I came across this old 80s photo of the first Fife squad of athletes with cerebral palsy to compete in the Scottish Track and Field Championships organised by the Scottish CP sports group. At the time the sports group was part of the Scottish Council for Spastics, now appropriately renamed Capability Scotland.
The driving forces behind these championships and others were Commander Archie Cameron, Mary Aitken and Jim Thomson from SCS. They paved the way for a significant involvement of Scottish athletes with cerebral palsy to be involved in international track and field for the next three to four decades. There was early engagement with Scottish Disability Sport (SSAD at the time) and the two organisations planned and helped shape the futures of outstanding Scottish athletes/swimmers/boccia players with cerebral palsy including Colin Keay, Caroline Baird MBE, William McQueen, Maxwell McKay Gordon Robertson MBE, Jimmy Sands, Stephen Payton, Richie Collins, Keith Gardner, Pauline Latto, Anne Woffinden, Carol Johnston, Jimmy Maxwell plus many others.
From this early group of nine Fife athletes Colin Keay from Kirkcaldy and Ann Swann from Methil were selected for the Paralympic Games in New York in 1984. Each was a multi medallist in Nassau County at Hoffstra University in the very first SCS/SSAD partnership involvement in a Paralympic games. Commander Cameron was the President of the International Paralympic movement at the time, a huge honour for Scotland and the SCS. Ronald Raegan was the President of the United States and together they welcomed all of us proud Scots as members of a wonderful 1984 Team GB. Nobody appreciated at the time how important these Games would be in the development of local, national and international Para sport.
Richard Brickley OBE MBE Chairman DSF (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees