Govan Cross Environmental Improvements Community Consultation Event

Recent decisions by various bodies mean that there is a significant amount of funding available for improvements to Govan town centre and a key element of this is the improvement of Govan Cross. A two-session event will take place at the Pearce Institute on 1 October to hear the local community’s views on the project.Central Govan Action Plan are organising the event, and are looking to find out what local people think about the major environmental improvements planned, the types of improvements they would like to see, and the types of design they feel would fit Govan Cross best.There are three main sites at Govan Cross under consideration for improvement work - the square, the shopping centre’s forecourt and the underground / bus station precinct.

To book at a place at one of the consultation sessions on 1 October, please call 0141 445 5044 or email cgap@gswra.co.uk. Tea, coffee and cakes will be provided.

1 Oct 2009
15:30 - 17:30 & 19:00 - 21:00
Pearce Institute, 840 Govan Road, Glasgow

Beanscene - 19 Skirving Street

Most people are familar with Beanscene, it's a Scottish chain of coffee shops based on the idea of an alternative to the 'pub', somewhere you can go hang out on the comfortable sofas, read the paper or listen to some live music. 
They're open from 8am till 10pm. It's BYOB in the evening  and there is free WiFi.

There are three located in  the Southside including Battlefield, Clarkston and the Shawlands branch which is situated on Skirving Street.

Interestly the Skirving Street coffee shop opened in 2000 and was the first and original Beanscene.
 
Mon - Sat : 8.00am to 10.00pm
Sun : 9.00am to 10.00pm

The House of Bernarda Alba - Citizen's Theatre

The National Theatre of Scotland presents a major new version of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. It's been running at the Citizens theatre since the 15th of September but is will continue until the 3rd of October. It's received good reviews and tickets start at £9.50

Set in contemporary Scotland, Rona Munro’s bristling, edgy translation features Siobhan Redmond in the title role.
Following the gangland execution of her husband, the formidable matriarch Bernarda Alba will do anything to safeguard her family’s dubious fortune and the future of her five headstrong daughters. A deal is struck - a marriage of convenience between her eldest girl and the son of a business rival. All Bernarda has to do is ensure that the wedding happens, and quickly.

One of the most celebrated European dramas of the 20th century, Lorca described it as a “drama of women in the villages of Spain” - a theme that is electrifyingly transposed in this version to the tough communities of Glasgow’s East End. Faithfully preserving Lorca’s sense of boiling tension and impending tragedy, the production lines up a cast of twelve Scottish women who bring this classic text thrillingly up to date.

Click here to book tickets

Canterbury Tales - Langside College

So this event is not being held in the Southside however, Langside College Acting & Performance students present Phil Wood's hilarious and bawdy adaptation of Chaucer's timeless examination of human credibility and conformity. A production bursting at the wenches' seams promises a colourful, drunken and naughty night's entertainment for all. It is being held at Gilmorehill in the Westend - I can only imagine that this is because the Langside College's new theatre is under construction. Sounds like it will be a good show.

Gilmorehill G12
9 University Avenue
Box office: 0141 330 5522
Email: boxoffice@gilmorehillg12.co.uk
Website: www.gla.ac.uk/GHCentre

The Dresser's Room - 47 Skirving Street

Hidden at the bottom of Skirving Street, in Shawlands, is The Dresser's Room. This vintage boutique offers a real cacophony of vintage delights from across the eras. The lovely owner Jade Halbert, an experienced fashion editor and stylist, opened the boutique in April of this year.

Each piece in the store, whether it is one of the fabulous 1920's evening gowns or the 1940s coats and dresses has been expertly chosen, is unique and is very good quality. Jade also sells handbags and accessories by Pea Cooper and Dazed Dorothy

It's not just the clothing that is impressive the store itself and the presentation of the wears is impeccable. I could spend hours browsing and yes I did purchase a dress - I just couldn't help myself. Jade is very charismatic and obviously has a real passion for vintage clothing and her work in general. The Dresser's Room is very unique boutique and a great addition to Skirving Street.

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5.30pm

Thursday - 10am - 7pm

Sunday - Closed

Website

other articles about the dressers room

Food, glorious (organic and delivered) food

Andy contacted us yesterday and we thought it might be of interest to a few of our readers so agreed to pass it along.

Andy says

"Just wanted to let you know about an organisation I've been running for a few months now based on the Southside. We're called Southside Foodshare and aim to provide affordable, fresh organic fruit, vegetables and dairy to customers in the area. Much of the produce comes direct from one farmer, while the rest is sourced from other local producers and wholesalers. There are four delivery options and our bags are delivered every Wednesday to Tapa on Pollokshaws Road. By buying collectively we reduce transport costs (not to mention carbon emissions) and therefore get a cheaper rate than normal home delivery customers. "

There he blows!!

According to an article on the BBC website there is a whale in the Clyde - spotted beneath the Clyde Arc Bridge. I wonder if this will spark the same whalemania as the one that swam up the Thames a couple of years ago. Probably not as I don't think we get quite as many tourists as London.

Not much is known about Mr Whale though the Sun has drawn a funny little map that shows you the expert's guess at the whales route. (I like the fact their article was written by a Miss Otter. Maybe thats how they know the actual journey.)

Sadly all the articles seem to suggest that a happy fate is not likely for Glasgow's newest resident. Even if they can get him back out to sea, without his parents he won't know how to feed. Maybe with all the building work down on the Clyde we should instead quickly knock up a Seaworld type home and allow him to stay.

Anyone got a good Glasgow whale name suggestion?

Eid in the Drives - 21st September

This years Eid on the Drive celebrations will be taking place on the 21st of September in Polloksheilds. It's a unique and inportant event in the southside that brings the multi cultural community of Polloksheilds together to celebrate the end of Ramadhan. Lisa Peebles has been in touch to let us know about another event happening that day. If you are going to Eid on the Drives then you should wander over to 15 St Andrew Drive. A group of young people from Polloksheilds have designed a piece of neon Art which will be switched on.

This piece is a message from our kids to us, their parents, their community and their city and it says 'See it the way I do'. The switch on will be at 8pm and all are welcome to come along and support this installation. If you can't manage to be there on the night, then please look out for it after that date, when it is lit up every night

Patricia Cain Exhibition at House for an Art Lover

If you came along to Art in the Park this year, then you would have seen the work of Patricia Cain. A Glasgow based artist, Trish uses drawing and painting as a means of exploring the artist's process of thinking. Her focus in doing this has been on the destruction and re-construction of the urban landscape in Glasgow. She has a particular interest in the River Clyde and it's regeneration, the construction of the Loch Katrine Water Project and the new Riverside Museum.

Trish is exhibiting at the House for an Art Lover, in Bellahouston Park, from the 22 September - 2 November.

List Magazine

The List have published an article on the Southside - building on the Southside Shopping article which Alburt wrote a couple of months ago. It covers several southside restaurants, venues, bars and shops in the area. And reiterates what we've all known for ages that the Southside is one of the most rich and interesting in the city.

to read the article click here

Southside Festival AGM

The Southside Festival commitee have announced that they will be holding their AGM on 24th of September at 7.30pm. If you are interested in getting involved in the steering group and the organisation of next years festival go along to the meeting and join the group.

7.30pm @ Queens Park Church

Strathbungo Clean-up 20 Sept 2009

We have received an email from Scott MacKay from the Strathbungo Society inviting us all to join them in a clean up of Strathbungo. If you are interested in being involved have a look on the facebook site or turn up on the day.

Host: Cllr Meikle and The Strathbungo Society
Date: Sunday, 20 September 2009
Time: 12:30 - 15:30
Location: Lane entrance at Sammy Dows pub
Street: Nithsdale Road
Phone: 01414230182

Email:scott@scottandlaura.co.uk

Hampden Roar

With the big matches coming up for Scotland on Saturday and Wednesday I thought it would be a timely to post about our recent visit to the Hampden Sports museum.

Housed in the bowels of the stadium the museum does kind of feel like its been squeezed into space left over rather than having been purposely designed and the layout is a bit strange without a coherent story or thread to guide you through.

When we arrived there was a young guy on the desk and we were walking up to pay when I spotted a flyer and advert stand over to the left hand side. Amongst the leaflets etc there I spotted one which I'd read before which gives discounts on various tourist venues and buses. I wandered over picked one up and discovered inside that there was a voucher for two for one entry to the both the football museum and tour. We ripped the vouchers out and gave them to the guy on the desk. Not sure if it was his first day on the job but he initially charged us £25 with the vouchers which was actually more than it would have been without the vouchers. We explained that he must have made a wee mistake and despite looking very confused he tried it again and this time told us the total cost was £9 - which was pretty good value for 3 adults and 1 child.

Unfortunately the day we went the tours were not running as there a Queens Park match on. Apparently the rules changed this year and now if a match or concert is on then no tours are on that day. So its prob worth while phoning first as the tours look good.

The lack of tour was disappointing but we soldiered on. The museum is pretty packed with memorabilia and was quite interesting but it wasn't really managing to entertain Ann's 10 years old nephew. Everything is presented very dryly. We had guessed that the football museum would be more like a science centre for sport but in reality its a display case filled history museum. The adverts we've seen had sold us on getting to feel like a professional player, get a taste of the Hampden roar and play sporting games like testing the speed of your shots. In fact we kept our young guest entertained by the promise of the test your shot game coming up. Sadly for us - we discovered at the end that this, along with several other items, is part of the stadium tour and not the museum.

If a history tour is what you are after then you'll definitely love it and if you are doing football history research then you'll find a great resource - but if you are just after a bit of touristy fun for all the family then you might be a bit disappointed. Mostly the museum is made up of display cabinets showing medals, newspapers cuttings, old jerseys and trophies. Mixed in amongst these are some nice statues and some old bits of stands etc but with the odd layout and the really dull old fashioned lighting it all feels a bit lacking and a little bit cheap.

Definitely a missed opportunity - our imagination of what the museum would contain turned out to be a heck of a lot better than the actuality. Where were all the interaction and fun? Where was any actual contact with a football? For example the classic Archie Gemmel goal - one of Scotland's proudest moments is presented as a diorama of still statues meant to give you a feel of being there but it doesn't really work.

I guess the SFA don't really have the budget to do it properly with an all singing and all dancing museum but its a real shame. Football is supposedly our national sport and with a bit of money and a lot more imagination they could really have created a top tourist attraction here. As it is I'm not too sure how entertained tourists feel they've got for their pennies - especially if they didn't have the 2 for 1 vouchers we used. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to any visitors though I do think the tour is probably the best part so we will go back another time and check it out.

In summary - its worth a quick visit if you get the vouchers but don't expect the kids to be too entertained. Our favourite bits were the old stands where you could watch old recordings of football matches and the press booths where you picked up a phone and were played an excert from a random selection of radio clips.

Ann's football crazy nephew on the other hand was a bit bored with it all - in fact his favourite thing was the three free Foosball tables we could play on (all were slightly broken) and the six PS3 systems set up with Fifa2009.