Ship shape for the summer season

It’s a tall order to spruce up The Tall Ship for the summer season but 16 people from Hewlett Packard’s Glasgow office in Brown Street have volunteered to dust the deckhouse and paint the portholes of the floating museum which is moored on the River Clyde outside the Riverside building.

Volunteer Coordinator at the historic vessel, Marlene Anderson, said: ‘We are very grateful for their enthusiasm, participation and commitment in giving something back to a Glasgow based charity.  We look forward to a busy summer… in pristine surroundings!’

Since re-opening at the new location a year ago, The Tall Ship has welcomed 70,000 visitors aboard. This figure was not expected to be reached until June this year.

Claire Rowlands, Visitor Attraction Manager for The Tall Ship said: ‘We are absolutely delighted to have received so many visitors in that time.  The public’s reaction to the ship in her new home has been extremely encouraging and we are now looking forward to welcoming the next 70,000 visitors!’

Run by the Clyde Maritime Trust, The Tall Ship is a three masted barque named SV Glenlee, which attracted half a million people in the 12 years it was at its previous moorings at Yorkhill quay. The ship traded between Glasgow and Australia from 1896 and is an independent museum committed to preserving and interpreting the Glenlee, its story and the maritime history of the area for the benefit of local people and visitors alike.  It is open to the public

and can be hired for events. For more information see the website: www.thetallship.com

 

Rocks rock on to new location after Friday’s match

The Glasgow Rocks, the city’s only professional basketball team, will play their final match at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena on Friday 4 May. They relocate to Glasgow’s stunning £113 million Commonwealth Arena when the new season starts in October.

They meet Leicester Riders on Friday in the British Basketball League (BBL) semi-final first leg play-off.  Tip-off is 7.30pm. See their website for details: www.glasgowrocks.co.uk

Currently Rocks have 32 points which puts them four places down from leaders Newcastle Eagles who are at 46 points.

In a farewell event – and as part of their training for the Friday match –  Rocks stars Sterling Davis and Gareth Murray among others, will join pupils from Hillhead Primary School for a training session on Wednesday 2 May in the Kelvin Hall.

The Rocks have played at the Kelvin Hall since 2008.

 

Red flags flutter a bit at the City Chambers on May Day.

May Day in Glasgow was mainly unobserved by anyone of any political hue. A saltire flew above the City Chambers.

But there was one exception: – a group of Anti-Cuts Coalition Campaigners boldly stood outside the City Chambers’ front door and waved their red banners to show they cared.

They are all standing for election in local council wards so it wasn’t just a fun exercise.

Said Eric Stevenson (centre) ‘I haven’t given up on Socialism.’ A retired housing administrator, he is standing in Drumchapel –Anniesland ward. ‘I was a member of the Labour Party for 37 years and was expelled for being Militant. The current parties – including Labour – are letting people down. People have to have a voice and that’s why we are part of this country-wide Anti- Cuts Coalition.’

The others are from left: Ronnie Stevenson (Eric’s brother) who is standing in Langside ward; Luke Ivory who is standing in Springburn; Graham Campbell who is standing in Anderston City Centre and Akhtar Khan who is standing in Pollokshields.

Luke, who has recently come to Glasgow from Sutherland said: ‘People of Glasgow need an alternative. We’re it!’

Weel kent figure Graham Campbell who is secretary of the Afro Caribbean Centre in Glasgow and who  works for an  Anti Racist charity, added: ‘People are friendly but not giving away how they are going to vote. We think our results will run close to the Green Party’s votes.’

Added Akhtar, who with Graham , is a member of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC): ‘It’s a tough one to call. I might be fifth out of the eight candidates.’

All are agreed, the Anti-Cuts Coalition is a new political kid on the block and one they believe voters should consider as an alternative to established parties who’ve disappointed the electorate in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last litter for long serving Councillor

Alex Glass, who has been the Labour Party representative in Greater Pollok for 13 years, but is not standing again in the local government election this week, told this website: ‘I had the pleasure of joining some parents, children and teachers at St Angela’s RC Primary School in Darnley on Friday 27 April, to perform one of my very last duties as a councillor – a litter pick-up.’

In the near future, the school will receive an important visit from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education(HMIE). To ensure that the inspection team gets the best impression of the school, everyone, including outgoing Councillor Glass, was in the grounds picking up bags and bags of litter.  Head Teacher, Brendan Duffy said: ‘The School’s Council has been fighting hard over the past few years to show the pride they have in St Angela’s by encouraging other parents to join the clean-up of the school grounds. We have also involved the children. The long term message appears to be getting through to them about keeping the school and the wider community clean by putting litter in the bin and not dropping it in the school grounds or on the street.’

The clean-up was organised by Tom Buik, Chair of the School’s Council who said: ‘We have a good community spirit in the school now. We want the inspectors from HMIE to see the pride we take in St Angela’s  by noticing how tidy the school grounds are as they arrive to carry out their inspection.’

The school has not been without its problems as Councillor Glass knows. He said: ‘Recently, teachers were having to place buckets under the constant drips of water coming from the roof. Fortunately, I was able to draw attention to the urgent nature of the repairs and work was completed relatively quickly.’

St Angela’s has been in the news over the past couple of years due to the change in the catchment area for St Ninian’s which is outside Glasgow but has had a long standing arrangement to take children from the Darnley area.

Recently, too, the school expanded to accommodate the growing number of children wishing to attend St Angela’s. Two additional classrooms are now located in portacabins in the playground. Commented Tom: ‘Hopefully the inspection will go well for everyone at St Angela’s. With this level of support from parents, children and teachers as well as our local councillor, it looks like the school is taking on all the challenges that it faces by getting everyone involved.’

City players vote to win the semi final

By Laura Montgomery

Voting day has a special significance for Glasgow City, the women’s football team based at Petershill Park in Springburn. They meet Forfar Farmington in the Premier League Cup semi-final on Thursday 3 May when local elections take place across Scotland.
Having won the trophy two seasons ago, but knocked out at this stage of the competition last year, Assistant City Coach Donald Jennow knows his side need to keep their focus to progress against a talented and committed Forfar side.
He said: ‘On Thursday we will take on Forfar for the second time this season. As is so often the case at City, the big games keep coming. Having just faced Hibs and Celtic, back to back, we have this midweek game against a stubborn Forfar side. It was at this stage last year I tasted defeat for the first time with City and in seasons past the League Cup has proved a bit of a stumbling block for us. ‘We hope to put that right this year. All involved at the club are very keen to progress in the competition but are fully aware of the challenge we will face. Forfar will be a determined side and I’m sure all involved at Forfar will relish the opportunity to compete in the club’s first semi-final. For us, we will rely on our experience to hopefully guide us through to the final. Make no mistake, we do not take any opposition or any competition for granted. We must earn every victory, every point and every trophy we ever want to hold and that is what we aim to do on Thursday.’

UPDATE

Glasgow City defeated Forfar 4-0 on Thursday at Hill of Beith to progress to the final of the SWPL Cup. Goals from Lisa Evans, Leanne Ross, Eilish McSorley and Jane Ross. Full match report elsewhere on website.

Chance to sing in Gloria X

The West End’s annual feast of choral and organ music – GLORIA – this year celebrates its tenth anniversary. Singers are invited for the choir, assembled especially for the event, which will perform in Glasgow Cathedral on Wednesday 13 June and in Wellington Church on Wednesday 20 June.

The programme of choral music to be sung will include Parry’s great anthem “I was Glad”. This being Jubilee year, Handel’s coronation anthem “ Zadok the Priest” will be included as well as a number of shorter pieces by composers past and present.

Two of the city’s most experienced choral conductors – Ian Anderson and Iain Galbraith – will conduct the concerts in, respectively, the Cathedral and in Wellington Church. The organ will be played at both concerts by Alan Kitchen

All singers interested in rehearsing for these powerful evenings should attend the first rehearsal in Wellington Church on Wednesday 9 May at 7.30 or at the latest, the second rehearsal on Wednesday 16 May at 7.30m in Wellington Church, Southpark Avenue, G12 8 LE.

Govan trainee shoemakers deliver size nine brogues to Sir Alex

Apprentices of Buchanan Bespoke Footwear, recently meet their hero Sir Alex Ferguson, boss of Manchester United Football Club, to present him with a pair of leather shoes, hand made by senior craftsmen in Govan.

Based in Sir Alex’s home town of Govan, the company has been making high-quality tailored shoes for men for nearly 90 years.

Recently, it took on three new apprentices to teach them the craft of luxury footwear production using an exclusive range of fine leathers, linings, and soling materials.

Local lads, Andrew Harvey, 18, Scott Rennie, 17, and William Magee, 27, took a pair of size nine shoes for Sir Alex from the company’s headquarters in Helen Street to his offices in Manchester United’s training ground. There they were able to soak up the iconic atmosphere and deliver the brown brogues to Sir Alex in person.

The experience was particularly exciting for William who is a player for Harmony Row Football Club, of which Sir Alex is a patron and honorary member. William said: ‘It was a dream come true to meet Sir Alex. He is one of Britain’s greatest living football managers and I hope to see him wearing the shoes at a match on TV soon.’

Diana Currie, managing director of Buchanan Bespoke Footwear, said: ‘Our apprentices were thrilled to meet him. We have been providing high quality footwear since 1925. It is important that we keep the traditional hand crafted shoemaking skills alive. By taking on new apprentices we can create a new generation of experts. I wrote to Sir Alex to tell him about our commitment to training and our three new apprentices. He was only too happy to get involved with us as we are based in Govan – his home town.’

Cathy Black, head of textiles, Scottish Enterprise, said: ‘Our textiles and apparel industry in Scotland relies on meticulous processes and a highly skilled workforce. It is essential for companies like Buchanan Bespoke Footwear, to invest in the next generation through apprenticeships and ensure that skills are passed on allowing the industry to thrive. We know that the Buchanan team enjoyed their visit to meet Sir Alex and that they now have a new ambassador for their premier league products.’

East End opens up with new roadway running clear

The £25 million Clyde Gateway (the East End Regeneration Route) opened to traffic on Thursday 26 April 2012. It is a key piece of infrastructure associated with Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the expectation is it will bring jobs and economic advantage to the East End of Glasgow – Shawfield and Dalmarnock in particular – by improving accessibility.

The four-lane, 2.6km carriageway links the Oatlands and the M74 junction at Polmadie in the south to the Forge Retail Park in the north. Designed by Gronmij and built through a joint venture between Farrans and I&H Brown, it will give easy access to Celtic Park, where the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games will be held, the Commonwealth Arena, Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome and the Athletes’ Village.

This will be a critical route to transport some of the 18,000 athletes and support staff and hundreds of thousands of spectators expected during the Games. Afterwards, the roadway will be a legacy for the benefit of the local community.

Traffic congestion on existing local roads should also ease, especially during peak times. Recent traffic modelling studies have shown that there will be a reduction in traffic across the major east/west arteries crossing road around London Road and Gallowgate and in association with the new M74 link, this will free up road space to allow for additional walking, cycling and bus routes to be put in place.

Phase 1 of the road opened in April 2007 as part of the development of new housing in the Oatlands area and was officially re-named- New Rutherglen Road. Phase 1A followed in April 2010, running from the Polmadie junction of the M74 and Shawfield Stadium. This stretch totals 1.5km.

Phase 2 is the longest section, crossing the Clyde at Rutherglen Bridge and passing Dalmarnock Railway Station, the Commonwealth Arena and Celtic Park before joining the Parkhead by-pass at the Forge Retail Park

Brian Devlin, Executive Director for Land and Environmental Services said: ‘The Clyde Gateway creates a new, direct link between the completed M74 and the heart of Glasgow’s East End. This will offer fantastic new opportunities for people and business either currently living or based in this part of Glasgow or looking to move there. This is part of the wider regeneration of the city.

Neil MacDonald, Chairman of Clyde Gateway Urban Regeneration Company said: ‘The M74 has already shown that new roads play a very important part in businesses choosing where to make crucial investment decisions and there is no doubt that Shawfield and Dalmarnock in particular will benefit from this new piece of infrastructure. Our on-going efforts to attract developers to the East End have been helped immensely by this road opening and I’d like to thank Glasgow City Council for again demonstrating their commitment to the long-term regeneration of the Clyde Gateway area.’

Prior to the formal opening when traffic started flowing, children from four primary schools in the east end were given the chance to try out the newest section of the road.

More than 100 Primary 6 and 7 pupils from St Michael’s, St Anne’s, Dalmarnock and Quarrybrae primary schools cycled around an obstacle course set up on part of the new tarmac running from new Oatlands over Rutherglen Bridge, through Dalmarnock to Gallowgate.

The children experienced, first hand, the road’s new cycling facilities including dedicated cycle lanes and extended footpaths that are provided along the full length of the route.

They also got the chance to brush up on their safety skills with Glasgow City Council road safety officers and Strathclyde Police cyclists and motorcyclists.  Dr Bike offered advice on maintaining bikes and gave practical demonstrations to ensure they were fit for the road.

As well as providing better facilities for cyclists, the new road, funded entirely by the Council, will improve public transport links and accessibility around the East End.

With phase one opened as part of the Oatlands new neighbourhood development last year, phase two of the 2.4km stretch runs over Rutherglen Bridge, continues via Dunn Street, Poplin Street, Dalmarnock Road, Mordaunt Street, London Road and Camlachie to join the existing road network at the Parkhead by-pass, Forge Retail Park.

 

TheClydeGateway (Phase 2) Facts

1.   More than 35,000tonnes of asphalt used to lay roads, footpaths and cycle ways.

2.  800m of 2.74m diameter tunnel used to alleviate storm water flooding.

3.  More than 250 trees planted and 40,000 sq m of landscaping to the road corridor.

4.  10km of new drainage pipes installed for new roads.

5.  250 new traffic signal heads installed over seven junctions.

6.  330 new lighting columns.

7.  Construction period 2 years (April 2010 to April 2012)

 

 

 

Drumchapel hustings gets personalisation on the agenda

Voices for Change in Glasgow North West held an excellent hustings in Drumchapel Community Centre on Thursday 26 April.

Seasoned trade unionists and community campaigners, the organisers had the event well managed with chairwoman Kate Walker keeping everyone, politely, in order.

An audience of more than 30 challenged the candidates on issues such as personalisation and support for people with learning disabilities. Personalisation is the new programme which assesses how much funding an individual with care needs requires and they decide how they will allocate that.

Each prospective candidate – or party representative – was given a few minutes to state their case then the audience piled in with their reflective questions.

First up was Stuart Maskell of the UKIP. He was honest about his lack of experience in  social care service issues and was appreciative of being invited to the hustings. He recommended seeing the film The Iron Lady. ‘It isn’t about a Prime Minister, it is about a woman with dementia. Alzheimer’s is expected to affect 1 million residents of the UK by 2022 – only ten years from now,’ he said. ‘That is a worrying problem.’

John Docherty of the SNP explained his background of the Fire Service for 30 years and now his work for an SNP MSP. ‘We will work across the sectors,’ he promised.  He took notes of various situations raised by individuals in the audience and said he would follow through on finding out what could be done in each person’s circumstances.

Judith Fisher for the Scottish Labour Party agreed Personalisation was a ‘huge change,’ but added: ‘We believe it is a fairer system.’  She also mentioned the party’s plan for more child care hours and for the creation of jobs alongside the existing successful apprentice scheme.

Spokesperson for the Scottish Socialist Party, Sandra Webster, pointed out that carers save the government an estimated £10 million a year. ‘But they are still only being paid lip service,’ she added.

Ronnie Stevenson who is a candidate in his own ward of Langside was from the Scottish Anti-Cuts Coalition. ‘People should have care according to their needs,’ he contended. ‘But that is not happening. I’ve seen social workers in tears because they are not allowed to give the service care they know that individual needs. They have been told – here is how much can be spent – and that’s all they’re getting!’

He also warned that if people think it is hard just now with the cuts it will get very much worse in the next two or three years. ‘That’s why the Scottish Anti-Cuts Coalition wants to get more people into Councils across Scotland. We don’t want any more cuts.’

Most of the audience had first hand experience of cuts in social services. Said one woman who works closely with the social work department: ‘A man I know, with learning difficulties has had his budget cut from £78,000 a year to £44,000. He can’t go out anywhere now and just sits watching tv.’

A support worker with 50 people on his list, told the meeting that every one of the people he knows who has completed the process to personalisation has had massive cuts in their funding. ‘I think they started with services users with learning disabilities first, because they would meet less resistance from them.  It is very unfair expecting a person who has reading and writing difficulties to fill in a self assessment form of many pages. That person, and those who care for them,  are getting very stressed.’  He also questioned whether anyone in the city had qualified for 100% personalisation package.  ‘It is a terrible process,’ he commented.

Alan Gow who was a Voices for Change host at the top table, moved into the audience to make his personal statement: ‘There is no proper engagement with citizens and carers. There has to be proper discussion and decent, moral involvement to ensure carers are genuine partners in care. They are not, right now.’  He said plans were made ‘behind the scenes,’  Followed by a one day ‘consultation,’ in a ‘fancy hotel room’ then it was ‘all over.’  He continued: ‘The choice is take this or that and it is said with a smile. But what the people are really saying is don’t cut my budget, that’s my wages. The political parties are not listening!’ he concluded forcefully to loud applause from the audience.

 

 

 

Oatlands hustings attracts a crowd

A full turn-out of candidates made for a lively hustings at Oatlands in the OCRC recently. Matched more than 3 to 1 by members of the audience, they were subjected to some searching questions on a variety of issues.

Organised by the newly formed Oatlands Community Council and ably chaired by its chairman Stuart Logue, it showed that old style debate has not been lost.

Each prospective candidate was given a few minutes to set out their case. From the audience the main issues were  lack of a shop and a safe place for children to play. Said one local resident: ‘We want someone to come here and fight for these things that were promised years ago when development was first proposed. We’re still waiting.’

Incumbent Labour Party Councillor James Scanlon pointed out he was the only councillor in the Southside Central ward who had a regular surgery in Oatlands. Councillor Anne Marie Millar who switched from Labour to Independent just before the Council rose in advance of the election, told her audience she would be very happy to take on the local issues highlighted that night. She said: ‘It is all about people taking control.’

The Green Party candidate: Moira Crawford said she’d concentrate on the two issues people had raised about the lack of a shop and the lack of safe play space for children.

Organisers on behalf of the Coummunity Council agreed it was a quiet and calm meeting and enjoyable because of that.

The survivors are pictured (from left)David Jago (Lib Dems), Charles Bailie (Britannica supporter,,), Jean Douglas (Britannica candidate), Ian Beattie (Socialist Party) Mhairi Hunter (SNP) Ann Marie Millar (Independent) James Scanlon (Labour), Moira Crawford (Scottish Green), withStuart Logue, Chair standing at the back.

The OCRC is a busy community hub with an Open Day planned for Sunday 17 June, a fundraiser in August for a reunion of Oatlanders to record their Memories and interest from one of the city colleges in using the premises (near Bett’s show homes office) on a regular basis.

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