Mosque honoured for charity work

Glasgow Central Mosque will be among several which will be honoured next week in Parliament. They each raised massive sums quickly to help the most pressing humanitarian needs in 2010 when the floods hit Pakistan.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has sent his personal thanks to each mosque which answered the call to action and contributed to the Pakistan Recovery Fund (PRF) and they will be presented with a limited edition medal produced by the Queen’s own mint makers. The Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP will host the ceremony in the House of Commons on Wednesday 8 February and the medals will be presented by HRH’s senior representative and Chairman of the PRF, Mr John O’Brien.

MP Khan is the first cabinet member of Pakistani descent. He said: ‘The work done by the Pakistan Recovery Fund has been quite simply incredible. I travelled to some of the flood-affected areas and met dozens of victims who had lost friends, family members and their livelihoods. I am extremely proud of the hope the British public gave to thousands of people through such generous donations. Many people feared that the tough economic climate would limit the amount donated to the Pakistan Recovery Fund, but we saw just the opposite – despite the difficult times the British public faces at home, they haven’t lost their sense of humanity.’

The fund was convened by the British Asian Trust which is one of Prince’s charities. It has been operating with local partners in the Punjab and the Sindh regions to provide homes, education, health support and livelihoods to those who lost all. Westminster MP Anas Sarwar who was elected for Glasgow Central seat and followed in the footsteps of his father Mohammad Sarwar who was the first Muslim MP at Westminster said: ‘As a member of the House of Commons International Development Committee, I saw the devastating effect the floods had. In the weeks and months that followed, I also saw the tremendous generosity of the British people – especially those from the British Pakistani and British Muslim communities. They worked tirelessly to raise funds and send emergency supplies to help the victims of the floods. The Pakistan Recovery Fund is a fantastic initiative led by HRH to support the people of Pakistan after the greatest natural disaster ever to have hit that country.It is a huge honour and privilege for the organisations and the individuals involved – including Madrasa Taleem ul Islam from my own constituency – to have their efforts recognised in this way.’

A spokesman for Madrasa Taleem ul Islam said: We had collected some donations before this appeal but decided to make another appeal to join the efforts of HRH. We may not feel the heat of hunger or homelessness in the UK, but the flood in Pakistan was devastating. We thought we had to try again to collect a little more. So we made another request to worshippers. We are sure that even this little help will make a big difference to the people affected by the flood. We are committed to providing support to people in natural disasters and always stand with other people when needed.’

 

Ford Scholarships for Strathclyde

Strathclyde University is the only Scottish one to be included in a Ford scholarship scheme announced this week.

Ford has selected 12 leading UK universities to award 100 students scholarships worth a total of £1 million starting in the 2012 academic year.

The aim is to encourage the next generation of engineers, scientists and innovators to make careers in British industry.

Said Joe Greenwell, Ford of Britain chairman: ‘Ford is encouraging students to choose courses which deliver the highest quality science and technology skills which are fundamental to our future industrial base. This programme will help rebalance the UK economy and ensure long term economic success.’

Each Ford Blue Oval Scholarship will provide £10,000 per student over a three-year period on courses ranging from science to automotive engineering and computer technology.

Professor Jim McDonald, Principal of Strathclyde University said: ‘Strathclyde has a long and successful track record of working side-by-side with business to develop ‘industry ready’ engineers, scientists and innovators of tomorrow. We’re delighted Ford has chosen to invest in our talented students who will go on to support industry and fuel its future economic growth.’

At Strathclyde, the scholarships will be open to students in the University’s Faculty of Engineering – the largest in Scotland. It is renowned internationally for research and for strong links with industry.

More info: http://www.strath.ac.uk/engineering/scholarships/fordblueovalscholarshipprogramme/

Games LEAD through sports

Sports festivals could be developed in local communities to promote involvement in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. Keen young athletes will lead the way to create this interest with support from the LEAD 2014 Campaign. The campaign is a youth leadership and volunteer mentoring programme aimed at university students and high school pupils across Scotland as part of the Games build-up.

Triathlete Grant Sheldon and swimmer Cameron Brodie – who are working towards competing in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games – were among the top young sports people who launched LEAD 2014 at Stirling University on Friday 3 February. The campaign will hone and develop leadership skills among the young generations. This could include LEAD 2014 protegees helping run sports events in their own communities. Organised by sportscotland, the Youth Sport Trust and Glasgow 2014, LEAD 2014 the main idea is to inspire a real interest in the Games and support for them so that volunteers will come forward at the right time and young people will be enthused to take part in sports.

RALLY AGAINST FASCISM

Solidarity Rally

Saturday 4th February

Buchanan Street/Gordon Street

12 noon assemble

Rally and Speakers around 12.30 pm

Following a number of attacks on labour movement stalls in Glasgow over the last few weeks, Unite Against Fascism is organising this rally in Glasgow.

We believe that these attacks are part of a fascist strategy to widen the targets of their violence in an attempt to indimidate people off the streets. We cannot allow this to happen.

We are inviting organisations to bring banners and provide a speaker to join a short rally near the spots where the attacks took place.

Unite Against Fascism
www.uaf.org.uk

People v. Bankers rally

CITIZENS UNITED!

Open mic

RALLY

People against the Bankers

outside RBS Gordon Street,

Glasgow

11am

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Have your say. All welcome.

Info from: 07948010959

Baths warriors have War Horse director opening offices

There will be a big splash of VIPs on Saturday 4 February 2012 at the opening of the first phase of Govanhill Baths in Calder Street.

War Horse director Peter Mullan, local MSP Nicola Sturgeon and City Councillor Archie Graham who is responsible for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, will all be there at the historic launch.

The formal opening of the front part of the building as offices is the first tangible sign that the Govanhill Baths Trust will be able to re-vamp the entire building into a Community Wellbeing Centre. And with Historic Scotland, this week, confirming their support with funding, the next phase of work can get under way.

Said Andrew Johnson who has led the fight to retain the Baths in community use: ‘There is a great sense of relief and of achievement that we’ve managed to get this far – there has been so much support and work from so many people over the years. The Govanhill community’s return to the baths is the result of 11 years of hard work and commitment by many people in Govanhill, the Trust and the Friends of Govanhill Baths.’

A complex cocktail of funding from a wide variety of sources, support in kind by sponsors NORD Architecture and trojan efforts by local supporters see the dream beginning to come true: the Baths will return to public use. As the motto of the Trust says: ‘United We Will Swim!’

The listed Edwardian building has three pools, sauna and Turkish suites and was a major community hub till it was closed dramatically by the City Council after a long sit-in by protesters more than ten years ago.

Saturday will see the formal opening of the front part of the building. This houses the Headquarters of the Trust and its Centre for Community Practice. The Centre provides a series of community based programmes including healthy eating (Govanhill Grub) Create (an Arts programme) and dedicated learning and leisure facilities for local people.

The proposals for the next stage include the reinstatement of the learners’ pool, the ladies’ pool, the sauna and Turkish suite and the installation of a cafe, an arts suite and a greenhouse garden. The Historic Scotland funding has to be matched and ownership of the building has to be transferred by Glasgow City Council to the Baths Trust.

Said Andrew Johnson: ‘The ownership is a condition of Big Lottery funding and we’re negotiating with the City in the hope that that

can be achieved.’

The pool is making waves in other directions too. In October the National Theatre of Scotland will take one of the pools over for a three-week production. The legacy from that is expected to be a refurbished pool. In November a massive UK Sports injury exhibition will be located at the Govanhill Baths.

Meanwhile the Baths Trust is looking for photographs and memories of events held in the pool in past times. Contact them via their website: www.govanhillbaths.com

 

Glasgow goes for Olympic gold to host 2018 games.

Glasgow is bidding to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The city declared its interest today to the British Olympic Association. That body has a deadline of 1 March to submit a bid for the UK to host those games and Glasgow is the only UK city to express interest.

Should the bid be made and should it win, around 3,600 young athletes aged between 15 and 18 would take part in 28 summer Olympic sports over 12 days of competition.

The first Youth Olympic Games was held in Singapore in 2010 and the first winter YOG Games was held in Innsbruck earlier this month.

From now until the deadline the British Olympic Association and the City’s representatives will work together to develop a submission. Ultimately, the International Olympic Committee will produce a short list of candidate cities in January next year. The winning host city will be announced in the summer of 2013.

The athletes will not only compete at the highest level of international youth sport, but will also take part in a Culture and Education Programme, which is a core element of the Youth Olympic Games.

Glasgow City Council Leader, Councillor Gordon Matheson, said: ‘Our submission for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games is a strong one; reinforcing our credentials as hosts of world-class sporting events and underlining our continuing determination to ensure Glasgow has an enduring legacy which will benefit the city for generations to come.’

The Dear Green Place will play host to some of the Olympic football events this summer when the Games are centred in London. And it hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2014 as well as the World Artistic Gymnastics the following year. All of this is alongside top international meetings and athletics and gymnastics events.

Said Councillor Matheson: ‘The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will soon show a global audience what we can do in terms of hosting one of the world’s biggest celebrations of sport. Winning the right to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games would be another outstanding achievement for the city.’

Fighting personalisation cuts

This meeting is open to workers, service users, families and campaigners affected by the issues around personalisation and self-directed support. While it will focus on what is happening in Glasgow, it is relevant beyond the confines of the city.

 

Personalisation Networking Meeting

 

UNISON / Defend Glasgow’s Services Campaign / Social Work Action Network are hosting a joint meeting to discuss the impact of personalisation on people who receive support in the community.

 

 This meeting comes at a key time as Glasgow plans a further £10 million in cuts to those with disabilities in its budget this month.

 

 

 

Tuesday 7 February 2012

 

10am

 

UNISON Glasgow branch office, 84 Bell Street, G1 1LQ

 

(Tel: 0141 552 7069)

Fear of the Unknown are out to win.

Dance group ‘Fear of the Unknown’ from Glasgow’s Southside is the only group from Scotland to get through to the UK semi-finals of the ‘Got to Dance’ programme on Sky 1 HD. From the initial 30,000 auditioned in Glasgow, London and Dublin, the Gorbals dancers are in the final 30.

From the Sunday 29 January the public can vote, week by week, on the best acts. The two winning groups from each week will then compete in the finals on March 4 when the champion team will walk away with a cool quarter of a million pounds and the crown of Got To Dance 2012.

Lorna Munn who is one of the senior dancers in ‘Fear of the Unknown’ at 24, said: ‘It was the biggest emotion when we were told we’d been selected and were the only ones from Scotland. I was so happy I wanted to cry.’

Based in Gorbals from Robert Hamilton School of Dance, the ‘Fear of the Unknown’ is an invited group of the School’s best dancers. He describes their ‘Got to Dance’ routine as: ‘Theatrical, technical, original.’

Said Mum Kim Carr, whose daughter Jay, aged 10, is one of the team: ‘We are all so very proud. It is really exciting and we’re keeping our fingers crossed ‘Fear of the Unknown’ will win. But everyone in Scotland needs to be voting for them on Sunday 5 February when they dance live on the programme.’

Not only do they rehearsal several nights of the week, they make all their own costumes which are stunning. See their audition performance: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DurvxAbSB-gQ&h=mAQH5012yAQEmPLHu-v8souU1sx9qLq-0rOkJLwSwgOicgw

And take a look at their Facebook fan page for updates – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fear-of-the-Unknown/269468063113061

In addition the dancers do a lot of charity work and have raised more than £200,000 for a variety of good causes. ‘We give up our school holidays and free time to dance at lots of these events,’ said Jay.

Commented her Mum Kim: ‘We are telling as many people as we can about ‘Fear of the Unknown,’ and hopefully Scotland will support us.’

 

 

Shawlands shows the way in Town Centre planning

Shawlands is a step closer to becoming a vibrant town centre, thanks to an Action Plan which was up for public scrutiny  on Monday 23 January.

After several in-depth surveys on different aspects of the area, Glasgow City’s Development and Regeneration Services drafted proposals to re-vitalise the neighbourhood of around 21,000 people.

For businesses, lack of free, convenient parking is a handicap along with a decline in consumer spend as people drive to more modern centres with better facilities, to shop. For local residents, the aim is to make the district the Heart of the Southside by balancing the needs of people, businesses, the sense of ‘place’ and sustainable living.

Said Tim Mitchell, senior Planning Officer with Glasgow City Council: ‘This has been a very productive and useful day. We’ve had a lot of input to get to this point and have confidence that the final version of the Action Plan can come from this within the next two or three months.’ Between 50 and 60 people visited the Action Plan exhibition in Langside Public hall and at least as many sent online comments which will all be considered for the final Plan. Individuals have till the end of January to submit their comments on the Action Plan.

David Dunlop of the Development and Regeneration Services of the City, who has been involved in developing the Action Plan and attended the day-long consultation said: ‘We are really delighted with the turnout. Many people have taken the time to share their thoughts on the draft proposals and ideas and some really interesting ideas have come forward.’ One was that people driving along Kilmarnock Road couldn’t get back into Shawlands because of lack of turning junctions. Pedestrians said there were not enough crossing points along Kilmarnock Road for them. Other thoughts were to turn the Arcade into an amusements centre or knock it down.

Said Norman MacLeod who has been selected to be a candidate for Glasgow City Council election on Thursday, said: ‘This exercise has been done in exactly the right way – community consultations first and from that a draft Action Plan which everyone can look at.’

Visitor Roger Guthrie who is a director of the Alexander Thomson Society, proposed that the Martin memorial Fountain which was recently re-located on Glasgow Green and had been removed from the front of the Langside Hall many years ago, should be brought back to Shawlands where it belongs.

John Dunn of AWG Property which owns the Shawlands Arcade,  attended  the consultation and read the many -mostly negative – comments on the site. ‘We are pretty open to what to do in the Arcade. If the concept is right we will support it. There have been quite a few sparks of interesting comments made on these draft plans.’ He said that a licencing application was due to be heard in February which, if granted, would fill one major unit. In addition, two new tenants had been signed up recently and should be opening soon.

A large representation from Shawlands and Strathbungo Community Council visited the consultation to see what had happened to many of their ideas and suggestions. ‘The whole consultation idea was sparked off four years ago when we held the first public meeting in Langside Halls to challenge local City Councillors about the needs of the area,’ said Andrew Montgomery from the Community Council. ‘From that came the Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan steering group which resulted in the publication of Glasgow City Council’s draft Town Centre Action Plan for Shawlands. The draft Plan was the focus of the consultation exercise and will be discussed at the next Community Council meeting at 7pm on Thursday 9 February in Shawlands Academy.’ Said Andrew: ‘We encourage everyone in the area – residents, business owners, people who work or shop in Shawalnds – to have their say.’ It is expected that local City Councillors and MSPs will attend.

 

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