Bus stops in lots of places

The people of Mansewood and Hillpark are not the only communities facing cuts in bus services.  First Glasgow has stated the following five services will be withdrawn:

Route 2 – Toryglen and Croftfoot

Route 25 – Govan and Silverburn

Route 29 – Manswood, Hillpark and Shawlands

Route 91 – Partick and Clydebank

Route 92 – restricted to operate between Partick Bus Station and Gartnavel Hospital only.

But Glasgow City Council has been told of others to be withdrawn:

Route 11 – Bearsden Road/Switchback – diverted from Glasgow Road, Clydebank to Barns Street/East Barns Street.

Route 42 – Drumchapel and City Centre via Garscadden, Scotstoun, Partick and Charing Cross – evening operation to be withdrawn.

Route 119 – Baljaffray and Castlemains Estate

Route 213A – Bargeddie to Buchanan Bus Station via Baillieston, Edinburgh Road, Cranhill and Alexandra Parade – Sunday day service to be withdrawn.

In addition,  many established routes will have major timetable changes.

Football ladies have Henson in their sights

Glasgow City stormed into the Henson Scottish Cup Final following a 3-0 win over Celtic at Ravenscraig on Wednesday 19 October.

Following  their League victory over the Hoops last Sunday, City opened the scoring through ex Celt Emma Woolley when she latched on to a shot from Emma Mitchell which Fay in the Celtic nets could only turn on to the bar.

It was 2-0 before half time after Eilish McSorley converted after Kat Lindner had cut the ball back from the goal line.

Substitute Danica Dalziel ensured City’s progression into the final when she scored in the last few minutes to make it 3-0.

Commenting on City’s progression into the final, Assistant First Team Coach Donald Jennow said, ‘The objective of tonight was to get to the final which we have done successfully. We set a target of maximising our fixtures up to the end of the season, and so far we have achieved what we set out to do. We aim to push on further from here. It was not our best performance tonight, by any means, but we can take positives from it. Once again the girls showed they can perform in pressure situations and we are delighted to be in the Cup Final.’

City will know their opponents when Hibernian take on Celtic Reserves in the other semi-final. The final will take place at Toryglen on Saturday 12th November.

 Follow Glasgow City ladies football team on: www.glasgowcityladiesfc.co.uk or Twitter: @GlasgowCityFC or Facebook: Glasgowcity Fc

Cricketers score two schools

By Elyas Hussain

Two new primary schools have been built in flood-devastated Pakistan – thanks to money raised by a cricketing event in Glasgow.
The Active Life Club (ALC), a youth group on the Southside of the city, together with Hamilton Cricket Club and Clydesdale Cricket Club held a Super Six’s tournament in the summer and raised more than £8,000.
The funding enabled charity Ucare Foundation to build the schools – one in the Glasgow Village in Muzaffar Ghar in the Punjab District and other in the Edinburgh Village in Charsada in the North Frontier. Ucare has committed to building at least 600 homes in different areas badly hit by recent flooding, but it has no programme for schools to be built.
Raza Sadiq, Chairperson of ALC told the LOCAL NEWS: ‘We promote community integration and cohesion and play an important role in developing future leaders. The new schools in Pakistan will provide a constant reminder and a lasting legacy in learning. Glasgow’s people are always supportive to such causes and will help us sustain and develop these schools as well as continue to help us engage with and develop young people in this city.’
The ALC was set up in 1999 by Raza Sadiq and other friends and is run by volunteers. It provides a range of recreational, diversionary and physical activities for young people from the Asian and ethnic minority communities in Govanhill, Toryglen, King’s Park, Mount Florida and other areas of the Southside.

Young mums graduate in Toryglen

Photograph by Stuart Maxwell

Young mums who had worked hard for two days a week over ten weeks to complete a course, received their certificates at a sunshine ceremony in Toryglen Community Hall on Thursday 17 June.
Said Bailie James Scanlon who presented the awards: ‘I’m delighted Rosemount Life Long Learning project has come to this area and that the course has attracted young women from different areas such as Castlemilk and Gorbals. They’ve mixed well together and put a lot of energy into the sessions.’
Rosemount’s Project Manager, Fiona Forsyth was very pleased with the outcome of the 10 week course. ‘This is one part of a three part course we have offered in Toryglen,’ she told the LOCAL NEWS. ‘The aim is to help parents who are aged between 16 and 27 so that they can be more settled and maintain a tenancy and prepare for their future.’
The next session starts in August when the modules on offer have a formal certificate. Issues such as First Aid, health promotion, money management, safety in the home and parenting will be tackled then.
The final session of the three part course starts in January next year and enables people to prepare a cv and practise work interviews.
Successful graduates of the first phase of the course were: Lisa Gardiner, Charlene Boyes, Sarah Cordiner, Ofiro Alasi, Gift Uluocha, Rilleen Mair, Leanne Thomson, Dawn Bedford and Kitrina Cunningham.
Said Dawn who had graduated in beauty therapy before she had her son: ‘This was great. I’m looking forward to coming back. It was a good way to update my knowledge and prepare to go to college again as I plan to set up my own business.’ For Kitrina the joy of the course was: ‘It got me out of the house. I now know more people and my son Stewart really enjoyed himself in the creche.’
And Ofiro added: ‘I learned so much and I’ve made friends too.’

Toryglen blossoms in the sun

In sharp contrast to last year, Toryglen’s Blossom Festival on Saturday 24 April basked in warm sunshine which attracted around 600 people who enjoyed the multitude of green and environmentally friendly activities.
Part of Urban Roots’ promotion to empower people to ‘do stuff’ for the environment, it included food demonstrations from the ‘let’s cook together’ group, pedal powered Scalextric, solar powered musicians, storytelling for kids, circus skills, youth eco drama performance, willow weaving, environmental art works, and planter boxes made from scrap wood and filled with flowers and fruit cuttings provided by King’s Park Gardening Club.
‘This was a fantastic day. Much better than last year,’ said local Councillor Danny Alderslowe who demonstrated willow weaving and whose children had a field day.
SNP Councillor Jahangir Haif took the opportunity to introduce Osama Saeed, his party’s parliamentary candidate for Glasgow Central,  to some of his constituents attending the Blossom Festival.  SNP’s Bailie James Scanlon was also spotted enjoying himself with his grandchild.
Said Abi Mordin, Urban Roots co-ordinator who was responsible for organising the day: ‘ Everyone seems to have had a good time. The sunny weather helped a lot.’

General Election 2010 – The battle for Glasgow Central in UK spotlight

The Glasgow Central seat will be one of the most closely-watched contests in Scotland, if not the UK. It is a key constituency for Labour and SNP. Held by Labour’s Mohammad Sarwar since 1997, it covers a diverse mixture of communities from Toryglen on the South side to Finnieston across the river.
Mohammad has passed the torch to his son Anas, who will be in fierce competition with Osama Saeed of the Scottish National Party (SNP). Both are young, Scots-born Asians, eager to make their name in politics.
Anas Sarwar is a dentist by profession and has been a Labour Party member since the age of 16. ‘Housing is the most important issue over the whole area,’ he told the LOCAL NEWS GLASGOW. ‘Whether it is the condition of houses or the lack of social housing.’
He’s clear that the choice for voters is either Gordon Brown or David Cameron. ‘The Scottish seats matter, especially if there is a hung Parliament.’
Osama Saeed was Executive of the Scottish Islamic Foundation and a former Westminster employee of SNP leader Alex Salmond. ‘For decades Glasgow has been let down by Labour MPs and Labour politicians. I think people in the city are listening to the SNP. We are running Labour 50-50 and heading towards independence which will happen because of Glasgow rather than in spite of it.’ He added: ‘Parliament has to reflect the diversity of society. I’m standing to represent the people of Glasgow regardless of my faith or background.’
Others expected to contest Glasgow Central include: John Bradley – Conservative, Chris Young – Lib Dem, Alistair Whitelaw – Green, and James Nesbitt – SSP.

Urban Roots get ready for Spring

Volunteers at Urban Roots community project in Toryglen have been busy all winter, keeping projects going despite the cold weather.

The Community Gardeners worked with pupils from Toryglen Primary to create a greenhouse made from plastic bottles. This project recycles waste material then the children grow their own produce in the greenhouse they built, and helps to promote sustainability.

Another group based at Molls Mire Woodland has been learning how to make ‘rustic furniture’ from hazel and other materials. Volunteers create a chair which they can then take home.

 

On Monday nights, the kids eco-club meets at the Toryglen Community Halls and they are in the process of creating a mural for the garden at the halls.

Researchers have also been out knocking on doors, trying to find out the carbon footprint of the area by asking householders about their energy consumption.

The group is gearing up for their annual Blossom Festival on Saturday 24 April. The event will be a celebration of all the work of Urban Roots, with environmental arts and crafts activities to try, drama and music performance, plant sales, information about environmental issues and healthy food made by volunteers using locally grown ingredients.

 

All this will be powered by their own renewable energy system, which is made up of two solar panels, a small wind turbine and a bike powered generator. The event will be held on Glenmore Avenue in Old Toryglen, between 10am and 4pm.

In the community gardens spring will see increase in activity with lots of fruit and vegetables being grown. Urban Roots is also looking forward to welcoming a new member of staff, who will be working with other community groups and organisations across the South East of the city to help them get their own food growing areas established. The new worker will also be advising householder on the best way to grow their own vegetables at home, and will be looking at how to reduce food waste in the home and beyond. 

Urban Roots welcomes anyone who lives on the Southside to come and get involved in the wide range of activities and events available. You don’t have to be an expert in anything, just have an interest in environmental and community issues.

Contact Abi or Danny on 0141 613 2766 or email projects@urbanroots.org.uk.

Volunteers’ Farewell

Eighteen enthusiastic British and Syrian young people who have given more than 6000 hours’ work to make a lasting impression on Glasgow, said farewell to the city – and they left with a taste for one of its most famous exports – Irn Bru.

A special leaving event in Trinity Church, Govanhill, was attended by all those who provided bed and board to the volunteers and by people from the projects where they had worked.

Rhoanna Law, Communications Officer for Global Exchange which runs the volunteer programme, said: ‘They enjoyed traditional Syrian fayre washed down with Irn Bru! They had a lovely time in Glasgow and the farewell evening was a chance for everyone to see what a great impact they had made in local communities.’

A ceilidh allowed the volunteers to put other skills they had learned to good use.

They are now in Syria for three months doing similar community service.

In their time in Glasgow, the volunteers painted the Central mosque, cleaned up the streets around Woodlands, planted trees in Toryglen, worked with the Govanhill Youth Project and Govan’s Luv project.

Run by the international development charity VSO and the British Council, Global Exchange aims to bring young people aged 18 to 25 together to make a useful contribution to the communities they are living in.

After completing their work in Aleppo, Syria, the volunteers will return home better able to support their own communities with the skills they have learned.