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| Evelyn Gillan obituary | |
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| Evelyn Gillan, who has died of gastric cancer aged 55, was an oustanding champion of women’s rights and improvements in public health policy, instrumental in bringing about minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland. | Evelyn Gillan, who has died of gastric cancer aged 55, was an oustanding champion of women’s rights and improvements in public health policy, instrumental in bringing about minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland. |
| As the first director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (Shaap), set up in 2006 by the Scottish medical royal colleges, Gillan translated the evidence on alcohol pricing into a few challenging phrases that resonated in the media and with politicians, helping to convince the new SNP government to take on the country’s destructive relationship with alcohol. The 2007 Shaap report, Alcohol: Price, Policy and Public Health, has since been cited by international scientists and played a critical role in advancing the public health case for policy action on price in Scotland. | As the first director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (Shaap), set up in 2006 by the Scottish medical royal colleges, Gillan translated the evidence on alcohol pricing into a few challenging phrases that resonated in the media and with politicians, helping to convince the new SNP government to take on the country’s destructive relationship with alcohol. The 2007 Shaap report, Alcohol: Price, Policy and Public Health, has since been cited by international scientists and played a critical role in advancing the public health case for policy action on price in Scotland. |
| In 2010, Gillan moved on to become chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, from which position her expertise and encouragement were key in persuading the Scottish parliament to implement minimum pricing legislation, despite fierce opposition from the drinks industry and the establishment. The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was passed in June of that year, but a legal challenge by the Scotch Whisky Association, now being heard at the European Court of Justice, has stalled its implementation. | In 2010, Gillan moved on to become chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, from which position her expertise and encouragement were key in persuading the Scottish parliament to implement minimum pricing legislation, despite fierce opposition from the drinks industry and the establishment. The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 was passed in June of that year, but a legal challenge by the Scotch Whisky Association, now being heard at the European Court of Justice, has stalled its implementation. |
| Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who was health secretary at the time of the campaign, believed that it was Gillan’s passion and perseverance, coupled with the ability to inspire others, that eventually won majority support for the policy in parliament and among the public. | Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who was health secretary at the time of the campaign, believed that it was Gillan’s passion and perseverance, coupled with the ability to inspire others, that eventually won majority support for the policy in parliament and among the public. |
| “The road towards the Scottish parliament eventually passing the alcohol minimum pricing legislation was a long, windy and often arduous one,” Sturgeon recalled. “At the outset, it was a policy that enjoyed only minority support in both parliament and the wider public. It also had – and still has – some very powerful opponents. | “The road towards the Scottish parliament eventually passing the alcohol minimum pricing legislation was a long, windy and often arduous one,” Sturgeon recalled. “At the outset, it was a policy that enjoyed only minority support in both parliament and the wider public. It also had – and still has – some very powerful opponents. |
| “Evelyn was a powerful advocate for the policy and, at the media events we did together to promote it, I was always struck (usually enviously) by her ability to articulate the arguments for it more simply, powerfully and persuasively than I was able to manage. On more than one occasion she reminded me that nothing worth doing is ever easy.” | “Evelyn was a powerful advocate for the policy and, at the media events we did together to promote it, I was always struck (usually enviously) by her ability to articulate the arguments for it more simply, powerfully and persuasively than I was able to manage. On more than one occasion she reminded me that nothing worth doing is ever easy.” |
| Gillan had a flair for capturing the public and political imagination through her campaigning. After becoming head of public affairs for the Royal College of Nursing Scotland in 2001, she launched the campaign Value Nurses by persuading 50 MSPs to shadow nurses in their own constituencies for a day. This led to the first debate in the Scottish parliament on the contribution nurses make to patient care. | Gillan had a flair for capturing the public and political imagination through her campaigning. After becoming head of public affairs for the Royal College of Nursing Scotland in 2001, she launched the campaign Value Nurses by persuading 50 MSPs to shadow nurses in their own constituencies for a day. This led to the first debate in the Scottish parliament on the contribution nurses make to patient care. |
| She also campaigned on violence against women, and women’s rights in general. In 1985, she started working for the newly created women’s committee of Edinburgh district council and there developed the campaign that would come to mean most to her. Co-created with Franki Raffles and Susan Hart, the ground-breaking Zero Tolerance campaign was launched in 1992, with an arresting poster campaign pairing beautifully styled images of women and children together with shocking statistics about levels of physical and sexual violence. | She also campaigned on violence against women, and women’s rights in general. In 1985, she started working for the newly created women’s committee of Edinburgh district council and there developed the campaign that would come to mean most to her. Co-created with Franki Raffles and Susan Hart, the ground-breaking Zero Tolerance campaign was launched in 1992, with an arresting poster campaign pairing beautifully styled images of women and children together with shocking statistics about levels of physical and sexual violence. |
| Other notable campaigns directed by Gillan during her time at Edinburgh council included Safer Streets, improving women’s safety using local taxi companies, and Change the Change, which resulted in Edinburgh’s first menopause clinic and annual celebrations for International Women’s Day. | Other notable campaigns directed by Gillan during her time at Edinburgh council included Safer Streets, improving women’s safety using local taxi companies, and Change the Change, which resulted in Edinburgh’s first menopause clinic and annual celebrations for International Women’s Day. |
| The Zero Tolerance campaign raised the bar for public discussion of domestic abuse, with versions of it repeated by councils across the UK as well as internationally, and its success let Gillan to establish the Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust, which she co-directed for six years and which continues her work today. | The Zero Tolerance campaign raised the bar for public discussion of domestic abuse, with versions of it repeated by councils across the UK as well as internationally, and its success let Gillan to establish the Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust, which she co-directed for six years and which continues her work today. |
| Born into a tight-knit mining community in Tranent, East Lothian, the daughter of Joe, a postal worker, and Bridget, a civil service administrator, Evelyn was the second of three sisters. Academically successful since primary school, she was expected to go to university but, at 17, she decided to train as a hairdresser, working in the Charlie Miller salon in Edinburgh, and then spending several years working around Europe in her late teens, cutting hair and taking up seasonal work. | Born into a tight-knit mining community in Tranent, East Lothian, the daughter of Joe, a postal worker, and Bridget, a civil service administrator, Evelyn was the second of three sisters. Academically successful since primary school, she was expected to go to university but, at 17, she decided to train as a hairdresser, working in the Charlie Miller salon in Edinburgh, and then spending several years working around Europe in her late teens, cutting hair and taking up seasonal work. |
| She returned to education, eventually completing a PhD in social policy at Edinburgh University in 2008, and her first encounter with politics came in 1983 when she was elected president of the student council at Moray House, Edinburgh, where she was studying social work. On leaving, she was awarded the Gordon memorial award for the student with the greatest all-round ability. It was also at Moray House that she met her life partner, Tom Proudfoot, a library worker. | She returned to education, eventually completing a PhD in social policy at Edinburgh University in 2008, and her first encounter with politics came in 1983 when she was elected president of the student council at Moray House, Edinburgh, where she was studying social work. On leaving, she was awarded the Gordon memorial award for the student with the greatest all-round ability. It was also at Moray House that she met her life partner, Tom Proudfoot, a library worker. |
| Two months before Gillan’s death, a full-page advert appeared in the National, Scotland’s only independence-supporting daily newspaper, describing Gillan as “fearless and peerless”, “the best kind of troublemaker”, and signed by friends and organisations she had worked with. “It was one way her friends could let Evelyn know how much we all loved her,” the writer and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch explained. | Two months before Gillan’s death, a full-page advert appeared in the National, Scotland’s only independence-supporting daily newspaper, describing Gillan as “fearless and peerless”, “the best kind of troublemaker”, and signed by friends and organisations she had worked with. “It was one way her friends could let Evelyn know how much we all loved her,” the writer and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch explained. |
| Shortly before her death, Gillan was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, in recognition of her work in promoting Scotland’s health. | Shortly before her death, Gillan was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, in recognition of her work in promoting Scotland’s health. |
| She is survived by Tom, their two sons, Max and Jack, and her sisters, Jacky and Val. | She is survived by Tom, their two sons, Max and Jack, and her sisters, Jacky and Val. |
| • Evelyn Gillan, campaigner, born 4 August 1959; died 14 July 2015 | • Evelyn Gillan, campaigner, born 4 August 1959; died 14 July 2015 |