Bungo In the Back Lanes - June 20th 2009

Bungo in the Back Lanes is the summer festival organised by the residents of Strathbungo. One Saturday every year they open up their gardens and clear out their garages. Stalls are set up in the back lanes, bouncy castles in the gardens, live music, wonderful food and most of all a great atmosphere.
It's a unique festival in a great area of the city, it's the community spirit and independent nature of the event that makes it stand out.


For more information click here
Past posts about Bungo in the Back Lanes click here

A touch of glass

Found these images on the Internet earlier and they are great. I got quite excited when I read that these amazing pieces of stained glass were commissioned for a synagogue near Queens Park but unfortunately when I read on I discovered that:

"Sadly, the Queen's Park Synagogue had to close down a few years ago and all the windows were removed. Apart from the Dome, all the windows have been successfully incorporated into the Giffnock Synagogue."

This means the windows have moved to the blurred edge of what Glasgow Southside actually encompasses. Is Giffnock in the Southside of Glasgow or just outside?

The windows are the work of John K Clark a brilliant glass artist who has been creating works of glazing wonders since 1985 including windows at Oran Mor, The Piping Centre and Glasgow Cathedral and many more, in fact if you see any contemporary stain glass in Glasgow, chances are John K Clark was behind it .

John also has a great website where you can see all his work, find out more about the projects and even get tips on how the process works. http://www.glasspainter.com/

More images of Queens Park Synagogue

Text about Queens Park Synagogue

Queens Park Users Group Meeting

Next meeting of the Queens Park Users Group is Tue 22nd April, 7.00pm in the Queens Park Office.

Minutes of previous meeting
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Bad Landlord

Very interesting article in the Evening Times about a pretty crooked landlord operating in Govanhill. I like how at the end of the article he tries to garner sympathy for himself by suddenly/ randomly throwing in the fact that he cried at the death of Princess Dianna because he says that she, like him, was persecuted by the press.

If even half the things suggested in the article are true then I think we might have a winner for worst landlord of the year.

article in evening times

Glasgow Subway Festival

SPT introduces Glasgow's first Subway Festival SPT and DADA team up for groundbreaking celebration Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) has joined forces with leading Glasgow marketing company DADA to introduce the UK’s first ever underground Festival.
The unique ‘Glasgow Subway Festival’ runs over four days from Thursday, 10 April to Sunday, 13 April. It will involve an array of exciting and fun events, performances and fantastic competitions and will highlight just how quick, easy, enjoyable and cost effective it is to reach any of Glasgow’s great parks, museums, art galleries, cinemas, restaurants and bars just by hopping on the Subway.
The Subway Festival will also remind families what a fun day out they can have using public transport to get around the city. The festival will feature an incredible line up of activities and performances from Scottish talent. The programme will involve events both below and above ground, including:
A Treasure Hunt to win a holiday for four in New York Musical and theatrical performances Fashion shows, Falconry, Poetry readings, Tango dancing, Food demonstrations and Art shows.

All Glasgow Subway Festival events and performances in and around stations will be free over the four-day festival, with Subway tickets also allowing the city’s passengers to benefit from a variety of discounts from a whole host of venues surrounding the Subway stations for the duration of the festival.

From Monday, 31 March, Subway Festival staff will be selling ‘Glasgow Subway Festival’ badges, with all profits going to the Yorkhill Children’s Foundation. By wearing their badges during the festival, Subway travellers are in with a chance of winning some fantastic ‘on the spot’ prizes, ranging from free Subway tickets to meals at some of Glasgow’s top restaurants.

Passengers will also have the chance to take part in an exciting Subway Festival Treasure Hunt which will take place on the last day of the festival - Sunday, 13 April. The ‘treasure’ found by one very lucky traveller will be an incredible trip for four to New York City – home of one of the world’s most famous subway systems.

Alistair Watson, Chair of SPT, said: “The Glasgow Subway is the quickest and most effective method of transport that the city has to offer. It’s a hugely important resource which carries over 36,000 people every day. During the festival we want to create a lot of extra fun – particularly fun for the family - and we hope it will prove to be one of Scotland’s most popular festivals. This is a perfect way to highlight how effective and quick the Subway is for getting around the city.” Oli Norman, Managing Director of DADA, said: “I’m a regular user of the Subway and always felt that like other subway systems throughout the world, Glasgow should use their network of stations to create an exciting programme of entertainment and activity for passengers. “

“The Glasgow Subway is at the heart of city life and is one of the most effective ways of getting around, whether it’s a visit to Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Hillhead, to visit the pubs and cafes of the West End or to the city centre for shopping. The subways of New York, London and Paris are always brimming with entertainment and activity, and now it is Glasgow’s turn”. He added “The festival is completely integrated into Glasgow’s day-to-day life and with a wealth of competitions, offers and entertainment this is going to be an unforgettable four days for everyone involved.” Going Overground From Thursday, 10 April to Friday, 11 April, most of the events will be taking place above ground, with a focus on some of the exciting Glasgow venues and attractions surrounding the city’s Subway stations. Special events and performances will be taking place at themed stations throughout the week. Confirmation of all Going Overground activity and the themed stations will be released shortly
Going Underground During the weekend of 12 and 13 April, the party atmosphere will move underground as well as overground. Live music in the stations will happily fill the gaps for passengers waiting between trains, with performances to suit every taste spontaneously taking place all across the Subway system. From classic solo musical renditions to poetry performances and even short plays, unexpected and exciting live spectacles will be entertaining travellers all day long. A full programme of weekend performances and events will be released next week.

Programme flyers including a map of the Subway and details of when and where the events will be taking place will be available at all Subway ticket kiosks from Monday, 31 March. More information on the festival can be obtained by calling 0141 222 2266.

Go Ape - Public Meeting

Received from Save Pollock Park Campaign

There will be an open supporters' meeting at 8pm on Wednesday, 2nd April.

The meeting will be in two parts. First, we will have a cross-party panel of national and local politicians all of whom are opposed to the Go Ape application and the way it was handled by the City Council. You will have an opportunity to ask questions and hear their views.

Nicola Sturgeon MSP and Conservative Councillor David Meikle, late of the Planning Applications Committee, have already accepted and we have sent invitations to the Greens and LibDems. We have also invited the one Labour councillor who spoke against Go Ape, Bailie James McNally, to attend.

After this discussion, we will work out plans for the next stage .We have lost round one of our campaign but last Tuesday's decision by the Planning Applications Committee was only a bump on the road to victory. It's now time to re-energise ourselves for the very important next phase – to have the planning decision called in by Scottish Ministers. For this - and other actions - we need your continued support and ideas.

Scottish Ministers can call in a planning decision due to the strength of opposition, when there are grounds to question how the planning authority reached its decision and if there are wider policy issues.

The Council has not yet granted a lease to Go Ape and it's important to launch this action to prevent that happening.Up till now the campaign has only been able to oppose on strict technical planning grounds and the Council was able to hide behind this to avoid answering bigger questions. At a call-in, we can raise more relevant issues about the way the 'consultation' was conducted, whether the Council has any right to grant a lease (given the conditions of the deed of gift from the Maxwell family) and the conduct of the council planning department in its preparation of the planning report.

Please note the meeting will be held in Pollokshields Burgh Hall, Maxwell Park, G41 4LL Glencarin Drive. (not Pollokshaws) at 8.00pm

For more info on the Save Pollock Park campaign click here

Sculpture Studios Moving South

The Glasgow Sculpture Studios was set up in 1988 by artists who realised there were no facilities in Glasgow for artists who wished to work in 3d or in a large scale. They are presently located in the A listed Historic Briggait, in the salt market area of the city, but will be moving to the Southside this summer.

The present studios have a large wood working worshop, metal working workshop an area of casting and stone carving. They also have many individual artists studios, where artists are located full or part time. You can book time in the workshops [as long as your a member] from half a day to a year - check their website for costs

They are currently in negotiations over the details of the lease on 33 Scotland Street, their proposed site for the relocation of GSS, which is close to West Street underground station.

This site offers vast potential for the next stage of the organisations development and presents significant opportunities to realise their artistic ambitions in secure premises for the next 20 plus years.

These new premises will help to create an empowering environment for artists by providing technical and professional support and facilities within a vibrant and cosmopolitan hub of artistic practice.

The premises will host refurbished workshop facilities, project spaces, exhibition & education spaces, research (IT & library) and social interactive spaces.

We'll keep you posted when we hear more news.