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| Jimmy Reid at Upper Clyde Shipyards (UCS) |
Comedian Billy Connolly, a former shipyard welder, had much of the congregation in fits of laughter as he recounted several anecdotes about his earlier life in the area.
He recalled enjoying "many happy hours just hangin' aboot, smokin', drinkin', talkin' nonsense and listening to Jimmy waxing lyrical and being profound".
He said he would miss his friend "terribly" and recalled his innate sense of fairness and intellect.
"He put things simply, complex things, that just knocked me back three steps.
"I remember him saying that if you look at these housing estates and high-rise flats - look at all the windows.
"Behind every one of these windows is somebody who might be a horse-jumping champion, a formula one racing champion, a yachtsman of great degree, but he'll never know because he'll never step on a yacht or formula one car - he'll never get the chance."
In 1971 when the Heath Government announced the closure of the shipyards, workers occupied the yards. This action gained strong support around the Britain and many countries around the world. Cinema Action, the radical film collective, was invited by the UCS workers to film the occupation:
A joint shop stewards' committee successfully ran the occupation of Upper Clyde Shipyards for fourteen months until February 1972. It was an unprecedented response to the government's plan to liquidate the yards. Since the only other media contact by the shop stewards was press conferences, Cinema Action's footage inside the yards is unique. Class Struggle: Film from the Clyde (d. Cinema Action, 1977) tells the whole story of the dispute and the occupation. Cinema Action returned again to the Upper Clyde in 1983 for Rocking the Boat, shown on Channel 4, which caught up movingly with veterans of the 1971-2 action.
Beatle's Support:
It was the first time that Jimmy Reid had ever been sent flowers - a big wagon load of red roses.
Mystified, the shop stewards gathered round. The card said 'Lennon'
In 1971 when the Heath Government announced the closure of the shipyards, workers occupied the yards. This action gained strong support around the Britain and many countries around the world. Cinema Action, the radical film collective, was invited by the UCS workers to film the occupation:
A joint shop stewards' committee successfully ran the occupation of Upper Clyde Shipyards for fourteen months until February 1972. It was an unprecedented response to the government's plan to liquidate the yards. Since the only other media contact by the shop stewards was press conferences, Cinema Action's footage inside the yards is unique. Class Struggle: Film from the Clyde (d. Cinema Action, 1977) tells the whole story of the dispute and the occupation. Cinema Action returned again to the Upper Clyde in 1983 for Rocking the Boat, shown on Channel 4, which caught up movingly with veterans of the 1971-2 action.
Beatle's Support:
It was the first time that Jimmy Reid had ever been sent flowers - a big wagon load of red roses.
Mystified, the shop stewards gathered round. The card said 'Lennon'
"Lenin's deid!" cried one of them, but the roses, it turned out, were from Beatle John Lennon and there was a cheque. "For five or ten grand, I can't remember now" says Reid, 30 years on. "But it was a lot of money at the time."
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