and write. She got on to one of our literacy and numeracy courses, and we taught her to read. About four years ago, she gave her life to the Lord. She had been in prison and, like me, she had been an alcoholic. Her life was totally turned around, and she has never gone back to her previous way of life.

Our president is the Duchess of Montrose. She comes into our project, she gets her sleeves rolled up and she knows everyone by name.

If it was not for having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus—he is the only one who can change lives; no one else can.

If any of you wants to read my biography, “Miracles from Mayhem”—I have done two books, and Sir Alex Ferguson has done a bit in them—you should get in touch with the Preshal Trust, and you can read the whole story. I’m shaking from my toes right up to my head here.