Kath Duncan mural: new artwork brings colour to Kirkcaldy town centre

Kath Duncan was born in the Lang Toun, and is considered one of the most important Scots, but few people know about her life as a prominent political activist and social justice campaigner.

Now a mural to her memory has transformed the side of a building in Hill Street which could now be a home to the proposed Kath Duncan Lighthouse – a community hub to tell the story of the people of Kirkcaldy.

Duncan spent a few years in Kirkcaldy as a teacher at the East School - now Glebe Park - after the First World War. She wed fellow teacher, Sandy Duncan, in 1923, and moved to London.

It was down south that her activism came to the fore.

The mural to honour her campaigning was created by London-based artist Boudicca Collins as part of the lighthouse which aims to be the UK's first working class, social justice, civil rights archive and community hub.

She was joined by Raymond Wooldford who wrote Duncan’s biography, ‘The Last Queen Of Scotland’ and a play based on her incredible life which saw her jailed twice between the wars for her activism.

He pinpointed Kath’s time here as a pivotal moment in her life.

“As a school teacher in Kirkcaldy she was reading and writing letters for men who were coming back from the frontline during the first world war. That really shaped her politics.

“She was formidable and this is why I say she is the most important female civil rights activist of all, because between the wars she was one of the leaders of every major campaign; the activism for the suffragettes, her friendship with the Churchills and Clement Atlee, her involvement with the Spanish Civil War, union activism, the General Strike and anti-fascism.”

The mural celebrates one of her finest moments when she led 30,000 people on a march from Deptford on the gas works on Old Kent Road, London, against high charges for the poor. In honour of her Kirkcaldy links, it features people who have helped to shape this town, including Adam Smith, Gordon Brown and many more.

It will be officially unveiled on International Women’s Day on March 8.