IN May 1979 Ron Ferguson wrote Geoff, a biography of the Reverend Geoff Shaw, the late convener of Strathclyde Region. It was just over a year after Shaw’s death, aged 51; and extracts were published in this newspaper over three days.

In April 1998, Ferguson marked the 20th anniversary of Shaw’s passing by writing about this remarkable man in The Herald. (Shaw himself is seen here, on the left, at the unveiling of the Spirit of St Kentigern sculpture in October 1977.)

“He was Labour’s great white hope – the man who would, or could, be Premier,” Ferguson observed. “He had obvious leadership qualities, a squeaky-clean image, an ability to communicate with all classes. He was a Scotsman who seemed born to lead, just at the time when huge national opportunities were opening up.”

Like the Labour leader John Smith, who had also died in his fifties, Shaw was a passionate seeker after social justice, with deep roots in Christianity. But the Thatcher revolution had dismantled many perceived ideas of society; and Strathclyde region, to which he had devoted so much energy, was now dead.

“At the time of Geoff Shaw’s death, it looked as if Scotland was on the brink of achieving Home Rule,” Ferguson continued. “And the name on many people’s lips as the obvious candidate for first Scottish premier was the Rev Geoffrey Mackintosh Shaw.”

Indeed, just six years into his local government career, he had been tipped as Scotland’s first Prime Minister by the Evening Times.

As a young man Shaw had forsaken a career in law to study for the ministry. A life-changing experience occurred when he worked with drug addicts, drop-outs and gang leaders in a New York ghetto.

Back in Scotland, he and two other ministers founded the Gorbals Group, electing to live right at the heart of what was recognised as one of the worst slum ghettos in Europe. They held open house, and shared worship, money, food, themselves.

“It was in the Gorbals that Geoff Shaw did his greatest work,” said Ron Ferguson. “The ever-open battered door of his tenement flat in Cleland Street represented a haven for many broken people. With coffee and prayer and hospitality and action, he helped mend lives. Geoff worked on the principle of unconditional acceptance – a notion that is noble in the abstract, but utterly demanding and draining to fulfil.”

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