Helen Crummy
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Helen Crummy MBE (10 May 1920 – 11 July 2011)[1][2] was a founder of the Craigmillar Festival Society, and served as the Organising Secretary for the group until 1985.
Helen Crummy was born in Leith, Helen Murray Prentice. She became one of the first residents in a new council housing estate at Craigmillar in 1931 when her family moved to the estate which became one of the poorest areas of Edinburgh.[2] Her family were also neighbours of the family of Jack Kane, the first Labour Lord Provost of Edinburgh.
Craigmillar Festival Society
The Craigmillar Festival Society started in 1962, after she asked the headmaster of the local primary school if her son, Philip (who would later become Director of Archaeology at Colchester Archaeological Trust and also a recipient of an MBE), could be taught to play the violin.[3] He replied by telling her that it took the school all its time to teach these children "all three R's".[3] Helen with the local mothers group decided to show how talented their children were and started The Craigmillar Festival which grew to gain international acclaim.[3][4]
Her youngest son is the artist Andrew Crummy, creator of the Great Tapestry of Scotland and her niece is the writer Janis Mackay.[5]