Trade unionist, Greenham Common activist and writer for The Herald

Died: August 5, 2024

Ann Coltart, who has died aged 82, was prominent trade unionist and activist and a woman who left an unforgettable mark on everyone who crossed her path. Having joined the National Union of Journalists in the early 1960s, she earned a reputation as a fearsome champion of equality – a dedication that lasted till her dying day — drafting NUJ motions and rallying delegates to the Scottish TUC women’s conference in the last week of her life.

To Ann’s friends and mentees in the Glasgow branch and the many union councils on which she served, the picture of Ann they will remember will be the same: giving wise counsel and salacious gossip in a pub beer garden after a long meeting, a glass of white wine in one hand and a menthol roll-up in the other.

Ann’s encyclopaedic knowledge of NUJ history was recalled with a serious passion for the labour movement at large and an immense loyalty to her own union — but always tempered with a caustic wit and an unrivalled generosity of spirit.

Born in Stockport, the daughter of a police officer, Ann’s first job was as an indentured sub reporter on the Birkenhead News in 1960. She later moved south where she worked on a variety of London local papers, including the Chelsea Post and Kensington Post, and later the Swindon Advertiser — where she served, among other roles, as film critic.

Among other assignments, the Advertiser sent Ann to report on a stage hypnotist Henry Blythe who promised to be able to make anyone give up smoking, but his powers of persuasion somehow fell short on this particular life-long heavy smoker when he invited her on stage.

She also lived in a women’s commune near the Greenham Common peace camp, and served as chair of the Bermondsey Labour Party during the tumultuous 1983 by-election campaign, in which candidate Peter Tatchell was subjected to a barrage of homophobia and “loony left” attacks. Ann’s commitment to equality in the workplace and society saw her face down sexists in the NUJ, and she was a supporter of LGBT rights long before they were a mainstream cause.

During this period of her life as a single mother, Ann worked primarily in community theatre and the Room 88 adult literacy project, but also found work as a cook and a barmaid. But upon moving back to Scotland – first to Argyll, then to Glasgow in the 1980s, to join her then-partner — a Herald journalist — she struggled to find work in these fields, and returned to journalism as a freelancer.

She wrote features for The Herald and other newspapers, often profiling pioneering projects like the Glasgow Women’s Library. She threw herself back into NUJ activity, and her experience, steadfastness, and plain common sense were welcomed by the union which became part of her extended family.

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Each contribution was marked by insight, directness and kindness, conveyed by long conversations in a deep, hoarse voice, long letters to staff and union activists written in a spidery hand filled with formidable insight and kindness, and marked by a steadfast refusal to embrace any kind of technology, emails or video conferencing.

She was a regular delegate to Scottish TUC conferences, and in 2001 she was recognised with an award from the STUC women’s conference, for her work for the movement and women in Scotland at large. Her work in the STUC is credited with inspiring a generation of younger women activists, including the STUC’s current General Secretary Roz Foyer. In the days before her death she could be found discussing the wording of motions for a forthcoming STUC Women’s conference, with the same dedication and attention to detail that was her hallmark since she began as an activist.

Her work at conferences was not just at the podium, and on the floor encouraging younger activists to make their first speeches, but also in the bars and hotel rooms late into the night, putting the world to rights with a drink and a smoke.

(Image: Colin Mearns)

As well as her longstanding spells on the union’s equality, disabled members’, Scottish Executive and 60-plus councils, Ann also served on the National Executive Council, the Appeals Tribunal and as a trustee of the union’s sister charity NUJ Extra.

She became such a long-standing fixture at union meetings that during one brief spell, when Ann had somehow managed to not be nominated to the Scottish Executive, that it took several meetings for anyone, including Ann, to realise that she shouldn’t strictly have been attending them – an oversight which was soon remedied.

In partnership with the NUJ’s Glasgow Branch asylum seeker members, she was also involved in the conversations with the Scottish Refugee Council that led to the establishment of the Refugee Festival Scotland Media Awards, which recognise fair, accurate and responsible journalism on refugee and asylum seeker issues.

She is survived by her daughter Rebecca and her huge union family.

Conrad Landin