Last week saw the official opening of the
new Mary Lily Walker Building. Based at
the High School of Dundee, the building will house their newly established
nursery. There could be no more fitting purpose
for a building that bears her name, given that her key concern was the health
of young children.
The ceremony marking the opening of the
building took place on 1st September. It
was a grand affair, with approximately 75 people in attendance, amongst them
the Lord Provost of Dundee, Bob Duncan.
He said, once again, how important and interesting that he thinks the
story of Mary Lily Walker is for Dundee.
He is keen that it be known by all the residents of the city, and he is
hopeful that the new nursery will be one more way of helping that to be
achieved.
Mary Lily Walker was a pupil at the High
School during the early 1880s. Her years
there were one of the experiences that helped to craft her very strong identity
as a Dundonian. It was this attachment
to the city that would later led her to return to it after spending time in
London. Her strong bonds to the
city led
her to focus her efforts for reform on the city of her birth, rather
than take
up invitations to focus on other British cities that were also
struggling with
poverty and inequality. It was precisely because she was a former pupil
that the High School wanted to honour her memory formally.
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Fascinated by the story of
Katie Morag, read by the author! |
The speakers at the opening ceremony
included John Halliday, Rector of the High School, as well as the guest of honour,
Mairi Hedderwick, author of the classic Katie Morag series. Along with treating the attendant children to
a reading of her stories, Dr. Hedderwick expressed her personal interest in the
story of Mary Lily Walker. She was
delighted to receive a copy of Mary Lily’s biography (written by author Eddie
Small and published in 2013).
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