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Fighting spirit earns its rewards


By Mike Collins



WE’VE WON! Being able to utter these words has been a long time coming, but the time finally arrived this week.

News was leaked out through the media on Monday, but few in Moray dared to believe that RAF Lossiemouth had been saved until we heard it from the Defence Secretary’s mouth, in a televised announcement from the House of Commons.

David Stewart celebrates the decision
David Stewart celebrates the decision

And even then we had to wait longer than expected, as a debate over phone hacking rumbled on and on. Finally it was time for Liam Fox to tell us what we had longed to hear for the best part of a year – RAF Lossie stays open.

A surprise came from being told that RAF Kinloss would be taken over by the Army, although not until 2014-15, which guarantees some kind of future for a station which had been axed so suddenly and savagely along with the new and the old Nimrod fleets.

Loud cheers were directed at a TV screen in front of which members of the Save RAF Lossie action group, the Moray Taskforce, councillors, council officials and others had gathered, in the full glare of television cameras.

The Save RAF Lossie campaign was continuing to draw the media spotlight, as it had done for months, which turned out to be one of the key notes of its success. The determined efforts of enterprising campaigners had put Lossie and Moray firmly on the map, and few in the country, inside and outside of politics, were unaware of what we were fighting for.

But it wasn’t just the efforts of a few, rather of many; indeed, all of the people of Moray. The way in which our local community rallied to the cause was nothing short of remarkable.

The people’s march through Lossiemouth last November was an historic day. Around 7,000 people took part, and with it being broadcast throughout Britain, politicians, the Government and the Ministry of Defence were aware that Moray was in fighting mode.

Then almost 32,000 of you signed ‘The Scot’ petition which was delivered by Battlebus to 10 Downing Street, again in a great publicity hurrah that had Moray knocking on the door of the UK Government.

All along the way countless meetings were held with political leaders, Government ministers and civil servants, MPs and MSPs, the Prime Minister himself and Scotland’s First Minister. Letters were written and documents produced stating the case for retaining RAF Lossiemouth.

There was no let-up, there could not be; we were fighting for the future of Moray, fighting to avoid another crushing blow as delivered by the announced withdrawal of the RAF from Kinloss. We could not afford to lose, and we haven’t. We got the result we had strived for and deserved.

And it’s all down to you, the people of Moray. You mobilised that great strength of People Power, you threw yourselves wholeheartedly into the battle and, in the face of sometimes seemingly insurmountable odds, won a famous victory.

Be proud in what you have achieved, not least for future generations in this area. You have taken on and won over a Government, you have shown what can be achieved through unity, hard graft, passion and commitment.

It would have been easy to sit back and let the RAF disappear from Moray altogether, but that’s not the nature of the good folk of Moray.

You believed and you won through. Well done!

But the hard work doesn’t end here

ONE BATTLE has been won and another starts, to regenerate the Moray economy, to develop diversification and avoid too heavy a reliance on the military bases here.

The ground work has been prepared and we are counting on those in power locally to deliver, with the help and support, of course, of local people.

The same spirit of unity is required to see this through. We can do it, we will do it.

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