Hansard

I congratulate Gil Paterson on securing the debate and I am glad to take part to mark the anniversary and to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Clydebank blitz and those who fought to save them.

Before I start, I want to say a couple of words about Gil Paterson, whose motion we are debating tonight. I understand that Gil is not seeking re-election after a long and illustrious career, and that that was one of his final speeches in the Parliament. It will certainly have been the final members’ business debate that he will lead.

Gil Paterson and I have been colleagues in the Parliament since 1999—we all started young. Since 2011, we have been neighbours, representing the bordering constituencies of Clydebank and Milngavie, and Dumbarton. I am sure that Gil Paterson would be the first to tell you that he and I do not always see eye to eye, but I am sure that he will agree that we have always enjoyed a friendly relationship. On issues such as asbestos and St Margaret’s hospice, we have been of one mind. I wish him all the best in a well-deserved retirement and I thank him for his years of service to the west of Scotland and Clydebank and Milngavie—it just proves that Bankies and sons and daughters of the rock can, after all, work together.

Despite taking place 80 years ago, the devastation caused by the relentless bombing of Clydebank is still felt by many today. Debates such as this one are vital. It is important to remember the extent of the devastation and destruction caused and to honour the dead. Such debates remind us that, collectively, we cannot allow such a war to happen again.

Following the raids, towns across the United Kingdom mourned with Clydebank, each knowing that it could be them next. As Gil Paterson rightly pointed out, 99 per cent of all houses in the town were damaged, hundreds of innocent members of the public lost their lives, and many more were left with terrible lifelong injuries.

The bombing raids destroyed homes, and many businesses, and therefore livelihoods, were lost too. We know that the shipyards were the target of the raids, but it is widely acknowledged that the longest-lasting damage was suffered by local civilians and the town of Clydebank. It is important to pay tribute to the bravery of the emergency services and the many local people who worked together to fight fires and take care of the wounded over those two fateful nights. Local volunteers put themselves in harm’s way in order to save others. Such a level of selflessness makes those people nothing less than heroes. If it were not for their bravery and determination to get injured people to safety, even more would have lost their lives.

I pay tribute to those from my community of Dumbarton who also lost their lives during the bombings. As some members in the chamber may be aware, on those fateful nights, one raid missed its planned target of Clydebank and instead kept going to Dumbarton and hit homes in Clydeshore Road, which is just a five-minute walk from my house. The raid was not expected, and appropriate cover and shelter had not been sought out. Yet more innocent lives were lost.

Commemorating the anniversary is a poignant way of remembering all those who lost their lives, both during that blitz and throughout the second world war, in Clydebank and across the UK. In the face of adversity, Clydebank came together, and it is right that we should do so again now to remember them.