Gonna see the river man...

Took the family along to the Glasgow River Festival today. This is an annual event in Glasgow but never managed to make it along before. It takes place round about the Exhibition Centre and the Science Centre over the 2 days of the weekend.

Here are a few photos of something special happening in Glasgow "The Day"...


Jet ski exhibition on the river with the Tall Ship, the Glenlee, in the background. Entry to the tall ship is free during the river festival.

Is it a bird, is it a plane? It's the police helicopter doing a quick fly past over the Clyde.

Lots of events on and off the water. Above is some speedboat racing.

The police keeping a watchful eye and joining in the fun of waving to the crowds.

Drummers on a dredger. Some of the musical entertainment on the river.

Pirate television station ?

Some of the ships docked for the festival in front of the new BBC Scotland building.

Jet skit on the Clyde. The silver building just behind the jet skier is the new transport museum. Really taking shape now and looking fantastic.

A quick shot of the science centre tower. Really is lovely sight in the sunshine. Entry to the science centre only 4 pounds during the festival!

HMS Blythe. A Royal Navy minesweeper docked up for the festival.
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/operations-and-support/surface-fleet/mine-countermeasure/sandown-class/hms-blyth/

Pirate reenactement. Cannons and muskets and sword fights. Great highlight of the day!!

The Loch Lomond Seaplane coming in for a splash down in the Clyde. The seaplane service runs from the back of the Science Centre.
http://www.lochlomondseaplanes.com/

Almost touched down!!

I have to do this one day!!!

That is the Glasgow University Tower in the background.

An exhibition of traditional life in Scotland.

Includes traditional skills like carving and woodwork.

Was good just to be down at the river having such a nice day.

Yo ho ho!! Splice me mainbrace is that not a skull and cross bones on the Clyde.

The Vital Spark with the Armadillo in the background.

Some speedboat stunts on the river.

Finnieston Crane from the bus on the way home. Free bus service back to the city centre. Really is a well organised and fun event.

Hope this gave you a wee taste of the fun down at the Clyde today. There are stalls and shows and slides and trampolines and face painting and bands and ....

I have mentioned in this blog in the past how much Glasgow has turned it's back in it's great river. Events like today really make it feel a special place again.

Will be back next year!!

Be happy, be well!!

Back in the saddle again...

No post of a tour round Glasgow "The Day".

The reason is that I have the good news to announce that I am back at work again. Through some organisational changes the company has found a way to reverse the decision on my redundancy. So I am really happy to be back in a job again!

Would like to take this chance to thank everyone that has supported me, my job hunting and this blog during this difficult time. Redundancy is a painful, stressful experience and this blog has helped me keep going each day. I hope something positive has come out of it either just if it made you smile or learned something new about a wonderful city or if you got the chance to donate some money to Yorkhill because of it.

It has given me the chance to fall in love with Glasgow again and to meet some amazing people. The Carousel Girls, the lemonade girls, Lyndsay and Rosie the dog, Pop ... the list goes on... and can't forget special mention for Papa Joe.

Also have to give special mention to my friends at the outplacement team at Penna in Cadogan Street. The base camp for Glasgow "The Day" where so many tours started or ended. They have been a terrific support and have been my workmates for months now. Although glad to be back in my job I will miss seeing the Penna gang each day.

So is this the end for Glasgow "The Day"?

No.

Obviously can't do a tour each day now but I still intend to post stuff up here when I can about what I have seen in Glasgow on days that I manage to get back into the city. Maybe do some special events. And will have to cover Christmas in the city anyway!! Then Glasgow really is magical!!

Once again thank you for all your support.

Be well and be happy out there!!

O Flower of Scotland...

Something different again today. But was back very close to were I was yesterday.
But this time a very different "battlefield"....

Went to see Hampden Park. Home of Queen's Park and the National Stadium.



Now I have been here a number of times to see matches from when I was a wee boy in the old stadium. But I had never been on the stadium tour or at the museum so did that today.


The stadium here dates from 1903 although the stadium pictured above was rebuilt and reopened in 1999.

My best memory of this stadium dates back to 1984, going to see Scotland vs Iceland World Cup Qualifier with my dad, and Paul McStay's bullet of a shot. Was a fantastic goal. Scotland won 3-0 that day. Happy times. Favourite memory of Hampden ? Post up a comment.
Below are just some photos around the stadium "The Day".

I first went on the stadium tour whhich takes you behind the scenes of stadium. Above is quick photo of the "Away" dressing room. This is the traditional Celtic dressing room.

This is the indoor warm up area. Not a bad idea for a stadium in Scotland! :)

You can have a go at hitting the ball and it will measure the speed.

I won't embarass myself by telling you how pathetic my shot was but was comparable to some of the kids also on the tour :)

And then out into the stadium itself.
You can't help but get a wee thrill as you walk out the doors into the stadium. Maybe we all have that wee dream inside that it could have been us coming out before a capacity crowd singing Flower of Scotland.

This is the Home "Dugout" area at Hampden. Have a feeling at my age I'm going to have to give up on ever getting to sit here. Even as a sub.

I just liked this wee shot of the empty seats.

And now into the museum. This is a fantastic museum with so much memorabilia from over 100 years of football history in Scotland. Football is such an integral part of life in Scotland. When the Scotland team is playing well the whole country feels better. Some people say that the 1979 referendum on independence was rejected partly because of the bad 1978 World Cup performance!! Not sure if this is true but this museum does give you a flavour for our passion for the game both international and domestic.

Above is the Scottish Cup (or the Scottish Football Association Scottish Challenge Cup to give it it's full name) This competition was originally held in 1873-74 and the trophy is the oldest national trophy in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Cup

The museum covers the history of the game from it's very beginning in the mid 1800's and the formation of Queen's Park FC in 1867. Queen's Park FC are the oldest club in Scotland and one of the oldest in the world.

Above is a model of one of my defensive tackles from a 5 a side game I was in during the late 1980's. I had a moustache back then :)

A replica of the European Cup. This one actually donated to the museum by Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Scottish football hall of fame. People involved in the Scottish game who have made a major contribution are given this honour. Spent a lot of time here just reading all the life stories. Just in the front of shot here are Bobby Lennox, Henrik Larsson, Denis Law... an amazing list.

I liked this photo. Davie Cooper, Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson. Now there is a list. Davie Cooper and Kenny Dalglish were both heroes of mine when I played as a boy.

Although this is more my game :)

Have always been better at table football than the actual game itself.

Another nice exhibit. The cap given to Kenny Dalglish to mark his 100's cap for Scotland.

An exhibit talking about the history of kids playing football in the street. That is the joy of football. A ball and a couple of jerseys for goalposts and you got yourself a game.

The ball from the first game played at Hampden in 1903. Was between Queen's Park and Celtic.

Really is a cool museum for covering all aspects of the game. Here is one of the original turnstiles from Hampden. Can remember going through one of these many times.

I liked this exhibit. This is reconstruction of Archie Gemmill's goal against Holland in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. We needed to win by 3 goals to get out of the group section. Scotland were winning 2-1 when the ball broke to Gemmill. He jinked past 3 players and chipped the ball into the net. It was 3-1!!

Holland made it 3-2 a few minutes later. But that's Scottish football for you. Best goal ever scored in the World Cup? One of the best definitely and it will always have a special place in the heart of all Scots. Thank you Archie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3FvlWyyAKg

Talking of the 1978 World Cup above it the programme from the sending off party at Hampden. 25,000 fans turned out (including me and my family) to cheer the Scotland team before they went off to the World Cup in Argentina. We honestly believed we were in with a shout of winning it. It didn't turn out that way but I actually still have a copy of this programme above and I treasure it. It truly is a wee piece of Scottish history.

I also have a copy of this!! The 1982 Scotland World Cup Anthem "We have a dream".
Seeing all this stuff made me realise how much I miss Scotland being in one of the big tournaments. They really do get the whole country excited and each one makes it's own new memories. Fingers crossed we will be back in one soon.

The roll of honour of players with more than 50 caps for Scotland.

Now there is a list.

It not to be forgotten that Hampden is also the venue for many great concerts. Springsteen was here last week and Take That couple of weeks before. Above is Robbie William's shirt from one of his gigs here.

The sun was shining as I left Hampden. Was a great experience today. Another great museum to make you think of all your own great memories. This time of the beautiful game that is so much part of our lives in Scotland.

As sun was shining also popped back up onto the hill at Queen's Park on way back to get a brighter shot across the city.

Nice way to end the tour. A day for memories.

Be well, be happy!!

Love is a battlefield...

After my break for the Glasgow Fair weekend it was back to "work" today. Job hunting and blogging about Glasgow.

Today decided to do something different again. I normally don't follow any guidebook on my tours. I just walk and see what I see and check up on the details later. But I had picked up a wee leaflet on the Langside Heritage Trail from the tourist information office. It's funny being a tourist in your own city! :)

So drove down there today to see how much I could cover in a couple of hours.

It was of course raining as this is the Glasgow Fair Fortnight holiday and therefore it always rains! Wasn't actually too bad for walking about but wasn't great for taking photos and my poor wee camera was getting waterlogged before the end!

But if you forgive the poor photography here is what I saw "The Day".




Suppose as always should start with a few introductions. This area is called Langside. I've been round here lots of times. Know people who stay or stayed here. Parked around here when going to Hampden to see Scotland play. But never pondered the name until today.

The name Langside means Long Hill and is a reference to the two hills in this area. One with it's summit in Queen's Park(Camp Hill) and the other in Mansionhouse Road.

Above is the first building of note I saw after leaving the car. It's the Battlefield Rest building. This used to be a shelter for people waiting on the trams and was built in 1915. The tram service ended here in 1962 and it fell into disrepair. But it has now been restored as a restaurant. Really is a fantastic building.

I'll get back to why it's called Battlefield Rest in a minute...





Next building I went looking for is down Lochleven Road. This is the former Queen's Park Synagogue. It really is a striking building built out of artificial red sandstone that gives it that unusual colour. It was completed in 1927 however it is now being converted into an apartment complex appropriately called the Ark.

Now up the hill.This is Battlefield Road, previously known as Lang Loan before being renamed.

The battle in question is of course the Battle of Langside which took place on 13th May 1568 between the forces of Mary, Queen of Scots and The Regent, Earl of Moray. Mary was defeated here and fled to England where she was imprisoned and eventually executed in 1587.

Above is a photo of the monument to the battle which was built in 1887. I love this monument at the top of the hill where the main part of the battle took place. The lion on the top with his foot resting on a cannon ball. The column is decorated with thistles, roses and fleurs-de-lis. One of my favourite monuments in Glasgow.

The building pictured behind the monument and closer up above is the Langside Hill Church dating from 1896. It is now the Church on the Hill restaurant and bar.

As I was looking at it I was reminded of the work of Alexander "Greek" Thomson and his church in St. Vincent Street. Looking at the guidebook this is not surprising as it was designed by Alexander Skirving who was Thomson's principal assistant. Skirving also designed the battlefield monument.

This other distinctive building next to the monument is the Agenda restaurant / bar. But it was built in 1939 as a control station for the Glasgow Corporation Lighting Department.

Just along from the monument is the Victoria Infirmary. This was opened in 1890. The guide book told me to look out for the puma on the roof. That bit worrying. But here it is here above the Royal coat of arms on the administration block. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for why there is a puma on the building but it has become the symbol for the hospital.

Now round into Queen's Park itself. This is a classic Victorian era park dating from 1857. And being Victorian and being next to the Victoria hospital I had always presumed that the Queen in the name was for Queen Victoria. Makes sense ?

But Queen's Park is actually in honour of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Above is the trees leading up to the Glasshouse.

And here is a closer view of the dome of the glasshouse which dates from 1905. This seems to be having some major rennovation work in progress at the moment but you can still get inside. And today that was good because as I got here the rain came on hard. You could hear it pattering on the roof from inside. Where have those summer days earlier in this blog gone?

There is one wing of the Glasshouse that has a reptile and amphibian house. Not sure what this toad's problem was but he doesn't look like he is having a good day. You think the rain would have cheered him up!!

And actually found these ducks in the pond inside. Now you can tell how bad the rain is when even the ducks come inside for shelter!!

Actually I think these wee guys actually live in here.

Back outside and took a wee walk up to the top of the hill where the flagpole is. And what a view you get from up there. Really will need to come back here on a sunny day when visibility bit better. This photo is from slightly down the hill but even on this rainy day could see the University Tower, the top of the Armadillo, the Finnieston Crane, the Squinty bridge, the Park Circus towers and right through to the dark outline of the Campsies in the distance.

Further down the hill on the other side and you come to two ponds. The first one is a boating pond. No model boats out there today but the seagulls were having a ball.

They say the British do queues better than anyone and it seems even the gulls have got the trick!

The second pond is a nature pond and is a lovely tranquil little water feature with little ducks feeding amongs the reeds. You can see the rain splashing on the surface!

Just along from the nature pond is this grand old house. This is Camphill House and dates from 1798. It was once at the heart of the Camphill estate which dominated the lands west of Langside village.

It was seemingly once a museum with relics relating the the battle but the museum closed in the 1980's and it is now converted into flats. And there seems to be one on the ground floor for sale if you are interested!! What a great place to live!!

On the way out of the park now but cut through the Scottish poetry rose garden. This commemorates many of the great Scottish poets. Above is one of the stone momuments. This one is in the centre and is for Hugh McDiarmid. It praises the "little white rose of Scotland"

And here in fact are some little white roses of Scotland in the poetry garden.
Really is an ideal tribute to these great poets.

And just about readable through the rain soaked pavement is the tribute to Robert Burns. Once again with a rose theme.

At the edge of the park now and this is the impressive Langside Halls. Now if this looks similair to a number of the buildings that I have posted up here over last few weeks then that may not be a surprise when I tell you it's original address.

57 Queen Street.

I didn't know this until today but this building used to be the National Bank of Scotland building in Queen Street dating from 1847. It was purchased and then moved here stone by stone in 1891 by the City of Glasgow to provide a public hall when this area was taken over by the city. Was meant to be cheaper than designing and building one from scratch.

Across the road is another landmark on Pollokshaws road. This is the Corona bar dating from 1913.

And may not have spotted this if not for the guidebook. Above each door of the bar is a hand with a cross in it. Seemingly this comes from a story that the name for the nearby area of Crossmyloof comes from a statement from Queen Mary as she passed here on the way to Dumbarton, "By the cross in my loof (palm), I will be there tonight in spite of yon traitors."

Interesting little detail even if unlikely story.

What's the story in Balamory?

Heading back up the hill again and you pass this lovely row of different coloured terraced houses in Blairhall Avenue.

And then back down onto Sinclair Drive.

Pictured above is Langside Library dating from 1915. This is one of the libraries funded by Andrew Carnegie and was also the first in the city to let your browse for books on shelves instead of having to request boooks from a counter.

There are lots of interesting features about this library but my eye kept coming back to these wee angels on the gate posts. Now that's one for the sketch book.

And then it was time for lunch. Heading back down onto Lochleven Road and into Cafe Ludovic which had been recommended by a friend.

Great home made burger and a latte later and was ready to head back into the city centre and Cadogan Street again.

I actually enjoyed this wee walk in the rain. Once again some old familiar sights and learned some new things. Need to come back another day and see more of what this area has to offer. And will definitely come back for the view from Camphill when the rain stops. If the rain ever stops!! :)

Be well, be happy!!