A participant’s perspective - Maggie

Maggie is the widow of a veteran and has been taking part in Stand Easy projects since 2021.

It was a phone call one evening in August 2021 that started me on my Stand Easy journey.

It was a call from a friend, heard David’s voice saying to me “I’ve found just the thing for you to try It’s a group called Stand Easy”. He proceeded to give me a barebones outline of what Stand Easy did. Groaning inwardly, I agreed to give it a go. I was well aware that since my husband had passed the year before, I had withdrawn into myself and rarely left the house.

The day before I was due to start I was desperately trying to find any excuse not to attend but I knew that if I didn’t, David would be right back on the phone giving me the ear bashing of my life.

And so it began

Maggie and other participants performing at the Scottish Parliament in summer 2023.

I was welcomed in by the veterans and after a few weeks I felt like I’d known them for years. How we laugh. There have been days when I have laughed so much my ribs hurt. The camaraderie is amazing. To quote from the performance we gave at the Scottish Parliament “when one of us falls, we help them stand”.

Each summer we do a devising project. We create it over an entire month and we have acting students to assist us. Needless to say, they very quickly become assimilated into our group It doesn’t matter that there is such a huge gap in ages. We are a team.

This year our project was entitled “Reflections”. We each had our own take on that theme which was moulded into a production piece by our very talented director Sarah, ably assisted by Josef

It was a production which ran the full gamut of emotion from laughter to tears, but always with the spirit of hope and optimism running through it.

The mycelium metaphor signifying growth ran through the piece to honour one of last year’s participants, Alister Scott, sadly no longer with us but always in our thoughts.

The audience response was amazing with full houses for each performance.

I was so proud to be a part of this project and  personally found the process cathartic as it allowed me to express feelings I had bottled up for a long time.

Stand Easy works its own special kind of magic and I would recommend it to any veteran who would like friendship and support in a creative, fun atmosphere

It’s certainly been one of the best things I’ve ever done!

Maggie Horsburgh