THE passing of Cath Cunningham in May this year has left a significant gap in the left in Fife and one that will be hard to fill. The community, education and voluntary sectors in Fife, where Cath was a key figure for over four decades, will also be feeling the loss.

A Fifer born and bred, Cath was born into a loving working-class family that shaped her values for life. It was here that she developed her sense of the importance of community and an appreciation of solidarity across neighbouring communities. 

This, coupled with an emerging rebellious streak, saw Cath join the Young Communist League in her teenage years. Cath was to remain a communist all her life and was proud to call herself a socialist, a communist and an internationalist.

Cath’s political activism came to the fore in her work setting up a local CND branch, her support for the anti-apartheid movement and her involvement in the great miners’ strike in 1984-85, where her husband Harry was an electrical engineer in the Fife coalfield. 

During and after the strike Cath was to become a leading political and strategic figure nationally through her involvement in miners’ strike centres and the Dysart Central Women’s Committee, where she would organise much-needed support for families facing punitive measures from Thatcher’s government. Cath took the political message across Scotland that the strike was not just for jobs, but for communities and even a way of life.

In her campaigning work, Cath would share platforms up and down the country with many of the labour movement’s key figures, including Michael McGahey and Donald Dewar. 

In doing so Cath forged strong links with women’s trade union groups, nowhere more so than in Dundee with workers from NCR, Timex, Michelin and other workplaces. Her efforts resulted in the provision of layettes to each baby born in Fife during the strike, beating the Scottish government’s baby boxes by 33 years! Here was evidence of Cath’s practical socialism in the face of state brutality and class war.

In 2010, Cath worked alongside the film producer Maggie Wright, producing a powerful documentary called Here We Go: Women Living the Strike. This highlighted not only the role of women during the strike but also explored the role of class struggle, solidarity and community activism. 

Following the strike Cath was elected to the Scottish committee of the Communist Party and then to its national executive where she served until its dissolution in 1991. Cath then joined the Communist Party of Britain, remaining a strong supporter of the Morning Star throughout. 

Cath was a principled individual but she was never evangelical about her political beliefs. She was known for her warmth, her sense of humour and her humanity — all were readily apparent in her work in different settings. 

Her working career enabled Cath to use the power of education to transform lives and make a real difference for countless numbers of individuals and families who came in contact with her. 

Cath was to go on to work with Express Group Fife, a mental health support group as well the Victoria Project, a family support centre in Kirkcaldy. She went from there to become lifelong learning co-ordinator at the then Adam Smith College before moving on to the Woodlands Community Nursery in Methil. 

She also took advantage of training opportunities herself by graduating in 1999 with a BA in community education. This was a work-based course for community activists organised jointly by Fife Council and the then Northern College in Dundee.

In each setting, Cath devoted her energies to people who were vulnerable and needed support. She understood the importance of human connection and took the time to listen to people who felt they were ignored by others in authority. Cath enabled people to take control and make decisions about their own lives and, as always, she was an advocate for those who had been treated badly by the system. Cath was also a key figure in local political and community campaigns, particularly in central Fife.

Away from work and campaigning, Cath had a passion for Latin American dancing, particularly salsa, going so far as to organise an informal dancing class at the college with her friend Sharon. Cath did venture over to Cuba on holiday to celebrate her twin passions of salsa and socialism! She had wide-ranging musical tastes — attending regular gigs in the acoustic music scene in Fife as well an appreciation of Italian opera. Cath was able to indulge this further when she and Harry moved to Italy for five years while Harry was working in Turin with the International Labour Organisation.

Cath’s politics was important to Cath, it was who she was and, right up to the end, Cath was advocating for woman’s rights, against any forms of discrimination, especially those economic injustices that blighted the communities that she grew up in and lived in. 

Cath had hoped to be involved in the Scottish Parliament’s celebration of Michael McGahey in January of this year but was unable to attend due to ill-health. She watched the event online, keeping in regular contact with Richard Leonard MSP, who hosted the event.

On learning of her passing, there was a common response from friends and colleagues that we were, all of us, better people for having known Cath. She was a strong, unique character who touched so many lives across communities in Fife. At her funeral, the former leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Richard Leonard MSP, commented: “Cath Cunningham shone a light here that will shine for eternity.”

As her friend and comrade John Foster remarked, “Cath was one of the remarkable women who helped transform the struggle to defend the coal industry from an industrial struggle to a truly community struggle.”

Sadly, Cath was diagnosed with ovarian cancer earlier this year and succumbed to complications arising from an infection. Even as Cath approached her final weeks of her life she never gave up; contributing to medical Aid for Palestinians and to the education of young girls in Malawi through the Jack McConnell Foundation.

She is survived by her husband and life partner Harry, her son Gordon and granddaughter Zoe.