Passionate campaigner fought hard for older people

George Henderson OBE, a leading trade union figure and campaigner for pensioners died recently aged 78.
George was born in Edinburgh in 1933 and at the age of eleven became the man of the house, after the death of his father on field operations during World War II. To help his mother Helen bring up two children alone, whilst still at primary school he had a paper round, a milk round and worked for both the local butcher and grocer to boost the family's income.
He left school at 15 and following a five-year apprenticeship became a craftsman plasterer. Shortly after finishing his apprenticeship, he was called up to serve in Suez with the 1st Battalion Royal Scots Regiment.
On his return he became involved in union activities, moved up through the ranks of the Scottish Plasterers Union and was elected a national organiser at the age of 29. When the union merged with the Transport and General Workers Union (T&G), George was promoted to national secretary of its Building Crafts Section, which led to a move to London.
In 1980 George was one of the ‘Group of Eight' construction industry leaders to personally warn Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the consequences of severe government cutbacks. He reportedly said to her: "To be honest Prime Minister, to the construction workers and thousands of other sufferers, you are like a modern-day Nero fiddling while your country burns." The Iron Lady's response was to disband the Group of Eight.
In 1995 George received the OBE from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for his services to industrial relations and health and safety, although he always said his proudest possession was his award of his union's Gold Medal. He was also the longest-serving member of the UK Construction Industry Training Board, and was chairman of its civil engineering committee.
A trustee of the T&G's Retired Members' Association, George became president after the death of Jack Jones. He was also a member of the national council of the National Pensioners Convention and chairman of the NPC in Scotland.
Upon his retirement, he moved back to Edinburgh and threw himself into working for pensioners. George was on the executive of the Scottish Pensions Association, stood as a candidate for the Scottish Senior Citizens Unity Party in the 2007 elections for the Scottish Parliament, polling more than 4000 votes in the Lothian constituency and was a member of the steering group of the inaugural Scottish Older People's Assembly that took place in the Scottish Parliament in 2009.
George had a decade-long, extremely productive though occasionally fractious relationship with both of Age Scotland's legacy charities.
David Manion, Age Scotland's Chief Executive said: "George always had the interests of older people at heart, continually pushing for more action to assist particularly those living on low, fixed incomes and not claiming the benefits they were entitled to and for increased IT training for those in later life. The Scottish older people's movement will greatly miss George's drive and energy."
He is survived by his wife, Helen, son George, grand-daughters Hayley and Kelly, and great-grandsons Bailey and Crawford.
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