Published at 15:43, Wednesday, 03 February 2010

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EVEN now, after stepping off the world stage and into retirement, Nelson Mandela will sometimes sit with his old friend John Fyfe. The conversation will range to and fro about shared experiences and memories before the iconic Mandela will ask: So, how are things in West Cumbria...?

South Africa and the close links with his old friend proved one of the inspirations for John Fyfe’s efforts to help pull West Cumbria out of the economic doldrums.

Professor Fyfe, awarded the CBE in the New Year Honours for his services to West Cumbria, forged links with the African National Congress (ANC) in its attempts to free South Africa from the stranglehold of apartheid. In doing so, this charismatic former Scottish trades union leader struck up a friendship with Mandela during his 17 years’ imprisonment on Robben Island, often visiting him to give comfort but also to discuss how best South Africa could be liberated.

The two have continued to meet, and one of the topics of conversation has been the place closest to John Fyfe’s heart: West Cumbria.

Those conversations often centred on the area’s own struggles of an economic and social nature: the resilience, courage and sacrifices of West Cumbrians to bear the brunt of the decline of traditional industries and what John Fyfe and other regeneration pioneers such as the late Bill Minto did to breathe new life into an ailing area.

“Nelson has heard so much about West Cumbria,” said John. “A lot of our dreams for West Cumbria have come true but if I had one more it would be for Nelson along with my South African ‘brother’ Cyril Ramaphosa to come over here and meet my other friends. I’ve taken photographs and memorabilia over to South Africa to show him, sharing stories, for me especially about West Cumbria and the people (some we call ‘marras’) and everything that’s been done. He still calls me ‘my young Prof’ and I’m hoping to go over with my wife, Liz, later in the year with more photographs for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.”

Professor Fyfe spent 10 years helping developing countries to help themselves, which meant setting up partnerships (notably in the Pacific Islands and Africa).

As the British government’s overseas and employment advisor, he became responsible for helping the people of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana. “Also having been a trade union leader in the coal mining industry I teamed up with someone who became very special in South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, who later became the equivalent of General Secretary in the TUC. He was a only a youngster at the time but shared with me how to help get away from apartheid in South Africa. One route was in breaking it down from within and another was from terrorism. Cyril wanted the peaceful way and so did I.

“Later on I met up with Nelson Mandela, after he’d been arrested and was in jail on Robben Island. Part of my work was helping the ANC leadership in exile. I did a lot of the training of the ANC – not how to shoot guns, others did that, but in management, for the days when they were going to be running the country, hoping all the while there would be a peaceful solution.

“Nelson and the ANC leadership outside the prison were encouraging me to help through the peaceful route, but it used to hurt every time I went to see him in prison. I used to wonder about humanity. Some of the white governors were really good, but others were bastards. But Nelson had an inner strength, a real strength that what he stood for was right and proper. He did get angry and frustrated with peaceful change, having been part of a group that decided enough was enough and it was time to take more direct action.

“Once he said to me ‘Prof, you are doing good things, one day there will be freedom, one day the work you’re doing, the training, will come off.’

“After he was eventually released from Robben Island I would still see him (in one or two more comfortable prisons) to talk and tell him about the work I was continuing for the ANC outside South Africa, including London where I helped Labour ladies like Barbara Castle and Judith Hart with the peaceful rallies and the lighting candles. I also made the soup and handed out the teas but again it was preaching partnership. It worked in South Africa.”

Why West Cumbria? – “Well, I was brought up in a Scottish mining village [Fife] and knew what poverty was. The pit closed after the war, the whole mining village was dying and we had nothing. Later on I came up to West Cumberland as a trades union official (I remember Harry Hanlon, area miners’ representative at Whitehaven) and felt an immediate affinity with the place. I felt I belonged here.

“Haig Pit was just closing, I saw people with long faces, I could see my own childhood. The Cumberland coalfield was closing down, the future of steel was uncertain, the chemical industry here looked dicey, even nuclear didn’t seem to have a rosy future. I made a promise to help and stuck with it.

“Having been responsible for a lot of British aid programmes in developing countries and finding ways of getting them to help themselves to start working in partnership, I was invited to look into the problems and set up a study called The Joint Initiative to make recommendations about what should be done – it was the first partnership of its kind in England. A case of getting everybody round a bloody table... ‘come on, you all live here, care about the community, let’s start working together and stick with it’.

“In my report I suggested some key projects, how we might plug into resources (which we did in Europe). I managed to persuade Christopher Harding (chairman at BNFL) along with others to put around £10million into the area, also set up the West Cumbria Development Fund for the money to be channeled through to help the community and regeneration. There was no university in Cumbria but I said the future depended on education, training, having a research institute (Westlakes Science Park), and innovation – all things that have either reached fruition or are now coming about.

“I felt that, with the closure of the pits, places like Whitehaven and Maryport needed to be lifted up, faces were long and many were living in drab conditions, out of work, jobs uncertain.

“Willie Whitelaw [former deputy Prime Minister and himself a Cumbrian MP] helped a lot. We managed to plug into Europe – we went out as ambassadors to get bigger and better money but it was about putting forward a case with substance. It was no good being all fur coat and no knickers.”

“I came up here more or less at the same time as Sir Christopher Harding. He and I were friends at Oxford; in those days I was a member of the Communist party (I am not ashamed to of it – with my background what do you expect?)

“Chris was a Conservative, but we just clicked and both agreed that BNFL and other companies had a social responsibility to communities as well as to their shareholders. Some damage had to be repaired in the community. Christopher was like a wind of change blowing through BNFL and Sellafield, Willie Whitelaw wanted change and this was the catalyst for it.

“There were problems in the community. Something had to be done which hadn’t been done before. Instead of giving a bit of money to a running track here, a bit to the rugby league club there, was there not a better way to harness the BNFL input for the benefit of the whole community? I came up with a suggested solution which was a partnership approach.

“Lots of good work was done initially to help local business, lots of people got grants and we managed to get European Social Fund money for training purposes. A lot of the early regeneration of Whitehaven and Maryport came about, and we were using local builders.”

What would Sir Christopher think about it today? – “He would be so happy, it was a dream he shared with the likes of Billy Minto, Jimmy Johnston Ken Dixon, Alan Williams and Jack Cunningham. These were all pioneers. They worked so hard sharing the same vision, it wasn’t just a case of keeping the ship afloat but going in a certain direction. Now today comes the revival of the nuclear industry and the speed at which that ship is moving is getting faster.

“Looking ahead, what I’d like to see, say in five years time, is a West Cumbria where more people believe in themselves, where partnership is even more real. I’d like to see West Cumbria well established in the UK and internationally, a centre of excellence in nuclear energy development but not putting all our eggs in one basket” he said.

“It’s very important we diversify through research and development along with other aspects of energy and environment. Nuclear new-build has to be a catalyst. We have a wonderful opportunity to get that ship moving so quickly – it will transform this community over the next five years. The opportunities are there and we must not look a gift horse in the mouth.

“This has to become one of the best places to live in the world – the qualify of life up here is good, we have so much going for us, we’ve got one or two economic nuggets. The prizes are that not to be just hosts of nuclear but energy-related operations and technologies second to none. We’ve still got to work together, it’s not going to be God-given. We need to be in a position where if there is any dip in nuclear to be able to diversify enough to ride through storms.”

Transport, communications, education and training are top of the agenda for John Fyfe as he continues to work behind the scenes gently persuading ministers and civil servants to make investments.

He stressed: “The big companies who want to develop in the nuclear industry have a responsibility. Let’s get them involved in partnership – that’s what BNFL did, so we are turning full circle. Not only does government have a responsibility but so, too, do the new economic players, the ones who are going to benefit from the nuggets.

“One of the few growth areas in a recession are energy and environment, so we are in a unique position: other parts of the country would give their hind teeth to get what we’ve got – or are getting.

“We can make this one of the places with the highest quality of life in Britain, if not the world, I want to see us on the international map as a special place. The players are different, the circumstances are different, but the principles of working together for the benefit of this area and future generations is the same.”

Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk