Well, I guess if we start of with what you were doing before, like how you first ...

How I first came? Right. The first time I went to the Free State was on Samhain, which is Halloween and the Celtic new year. I was a single parent, my daughter was just a baby at the time and I’d heard about the Free State and I says: “Oh, I’ll need to go up and see, meet them and stuff.” So I ended up going up and they were having a do because it was Samhain and I was walking down the track and my baby Arran was in the buggy and I just seen this big man coming towards me, cos I always dress in tartan, and he gave me a big hug and it was Colin Macleod and that was my first encounter with Colin. And everybody was really friendly and I’d started coming up and singing some songs and just being round about the fire and doing a bit of cooking and stuff and it felt, for me, a real community and there was a spirit there and I met ... The people I met there are still more my family really than friends and ... Aye, we were kindred spirits and we’ve still kept in touch and I decided to move in a wee while after that and I brought my daughter up there.

How long were you there?

The whole duration really. I think I was there for about two years or something. And it was a special place. It was like the minute you stepped into the woods it was just a different world really. I always called it the wee Celtic village in the middle of mayhem and ... The road was the issue but it went beyond that as well like, you know? Everybody tried their best to save the road but things were ... People said: “Oh, you’ve lost!” but, to me, we didnae lose. We gained a lot. There was a power there. There was a tribal spirit and we were the indigenous people, you know?

Did you have a Free State passport?

No, I didnae. I missed that, like. I missed that.

It’s got a thing about the declaration of independence.

Aye, I missed that night. But ... I loved cooking. Me and Gehan, we did a lot of the cooking and I loved doing it. I mean, sometimes you’d cook for about 40 folk, ken? And when I look back, I don’t know how I did it because Arran was just a wee toddler. There was nae electricity or anything and ... But I loved that way of life, being outside and stuff, and I’d always lived like that before. I’d always been more a rover, ken?

Did you have a caravan then?

Aye. It belonged to the Free State. I shared it with Tracey, ’Tree’ everybody called her, and her wee lassie. There was two single parents in a wee caravan with two weans and it was great, ken? It was just ... The memories there, they were great. The nights round the fire and the fire was the ... It was the centre of everything and it never ever went out. And the singing, ken? There was always musicians and it was just the way life should be really, that community.

You told me that you learned to spin?

Oh aye, that’s the special thing about it. The GalGael was born at the Free State, really. The ideas that Colin had and Gehan had and we all had, we discussed them round the fire at the Free State and I remember saying to Colin one day: “I’d like to learn to spin one day,” you know? And everything that was said round that fire, it’s happening. Everybody’s doing it, you know? The boats have been building and I’m in the process of being self-employed, hopefully, eventually. And I do the dyeing and the spinning and the weaving. All that was discussed there and it’s all happening, so it’s good. We’ve no lost at all, you know? We’re winning! (laughs)

It’s more like ... It’s not so much the Free State didn’t stop the M77, it’s like the M77 didn’t stop the Free State.

Aye, that’s right. And there’s a picture, it was in the paper, that was ... We were all in the paper, we were never out the papers! It was Car Henge, that was ... I don’t know if you’ve heard about Car Henge but there’s a picture of me and my daughter in front of the car and Colin ... Something about ’chainsaw massacre’. It was quite amusing the way the media portrayed us and stuff. Daylight and ... One of my other favourite memories was Ally Stewart, have you heard the story about that? When they came up ... It was another camp we had and ... The Free State was the main camp but we had a few other wee camps on the route too and he came up and threatened Lindsay with a pickaxe and it was in the papers the next day and Tam MacCallum, he said that Ally Stewart looked like Jack Nicholson out of the shining and they had a picture of Ally Stewart and a picture of Jack Nicholson in the Sun the next morning and that was funny because we were all round the fire and all looking. We had all the papers, everybody had come in with the papers, and that was good fun! (laughs)

So what was Car Henge like? Could you maybe tell us the story?

Oh, it was folk that came up from Brighton in support and the cars were alright and they were running and that and we put them in ... It was quite powerful, putting them in Car Henge. It was quite symbolic in a way like, you know?

Was it like ... I’ve got footage in some of the video I’ve got and there’s ... So people dug pits and put the cars up in the day and then at night-time they were set on fire?

Aye, they were set on fire and we had music and dancing and all that malarkey!

What do you feel that events like that gave to the Free State? What effect did they have?

I think it was ... There was a huge sense of community and you were accepted there, you know? Nobody judged anybody and it wasnae like anybody would say, like: “Who are you?” It was the way society should be, to me anyway.

How did you get on with people from Pollok itself, like the local residents and that?

A lot of the local residents were lovely folk, lovely, supportive as well. And the kids, for me, it was ... When they came in and started taking the trees the first time at Pollok, it was the kids that stopped the work really. That was ... I had to lock myself in the caravan with my daughter because we didnae know they were coming in. We were in trying to guess when they were coming in, that was quite a painful day and the thing what touched me was everybody was just putting stuff through the window all the time for us to eat, for my daughter, juice and stuff and ... It was just ... People were solid with each other, ken? I think it’s a shame. Like nothing is in life, it wasnae all roses and ... you know, there was a lot of ... For the local people, there’s a lot of problems with drugs and that around that area. That was quite the kind of down side of it really, ken? But there’s always two sides to things in life anyway.

Did you ever get problems with people just kind of like freeloading off it or ... You know, coming to take part but not really taking part in the community aspect?

Aye, sometimes but they werenae long in getting telt! (laughs) And eventually they’d get the message or else they just wouldnae come back. But the majority of people were more giving than taking like, you know?

How did you all kind of get along when you had to make decisions about things or ... ?

Well, we’d had gatherings and we’d discuss different folks’ opinions and stuff like that and come to some kind of agreement, eventually, after ... (laughs)

In the winters what was it like?

The winters were cold but it was quite funny. Folk used to think we’d be sitting freezing but you were actually, we could sit in the caravan with shorts and t-shirts on. It was boiling like. People think cos you’ve nae running water and nae electricity it’s a big deal but it wasnae to me. I was ... Well, I wasnae used to that as a wean anyway, ken? So it was alright, you know? The compassion and the warmth and the generosity from folk, especially in the winter ... I remember one Christmas, I’ll never forget it. To me it was one of the best Christmases. It had been snowing and it was like sitting in a Christmas card, ken? You were sitting round this big fire and eating Christmas cake and having a wee dram ... (laughs) ... and it was quiet. There was nae cars or anything, it was absolutely great. All the trees and we could hear the owls and aye, it was good. It was good. I mean, the noise ... When they started doing the work, the noise of the machines and everything was quite upsetting for me but I used to go away and come and back and go away and ... I don’t know, there was something in me. I couldnae just leave, you know? When it was all ... When we all decided we’d done our bit and packed up and that, we all kind of did it together, ken?

Were you there on Wolf Night?

Aye, I was. I was there, aye. For the Stone Eagle from the Mi’Kmaq tribe, aye. Aye, it was a special night and that’s what I was saying earlier on, there was the sense of the ... It reached people all over the world, it wasnae just a Glasgow thing. There was communications with different tribes and, to me, that’s a special thing, you know? And Colin getting the Mi’Kmaq badge, that was good. He deserved it, he did. Aye, there was some good rants too! (laughs)

What was it like when you had to confront the security people and that kind of stuff?

It was really emotional, ken? It was ... I mean, when they came in, the day, it was quite amazing because a lot of the folk on the security were local folk and they were just needing a job. I cannae remember how many it was but, to me, I admired them folk. It took a lot of courage to do that. They just downed their hats and they walked off their job, ken? Because they just ... It was too much for them. They knew it was the local area and that was ... That was quite a good thing. It was good. We didnae have really any ... The security were just wanting a job really. I can understand the situation. It’s always the bigger wigs than that, ken?

Did they ever come down and talk to you?

I’m trying to think. I think they did at one point. My memory’s a bit ...

What was your last day at the Free State like?

It was quite sad actually, cos we were all going our separate ways but we’ve always kept in touch, you know? I mean, my daughter’s fourteen now and Gehan and Colin’s daughter Tawny, she was just a baby, and they’re still the best of friends. The links will never be broken, ken? But it didnae feel, to us, to me, it didnae feel like we were defeated. To me it wasnae the end, it was the beginning and the GalGael was put into fruition.

What do you feel the most important thing you took away from it or carried on from it?

The sense of ... Learning an old skill and a sense of community and, as I was saying before, they bonds will never be broken. It was a special ... The people who we all met, it was as if we were from the same clan really. I always used to say we were from the Clan Lawless! (laughs) And my favourite ... I don’t know where it had came from but Colin had carved a carving, it was a horse: “When freedom is outlawed, only outlaws will be free!” And to me that says it all really. It was sad too, packing up and stuff but we did ... Sometimes things can only ... You cannae be there forever like. That was the intention, the woods went back to being the woods.