Bungo Bazaar - 3 December 2010

Laura Hudson Mackay will be exhibiting  a new collection of photographs on Friday 3rd December 2010. Taken on recent trips to Morocco, Laura has captured the atmosphere of the magical red city, from the colourful hectic ancient Medina, to the cool, calm tranquility of its inner courtyards. Also, exclusively the event will be complimented by homeware for sale by Sparrow and Co - Moroccan Leather Pouffes, Tin Lanterns, candles, cushions and more.

Wander along for a glass of wine (or mint tea) at The Basement Gallery, Strathbungo. Event starts at 7pm.

The Basement Gallery
22 Queen Square
Strathbungo
Glasgow
G41 2AZ

Braehead Clan

A few weeks ago we were invited to go along to the Braehead Arena to watch the Braehead Clan ice-hockey team take on the mighty Dundee Stars.

None of us had been to a hockey match before and so were not sure what to expect but I've got to say we throughly enjoyed all of it.

I think what first struck us first was just how professional the whole set up is. For some reason I'd imagined a really basic ammature side watch by a hundred people, but the whole event was really slickly put together. As we stepped out the car park lift we were greeted by hundreds of people milling around, purchasing beer (you can drink at ice hockey matches), bags of sweets and hotdogs or buying offical glossy programmes or other "Clan" related merchandise. In fact it was pretty impressive how many people were wearing the team colours, sweatshirts and hockey shirts. Given that this is a realatively new team they seen to have quite quickly gather a loyal following.

We collected out tickets, purchased a few bags of tangy haribo and took our seats looking through the thickglass which surrounds the rink and trying to work out what all the markings on the ice mean and why the goals were so small.

I'm a football fan and I think I was being a bit snobish at the start about this "North American" sport. When the funny music started up at the beginning and the four small cheerleaders started doing their moves high at the back of one of the stands I thought oh boy here we go. I've always imagined american sports basketball, baseball, american football - more about the things going on around the game rather than about the game itself but then the teams were on the pitch and the action started and I quickly forgot everything I'd just said.

American Sports seem to fall into two catergories - "the slow" (with repeated stoppages) ie baseball and american football, which seem to last several weeks and "the crazy fast" (with repeated stoppages) ie basketball. Icehockey falls firmly into this second categoery and within seconds of the start we'd been to both ends of the rink, there'd been a shot on goal and a guy had been tripped, with the puck moving so fast you could easily loose track if you blinked for too long.

The Dundee Stars quickly put the local lads underpressure and from the chants around about us I realised that the small group of people on the other side of the aisle from us were the Dundee fans. It really is a family atmosphere, there were hundreds of children chanting and dancing at their seats and no real annomosity between the two different groups of fans even after the Dundee Stars took an early lead and their fans started banging a big drum.

We will have to read up on our rules before next time as it took us a while to work out what was going on but with some pretty impressive skating and some even more impressive shooting Braehead started their comeback. The first period ended 1 all and we went out to buy some more sweets and discovered lots of staff wandering around with giant beer and cider dispensing machines on their backs like alcoholic Ghostbusters. was quite impressive and made me wander what other events could benefit from their attendance.

In the second period the "Clan" took the lead and in the third they gave the Dundee Stars a going over with the score ending an impressive 6 - 1 to the home side. Second in excitement to the attempts on the goals were the attempts by the players on their opponents lives with cheeky little trips, blatent whacks and the occaisonal punchup breaking up the play and seeing the culprits stuck in the sin bin for two minutes. These repeated breaks mean that the game is actually on for a lot longer than the adveertised lengther of the three periods combined but they add a strange cathartic fun to the proceedings and possibly are the reason the fans all get on so well.

All in all I'd say we had a really good night out, the game was fast, infectious and fun. The event itself was slickly professional with lots of Scottish tweaks on American traditions. The fans were all in good spirit, singing and bouncing around, all dressed up in the team colours. It was all a lot of fun and I'd highly reccomend to give it a try especially those with kids who will probably really enjoy the fast paced action.

"Come on the Clan."

Visit here for more info on the team and their upcoming games. http://www.braeheadclan.com/.

Shawlands Traders Association

In a bid to help local business, a Shawlands Traders Association is being set up. There will be a meeting at The Shed on Thursday 22 November 6pm for 6:30pm.

If you are interested call 0141632 3713 or email shawlands@gsera.org for more info

Chestnut Trees in Pollok Park

The Southside Extra just got intouch looking for people's thoughts on the Chestnuts trees being cut down in Pollok Park due to disease (see below). Anyone have any happy memories of gathering conkers?

We've been growing a chestnut tree in our close and its getting pretty big, maybe we can donate it to the park next summer.

 

"Chestnut Avenue in Pollok park will be no more as the ten trees that were planted there 150 years ago have become dangerous to the public. The horse chestnuts will be felled in the next few weeks after a recent inspection found they were infected. They have chestnut bleeding canker that predisposes them to an active pathogen – honey fungus – and other related decaying fungi including saprophytic fungi. This is clearly visible on the trees, indicating the serious level of rot and decay. The 100ft tall trees were planted in 1861 – the same year as the American Civil war began."

Glasgow Parks - Have your say

Land and Environmental Services recently completed draft Management Plans for the following Parks in Glasgow:

· Glasgow Green
· Kelvingrove Park
· Bellahouston Park
· Botanic Gardens
· Hogganfield Park
· Queen’s Park
· Pollok Country Park
The Council wish to invite you and your networks to contribute to this consultation. You can view the Plans and make comments electronically by visiting www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/YourCouncil/Consultations and clicking on “Current Consultations”.
We've put direct links to the relevant sections for Southside Parks above. The consultation closes on Friday 17 December 2010.

Jewellery Design @ Scotland Street School

Jewellery Design: Working with Wire

Saturday 27 November, 10.30am-4.30pm
Fee: £45, payable at time of booking.

Design and create your own jewellery with this one-day course led by professional jewellery designer Laura Murray. Learn skills and techniques for working with silver-plated wire to create a stunning piece you can take home and wear - perfect for Christmas gifts.
All materials provided. No experience necessary.

Follow the link for booking forms

http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/our-museums/scotland-street-school/whats-on/adults/pages/home.aspx

or contact: 0141 287 0500, scotlandstreetbookings@glasgowlife.org.uk

Alma Mater @ Scotland Street School

This looks like a lot of fun, Created by ex-Southsider and Ukuele player extrordinaire Eilidh MacAskill and her company Fish and Game, Alma Mater is a new site-specific performance-for-camera tour created for Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Scotland Street School. With an original musical score from John De Simone and in collaboration with a range of Glasgow-based artists, Alma Mater engages with themes of childhood and the coercive, civilising power of education.

Individual audience members use portable video screens to explore the school and encounter traces of performances past. In its pioneering form, the work explores the nature of theatricality ‘in the flesh’ and on screen, the relationship between architecture and memory, and how stories can be told once the teller has long since gone.

The photos from their site look amazing. We've seen loads of their creations in the past and all have been fantastic. Def worth trying to get a ticket if you can, but eh leave it five minutes will you until we get ours bought.

10:10-16.30

4-6 November

Scotland Street School Museum, 225 Scotland Street GLASGOW G5 8QB

Info/ Entry every 10 mins. Last admission at 16:30.

Price/ Free. Must be booked in advance. (Security deposit or credit card may be required)

Box Office/ CCA: 0141 352 4900

Alma Mater is being shown as part of the IETM International Performance Conference – http://www.ietm-glasgow.eu/