Campaign that led to handgun ownership ban

In the aftermath of the DunblaneD tragedy, the Sunday MailM launched a campaign to ba ban handguns.

Accompanied by parents, wew presented a petition of someso 400,000 signatures to

Our campaign

Downing Street. The families’ own Snowdrop petition had more than 700,000 signatures.

The Cullen Inquiry into the tragedy recommended tighter controls on handgun ownership. A ban on owning most handguns was introduced by John Major’s government and extended by Labour in 1997 to cover all handguns. Mick North, whose daughter Sophie, five, was killed, was instrumental in the campaign. In the programme, he says: “It was exhausting, emotionally draining and not something I particularly enjoyed. But when you have decided to become part of a campaign, you have got to go out there and do something.”

STV weather presenter

Heather Reid was someone I always looked up to as she was the go-to for weather information in Scotland. When I was about 14, I was lucky enough to write forecasts for a weekly paper who took me to meet Heather. I remember being in awe of her. She gave me great advice and we kept in touch on and off during the following years. When I came back to work for STV, Heather was still on the BBC, meaning we ended up on air at the same time. I hope I can pass the weather baton on to someone I’ve inspired, like Heather did for me.

Paul English

If behind every great man is a great woman, then who do Scotland’s bestknown sons credit as their inspiration?

We asked some, ahead of International Women’s Day tomorrow, to tell us about the extraordinary females that impacted their lives.