Digging deep for Urban Roots

by Lynsay Keough, photo by Stuart Maxwell

Fifteen volunteers who had taken part in a project run by Urban Roots and the Hidden Garden, received their certificates of achievement at the Geoff Shaw Centre in Toryglen on Wednesday 24 November.
As part of the 12 week programme, the volunteers were involved in the John Muir Award, which recognises people who have developed awareness and respect for their environment. It encourages participants to discover, explore, conserve and share their interest in local wildlife and biodiversity. Toby Clark, John Muir Award Scotland manager, said, ‘John Muir’s message was – do something for the wilderness and make the mountains glad.   I am glad to say that over 120,000 people across the country have embodied that spirit and achieved a reward’. Level 1 of the award is achieved on completion of 15 hours on the project.
The programme, funded by South East Glasgow Vibrancy Thematic group, had been designed so that the two groups of volunteers and staff could learn from one another and build community participation.
At the Hidden Garden,  volunteers focused on leaning about wildlife and biodiversity and practical skills for improving local habitats. This included the development of the ‘Shedio’, a space in the gardens for groups, schools and members of the public to access resources and information about improving biodiversity in their own gardens, green spaces and school grounds. At Urban Roots the volunteers took part in a range of activities both in the community gardens the Nan McKay Halls in Pollokshields and the Ardco Flat Community Garden in Toryglen. It is hoped that this programme, initially set to be a one-off, will continue to build community integration and local ecological awareness.

Easterhouse Baptist Church to open £320,000 annexe

Easterhouse Baptist Church will officially open the doors of its new annexe at the end of the month.

The church, which has been part of the Easterhouse community for 50 years, will open the two-storey, £320,000 building – which has a multi-purpose space, servery and crèche – in an official ceremony for MPs, MSPs, city dignitaries and community groups, on 27 November.

While the building on Westerhouse Road will be dedicated by the congregation on Sunday, 22 November, with a special service and performance of the God Is With Us Choir, a general public open day and bakery sale will be held on 28 November.

Pastor Sandy Weddell, who has ministered at Easterhouse since 1980, said: ‘We have witnessed incredible changes in the last 30 year and it is our hope that the new church complex might be an oasis for many.’

The annexe, which was built with funds raised by the congregation, will become the home of a weekly youth initiative organised by Family Action in Rogerfield and Easterhouse.

Oatlands group to discuss St Margaret’s

The next meeting of the Oatlands Steering Group, on 3 December, will discuss the future of the former St Margaret’s Polmadie Church and its conversion into a community facility.

Residents and ‘stakeholders’ are encouraged to participate in a St Margaret’s community working group. Those interested will be asked to take part in a workshop to look at the latest design proposals and uses for the building; to discuss ways the community can be involved in running the facility in the long-term and training initiatives which will enable this to happen; to visit other sites which share similarities with St Margaret’s, and to set up and attend regular meetings.

The meeting will take place at Oatlands Community Resource Centre (the  Blue Hut) Wolseley Street, Glasgow, at 2pm.