Chequing out Yorkhill

Lambhill Care home residents and staff pictured here, recently handed over a cheque for £150 to the Sick Children’s Hospital in Yorkhill.
They raised the money from a Christmas fun draw in the Kinning Park care home and got matched funding from Lambhill owners, Sam and Sunita Poddar. But they couldn’t deliver it till now because of the snow and ice.
‘Everyone was happy to do this for the children,’ said Syd Duman, the Activities Manager. ‘And the night before we went to Yorkhill, resident Margaret Dillon knitted a little jacket for a premature baby. She does a lot of knitting. Activities like that and the fun draw, keep our residents young at heart.’
Said Gemma Porter of the Yorkhill Foundation: “ QUOTE TO COME.”
Included in the picture are Lambhill residents Hugh Murray (in wheelchair), Margaret Dillon (standing in navy suit) and Isa Murray (in wheelchair) Isa and Hugh are not related. Staff include Tommy Donegan, George Grey, Julie Allan, Iain Ballantyne, Tracy Show and Lilly Pushpam. Yorkhill Foundation’s Gemma is in the centre holding the cheque.

Unique gift for unique home

by Elyas Hussain

A retired Glasgow police officer has recently raised £40,000 for a charity caring for abandoned girls in India.

For some years, popular community and race relations officer Tom Harrigan, MBE, has been working closely with managing trustee Bibi Prakash Kaur (Bibi Ji), the founder of Unique Home for Girls in the Punjab.

After raising the £40,000 in a series of events last year, he took the money to India where the charity had decided to use it to build a new, purpose-designed home for the girls and the staff.

On his return Tom said: ‘I have supported the home for years and have now set up a registered charity in the UK. This is called Friends of Unique Home for Girls and the aim is not only to raise money but also to raise the charity’s profile here.

He added: “From my first visit, I have been impressed and humbled by the hope offered to the most vulnerable people in society – new-born babies and young girls who had been abandoned. All the staff there really care and are committed. They do an amazing job bring up their charges. It was a great privilege for me to raise £40,000 and I’m very happy it will be used for a new building for the children and staff.”

Tom also assists with the charity, Glasgow the Caring City,

In India little girls are abandoned for cultural reasons or because many poverty-stricken parents see them as a burden. Unique Home for Girls provides shelter and support and raises the girls to be healthy, self -respecting citizens. As well as a roof over their head and the basic necessities, the charity gives the girls an education at recognised schools, colleges and higher education establishments.

Currently, there are 56 girls living at the home. An additional 65 infants have been left in the baby cradle at the door of the premises. The centre was set up in 1933 by the Bhai Ghanayya Ji charitable Trust. While some of the girls get married and leave, there are a few like ‘Susie’ who have chosen to stay on and give their services voluntarily to the Home in appreciation of their up bringing.

To make a donation or for more information about the Unique Homes for Girls visit their website –www.uniquehomesforgirls.co.uk

Good tweets win gold

A social media marketing campaign has had a good result for Buchanan Galleries and the Glasgow based design agency, Good Creative. The Galleries were named as one of the most effective brands in the UK and the design company received a bronze award in the Design Business Association’s annual awards for that work. By using Twitter, Good got the Galleries’ message across to the young, mobile, urban shopper.

Good also won gold in the internal communications category for safety work for client Scottish Power and more gold for a new brand identity created for Argyll based Fyne Ales. This clutch of accolades puts Good at third in the Association’s league table. It is the only Association member to win three consecutive gold awards.

“ With 70% of our business now coming from outside of Scotland, it makes sense to be closer to our customers,” said Keith Forbes, who is  now looking for a working base  in London. He set up Good Creative eight years ago with co-director Chris Lumsden.

Sam Stewart, Buchanan Galleries’ marketing manager, said: “Embracing the effective use of social media has changed perceptions for the better. More than that, it’s created efficiencies with my overall marketing budget which allow me to maximise my spend elsewhere.”

WIN WIN WIN

Ron Culley, who retired as Chief Executive of the SPT for health reasons, has become an author. He has written ‘I Belong to Glasgow’ which tells of his early days in Pollok – ” everything came to us in vans because there were no shops.”  But his main writing is fiction and his first book,  ‘The Kaibab Resolution,’ is described as ‘an exciting and fast-paced romantic thriller.’  There were only two copies left in stock with Amazon as this was written. But the ENEWS glasgow has a SIGNED copy from Culley himself.  For your chance to win this book,  just tell us where Culley was brought up. Answers by email to: newsdesk@localnewsglasgow.co.uk  by 9am on Monday 28 February 2011 with BOOK COMP in the subject box. A sequel is scheduled for publication next year.

Shop at the Emporium for a new swimming pool

One of the first donations to Govanhill Baths Community Trust’s new charity Emporium in Victoria Road, was a Chinese dinner set from MSP Patrick Harvie. He had lodged a motion of support for the Trust’s efforts to re-open the Baths in Calder Street as a Health and Wellbeing Centre.

A strong supporter of the Trust’s work, he said their offices are about to move into the Baths building to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the closure of the public facility by Glasgow City Council. Said the Green MSP: “The move of offices will be a landmark moment in this hard-fought campaign.”

His motion at Holyrood commended the:  “impressive hard work and energy of the Trust’s committed volunteers over the last decade.”He added: “I believe the baths will benefit hugely the citizens of Govanhill and the surrounding area.”

Raising funds towards the £12m needed to re-open the Baths, the Emporium was described by Patrick Harvie as: “a really great example of how creative, positive and passionate people can be when it comes to investing and supporting their communities. I wish the Govanhill Baths Community Trust success and look forward to being invited to the opening of the baths as well as the wellbeing centre!”

The next major fund raising venture will be an auction of art works from Thursday 17 March to Saturday 19 March. See www.bathsauction .com

Emporium manager, Inga Zaiceva is delighted with her job in Victoria Road as it gives around five times more space to display goods for sale, than the previous shop in Calder Street.  She said: “The Baths and Wellbeing centre are badly needed. There are people in this area without showers. The community health problems of overweight and lonelieness need to be addressed. The re-opening of the Baths would help a lot to improve things.”

Editorial

It is appropriate on St Valentine’s day for me to say goodbye to something close to my heart – the LOCAL NEWS GLASGOW.
The last issue of this independent community newspaper was published in December 2010 – number 151 since 1997. Since then I have been in the process of winding up the holding company – Yam Publications Ltd.
The terrific team of nine people – freelance journalists, sales staff and administrator and production director, Jo Anne Kessler, have all gone. Now I’m about to go my own way too – back to writing as a freelance, contributing to this website and managing the weekly ENEWS which, I hope, will enable a continuum of true, local news from around the communities in this wonderful city of Glasgow, to circulate.
I thank the team – especially Jo Anne and the many excellent journalists who have worked for the LOCAL NEWS – for their support and input. I thank the advertisers whose vital contribution kept the show on the road for so long. And I thank the communities who gave their trust and their stories to the paper.
Without a free flow of information – balanced, honest and politically unbiased – democracy does not exist. Some of us will try to keep that flag flying in whatever way we can. Just watch this space!

City budget launches election campaign

This week, Glasgow City Council passed a budget for the next financial year which invests in jobs, education, dealing with potholes and improving services for vulnerable children and the homeless. But the occasion in the City Chambers was the excuse for all parties to launch party political broadsides as people line up for the May elections.

By 42 votes – Labour has a majority of 47 in the chambers which has 79 elected members – the Labour budget was passed. The SNP amendment – calling for the budget process to be ‘open and transparent’ but not offering any details of ways they’d choose to do that, received 18 votes. There are 19 SNP members including Councillor Alison Thewliss whose baby was with her in the chambers for the debate.

A Lib-Dem amendment – with pages of detailed ways to apportion the funds – received 6 votes which was the full party complement.

The Green Party with 5 members, got 5 votes for their proposals which included letting grass grow longer to save money on the number of times it has to be cut.

Sole Conservative David Meikle did not have a seconder till Independent Colin Deans seconded the Tory proposals which included a 10% reduction in the Chief Executive’s salary.

While he’d seconded the Tory amendement, Deans disagreed with most of it. He also forecast that ‘the worst is still to come. People losing jobs, spending power down.’

Budget measures approved include trebling the planned roads maintenance budget from £4m to £12m to deal with the potholes caused by the winter weather damage.

For the second year running, the Council will now provide an increase in the classroom supply budget for every school in this city. It is also redirecting £5 million of funding to Social Work Services to protect the city’s most vulnerable children and homeless people. One of Labour Group Leader Bailie Gordon Matheson’s special projects of nurture groups for pre-school children, will have further investment.

Said Matheson,: “We have been leading Scotland with the use of nurture groups to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in our primary schools. Despite the huge financial challenges facing the council, I want that work to expand. In other areas, we have had to make extra cuts because the Scottish Government has given us less money than they promised.”

The Council will now spend £4m on creating 1000 jobs for the long-term unemployed through the Commonwealth Jobs Fund and the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative for school leavers.

Commented Council Leader Matheson: “This year John Swinney offered Scottish local government a 2.6 per cent funding cut – but threatened to withhold an extra £50m from our city unless we agreed to a list of demands designed to win his party votes in May. He held his gun to Glasgow’s head and showed he was quite prepared to pull the trigger.

“Even though we signed up to his tawdry deal, without drawing breath, Mr Swinney broke his promise to Glasgow and cut our budget by 3.6 per cent anyway – forcing us to find millions in additional savings this year.

“The money we have been given to freeze Council Tax has had little impact on the choices we have had to make. But had we said no to this funding, we would have been punished with retaliatory cuts of an unimaginable scale.”

The council, which has now approved measures to save a total of £58.5m in 2011/12, has already taken steps to reduce spending and deliver services more efficiently.

These steps include:

Setting up a series of Arm’s-Length External Organisations (ALEOs) to run a range of council services including sport and leisure, community safety and IT and property services. This has delivered one-off income of £160 million and recurring annual savings of £23 million

Agreeing to allow more than 2600 staff to leave the council through voluntary redundancy and early retirement over the next three years

Freezing pay for all staff for the next two years

Reducing the number of city centre offices occupied by the Council from 19 to six over the next three years

Since 2008, the Council has saved £11 million from improving attendance at work – £6m in the last nine months alone. Meanwhile, pay for council staff, and councillors, has been frozen for the next two years.

Councillors approved setting a zero rise in the Council Tax rate. The level for B and D properties in 2011/12 will remain at £1,213 (excluding water and sewage charges), which is now unchanged since 2005.

The vast majority of Council Tax payers in Glasgow live in Band A and B properties – next year, their Council Tax payments (excluding water and sewage charges) will be £808.67 and £943.44 respectively.

More information on the budget is available at: www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/YourCouncil/Finance/Budgetproposals/

For more information on the Commonwealth Jobs Fund: www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/LearningEmployment_Training/CommonwealthJobsFund/

Details of the Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative are at: www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/LearningEmployment_Training/CommonwealthApprenticeshipsInitiative

Haggis Rules OK!

Glasgow will host this year’s Haggis Cup at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday 9 April.

The Australian Rules Football tournament will be a one day ‘express’ event.

Said spokesman Darren Chadwick of the Glasgow Sharks Club: ‘This will be the biggest tournament we will have held to date. We have eight teams confirmed with a possible three others interested. Teams will be coming from Ireland, England, Sweden and Italy to take part.’

The website for the tournament is http://www.sarfl.org.uk/sarfl2010/haggiscup so keep an eye on it all Australian Rules Footie fans.

Added Darren: ‘We want to expand the game in Glasgow and Scotland as a whole. Our season starts on the Saturday 26 March away to Aberdeen. We are also travelling to Hartlepool on the Saturday 12 March to play a friendly against a mixed North East England League team.’  From Melbourne, Darren says there is a pool of 29 players for the Glasgow Sharks. ‘There are Scots, Australians and even a Frenchman,’ he said.

The Scotland national team which played in the European Cup in Italy last year and was placed 9th out of 16, came mostly from the Glasgow Sharks.

The Club’s website is http://www.glasgowsharks.co.uk and they meet up at the Walkabout pub.

Jo Love signs for Glasgow City

by Laura Montgomery
Glasgow City are delighted to announce the signing of Scotland midfielder Jo Love.
Previously at Celtic, Jo is City’s second key signing of the pre-season, suggesting some exciting times ahead for the Scottish Champions.
Announcing the signing, City Head Coach Eddie Wolecki Black said: “Jo put pen to paper today and took part in our match against Chelsea. Everybody knows what a fantastic player she is – 98 Scotland caps for a player not long turned 25, speaks for itself. I am thrilled to have her at the club. We have an outstanding crop of players here and I am more than confident that Jo will blossom at this club and will hopefully help us to pick up more honours along the way.”
Jo, follows ex-team mate, Christie Murray, in the close season move from Celtic to City and has no regrets about leaving her former club. She said, “Like Christie, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Celtic and I have nothing but praise for the club. However, I felt it was time to move on and while it was a very difficult decision, it is most definitely the right one. I have played against City a number of times and everyone can see what a fantastic side they are. I cannot wait to get a number of training sessions under my belt and look forward to the upcoming exciting matches against the English Super League teams.”
www.glasgowcityladiesfc.co.uk

Writers to speak

Novelist Sophie Cooke will be reading from her own work at the next Strathclyde University Visiting Author event. To be held on Wednesday 2 March at 5.15pm in the Ramshorn Theatre on 98 Ingram Street, the FREE meeting is open to the public. Sophie is author of critically acclaimed novels The Glass House which was short listed for the Saltire First Book Award, and Under The Mountain.

She will discuss her writing in the context of social and political reality versus fiction and the idea of ‘The Impossible in Art.’  Playwright Rupert Thomson, former editor of The Skinny magazine, will join her. He recently published a manifesto for ‘The Theatre of the Impossible.’

The University’s current Keith Wright Literary Fellow, Doug Johnstone, will introduce a showcase event at AYE WRITE festival on Saturday 5 March at 10.30am in the Burns Room of the Mitchell Library.

Three undergraduates from the popular Journalism and Creative Writing degree course, winners in the university’s long-running and prestigious Keith Wright Memorial Prize for creative writing, will read and discuss their work alongside members of the University’s creative writing staff. Free tickets can be obtained from the Mitchell Library in person (Monday to Thursday 9am-8pm and Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm) or from a member of the creative writing teaching staff at the University of Strathclyde.

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