DESPITE his modest physical stature, a generation and an entire community looked up to Jimmy Millar. He had a huge capacity for compassion, integrity, wisdom, and wit. As a politician, football manager and scout, master tradesman, community activist, and reluctant bingo caller he possessed that great Scottish gift - the ability to excel at most things, but without a whiff of conceit or arrogance.
Jimmy's life started in his beloved Sauchie as the youngest of 11 children - his wife, Mattie, was the eldest
of 13 - and he often joked that his obsession with football might have passed to rugby had his father produced a few
more offspring.
Clackmannanshire at that time was a prominent player in Scotland's industrial heartland and he was apprenticed as a turner at Melvin's foundry in Alloa where he worked skilfully and loyally. As a master craftsman he enjoyed
great respect from his peers and considerable latitude with the foundry bosses. Jimmy then moved to the National Coal Board at the Whins in Alloa, settling for the
great passions of his life - his wife, Mattie, their children, politics, and football.
His politics were straightforward: principled and practical socialism. Born out of a generation that had known wars, mass poverty, and unemployment, he was committed to social justice and to helping people to fulfil their potential. His elder brother, Tommy, had broken the political mould in Clackmannanshire, when elected as the first Labour councillor in 1929, he overturned generations of elected representatives who were either pit owners or
landed lairds.
Jimmy eventually and reluctantly succeeded Tommy in his Sauchie seat in a 1967 by-election. He never wished nor could have been a ''BigTicket'' politician. His modesty and integrity meant that he shunned the spotlight - preferring to do important deeds quietly and very often without due recognition. He accepted, again reluctantly, the nomination as convenor of the council in 1980, a position he held until his retiral in 1988, when he was honoured by the Queen with
an OBE.
His other great passion was his beloved Sauchie Football Club.Jimmy's involvement as
player, manager, coach, and grumpy groundsman spanned 57 years. His coterie of
fitba' pals included Shankly,
Paisley, Stein, McParland,
and Auld.
He nurtured and produced more than 60 players who ended in the professional ranks, including Davie McParland, Joe Craig, Jimmy Bone, and John and Alan Hansen. In addition, thousands of young men and boys benefited from the four teams which Jimmy and his dedicated followers ran for many years. His great regret was that the only prize which eluded him was the ''Scoatish'' - a fact that I devilishly never let him forget - given that my club, Whitburn, had triumphed.
As a cub-chief executive of the council, I sought out Jimmy on a frequent basis to have a blether, seek advice, or talk about our joint passion for the social and political history of Clackmannanshire. He was always generous with his knowledge and wickedly incisive in his love of local gossip.
His acts of kindness were legend but rarely broadcast, although many a person in Sauchie was given ''a wee bit of a haund''. He was a help and inspiration to many, including his great friend and minister Sam Ovens. Sam freely admits that, sometimes stuck for a fresh angle in a sermon, he would think of Jimmy and a memory or event
would emerge that could be
usefully included.
He ran the principal community centre in the town, Sauchie Hall, which in its day attracted around 300 bingo-goers. If necessary, he was a dab hand at calling the numbers and used the opportunity to mildly chastise some local worthy whom he felt was guilty of
minor misdemeanours.
All the time in the background, since their marriage in 1942, was his loving wife, Mattie, to whom Jimmy was wholly devoted. Their family of John, Marilyn, grandchildren, Ronald and Pauline, and the three great- grandweans will greatly miss him.
Jimmy left this world as he entered it - without material wealth. His legacy: the integrity and humanity that he inspired. His great achievements were matched only by his basic decency. I can see him now with a wry smile and twinkle in his eye saying ''stoap blethering - there's work to be done''. So there is!
Jimmy Millar, politician and football manager; born 1919, died March 19, 2002.
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