Scotties in The City Art Trail

The Scotties in the City Art Trail has been such a big hit this summer Everyone has loved them and have their favourites. This month they came off the streets of Glasgow but there was one last chance to see them. The giant sculptures, as well as 52 smaller ones, came together for one last time for a Farewell Weekend at Bridgeton Bus Garage, home of the Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust. The art trail, which was launched by Maggie’s Honorary Patron Kirsty Wark and Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren, in June, was live for eight weeks on the streets of Glasgow. Soon they will they off to auction on 10 September. Four year old Astrid was with her favourite with the traffic cone.

Hayley Smith , project manager for the Scotties in The City Art Trail for Maggies cleaned up the Scotties ahead of the farewell weekend at Bridgeton Bus Garage.

Mary Doll Returns

I was photographing The Tall Ship Glenlee’s much-loved figurehead as she was craned back into position following conservation work. The figurehead, affectionately known as “Mary Doll”, one of Glasgow’s most recognisable maritime figures was carefully lifted and reinstated beneath Glenlee’s bowsprit, returning a familiar face to the bow of the 130-year-old Clyde-built sailing ship.

We had a bit of extra fun as  Lauren Henning, Learning and Museum Manager put some lipstick on Mary Doll for luck.

Rise & Shine at The Crannog Centre

I has an amazing day at the The Scottish Crannog Centre in Perthshire this month. With the Crannog now finished and looking magnificent. I was at the Rise & Shine Festival which was celebrating its fifth year of collaboration between the Centre and the UNESCO RIELA team. The event brought together artists, craftspeople, musicians, and community organisers from Scotland and around the world to explore themes of climate justice, refugee integration, and sustainable traditions. It was a super day with some amazing people. I was most impressed by a coffee making process that can take nearly four hours.

Returning To Crocodile Rock

I had a visit to Millport this month. I love it there and especially with an ice cream from the Ritz Cafe. I was meeting some scientists from the University of Glasgow for the Project Eisirean at Millport where a new mobile oyster hatchery is based. Analysing original Gaelic and Scots place-names has helped the team of scientists rediscover the locations of important oyster beds on the West Coast of Scotland.

Rediscovering the West Coast oyster beds is the culmination of several years of work undertaken by Project Eisirean, a collaboration between ecology and environment researchers and Gaelic and education experts at the University of Glasgow alongside local community organisations on the west coast of Scotland. The work, funded by grants from UK Research & Innovation, was led by Dr Anna McGregor, an expert in coastal ecology, who had the original idea of locating oysters through traditional place-names and then applying scientific techniques to confirm oyster presence within them.

I thought the best place for the picture would be on the famous Crocodile Rock with some of the oyster shells. Pictured are Dr Anna McGregor, ecologist at the University of Glasgow and Project Eisirean lead with Claire Ramjan from the University’s School of Education and Scottish Songwriter Gillebrìde MacMillan.

Always Time For Golf

Being a golf fan I was delighted to visit Bearsden Golf Club to photograph Robbie Bowie-Cameron who is profoundly deaf. He was representing Scotland for the first time in his career at a competition in Sweden. Competing in the event was made possible from money provided by sponsors, including Glasgow based audiology group The Hearing Clinic UK. He has their name on his cool golf bag which I thought looked great with the Highland Coo head cover. He was a total pro, getting his picture taken in the rain , going voluntarily into a bunker and then off to work. A super guy.

Butterfly Flutter By

With the return of the warm weather I was in the garden watching the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly as it sat on one of our a purple Verbena bonariensis flower. Gardens are alive just now with the summer insects.

Symphonic Pride in Full Colour

I  had a great visit to the City Halls in Glasgow. It was for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s Symphonic Pride hosted by Bryan Burnett. What a fantastic night and such a feel good atmosphere.

Bryan was in great for with his chat. My favourite tune was a full-orchestra Pink Pony Club. It was nice to see the rainbow colours on the musicians.

From Farm To Fork

I was visiting  the Jack & the Beanstalk Farm in Dumbarton with GLASCHU Head Chef  Conner Magee. Connor was looking at all the fresh produce the farm has on offer. GLASCHU was having a one-night dining experience celebrating the farmers, growers and artisan producers the Royal Exchange Square restaurant has on its doorstep. There was so much great produce on show. It is really true that the more local and home grown really does taste better.

Strike a Pose

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for their Honorary Graduations is always a great day with such a buzz in the room. Christopher Bruce CBE with his Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with graduates from the RCS School of Dance. They all, when asked, did strike a pose.

The Burns Supper  225 Years Old

I didn’t know but Two hundred and twenty-five years after the first Burns Supper was held at Burns Cottage in Alloway, Scotland, a new study of the celebrations was held during the anniversary year shows that the tradition, now marked around the world, retains many of the customs established at the original supper.

The research by the University of Glasgow, The Burns Supper at 225 Years: Scottish Tradition, Global Reinvention – draws on more than 1000 Burns Suppers held across 75 countries and all seven continents during this anniversary year.

Like the first Burns Supper, held on 21 July 1801 by nine admirers and friends of Robert Burns to mark the 5th anniversary of his death aged just 37, the traditions established more than 225 years ago continue to unite the poet’s enthusiasts. Pictured in Burn’s Cottage are Research Associate Dr Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman with Professor Pauline Mackay, Director of the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at The University of Glasgow.

It did seem very different with having haggis and a Burn Supper in July but I thought a nice picture of Professor Pauline Mackay with Chris Waddell, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum’s Learning Manager reading his book of Burns in the background in the gardens of the Cottage with the huge Robert Burns figure in the distance.