Author: jonathan (Page 1 of 4)

If anyone saw anyone loitering or otherwise acting suspiciously around the entrance to Moray Place this morning at around 6.30am do contact the police. Someone set fire to a car just outside our house this morning and the fire brigade don’t think it was an electrical fault!!

Zero tolerance to criminals in Strathbungo!

Having recently returned from a long trip to the US I was immediately reminded by the amount of litter and other rubbish in the streets in Glasgow. The US (at least the parts which we visited) appeared almost litter free promoting a sense of pride in the area and of security. Not only were the streets cleaned, and bins emptied but one got the strong impression that littering was not only a criminal offence but a huge social no-no – akin to peeing on a gravestone.

In contrast many parts of Glasgow however (including Strathbungo) appears plagued with litter and people’s household rubbish in the street. Part of the problem is the Council’s policy of removing everyone’s rubbish left in the street which just encourages people to leave more not bothering to take their own rubbish to the nearby bin or the recycle centre. But there appears also a sense of resignation to the problem with a reluctance to challenge people who leave their rubbish in the street – for I can’t believe for a moment that people only litter in the dead of night when no one else is looking.

To help clean up Strathbungo and to keep it clean let’s all commit to a) not littering or leaving our rubbish in the street or around the public bins and b) challenging anyone who does so. Just a polite, ‘sorry mate, but you seem to have forgotten this’ would do.

Don’t mess with Strathbungo.

A few folk have asked for carols and singing at the bells so we thought to post the carol sheet from the 23rd for those who want to join in. If you fancy some singing just print it out and bring it along with you tonight. Click here for a link to the carols. Bungo Carols 2011

Also here are the words to Auld Lang Syne for those who are perhaps more familiar with the first verse and chorus than the last four verses (that includes me!):

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne* ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo (or my dear),
for auld lang syne,
we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
and surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We twa hae run about the braes,
and pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
sin auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
sin auld lang syne.
CHORUS

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
and gie’s a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

See you all tonight!

A gentle reminder that residents and visitors are requested not to park in Marywood Square between Moray Place and the first set of back lanes from about 10.30 pm tonight.

And there will be no access into Marywood Square from Moray Place from about 11.30pm to 1.30am.

This is no ‘official’ closure, but rather a social contract between Strathbungo residents. Residents can get in to Marywood Square by cutting through the back lanes from Queen Square or Vennard Gardens. And there is always plenty of parking on Darnley Road over the railway.

If you have visitors please do remind them about the voluntary restrictions.

With the Bungo at the Bells (the street celebration of Hogmany in Strathbungo) only a few days away we thought to remind everyone of it. It’s a hoot and goes on into the small hours – weather dependent so wrap up well and bring your own refreshments!

The procession begins as usual at 11:30pm on Nithsdale Road and in Vennard Gardens before winding its way to the venue (this year, as last year, it’s on the corner of Marywood Square and Moray Place). Bring your pots and pans with which to bang a tune and a wee bottle of something in your pocket to keep you merry. We missed our piper last year so if anyone has a set of pipes and wants to play us into the new year do bring them along.

We’ll have a blog post about the parking closer the time but be warned that we w ill ask those who park on the corner of Marywood and Moray Place to find an alternative spot for the night.

A reminder to those interested in joining us for carols around Strathbungo that we plan to kick off at the Bungo Restaurant at six o’clock (pm that is not am) on Friday and spend the next couple of hours entertaining the gentlefolk of Strathbungo with a selection of carols.

The weather has perked up a little from last week but come prepared for rain and cold if not snow. If you have torches, lanterns, santa hats, reindeer antlers etc do bring them along. We have managed to secure the services of a clarinetist (you’re a star Dee) to lead the carols but anyone with a B flat instrument or who can transpose please do bring it along.

We need singers as well as folk who can knock on doors to collect for Shelter, who we will be collecting for this year. The more the merrier so do bring along the kids (Santa only brings presents to children who have sung carols!), the elderly parents (same argument, but with sherry) and neighbours you come across on the way.

A few of us are meeting at my place this evening at eight o’clock for a practice session so if you are interested in joining us for that do drop me an e mail and I will send you my address in Strathbungo.

A few of us thought that carol singing up and down the Squares in Strathbungo this Christmas would be a good community event – as well as raise a few bob for charity.

So on Friday the 23rd December we propose that everyone who is interested in joining us (we are hoping for upwards of 30 people) congregate outside the new Bungo restaurant at six o’clock and we will take it from there wandering up Nisthdale, down Regent Park Square, up Queen Square, down Marywood Square and then back along Moray Place. We’d stop every couple of lamp posts for a carol before moving on. We’d need both singers as well as volunteers to knock on doors collecting money for Shelter Scotland who are looking after people who find themselves homeless. I imagine that it would take a couple of hours and those interested could stop for a drink at The Bungo (or wherever) afterwards to recover.

If you have an instrument do bring it along and you can lead the singers. (Though please no bagpipes – not so good for accompanying singers!)

Don’t worry if you can’t sing – come join us anyway. Six O’clock outside The Bungo on Friday 23rd December. We’ll provide carol sheets will post the names of the carols on line a day or two before so you can remind yourselves what they should sound like (Youtube is great for that!). Bring warm clothes and a candle or two (you’ll need them to both see the carol sheets and to keep warm!)

I don’t normally post stuff about things to do in the area, but this one caught my eye as it promotes itself as a venue in which people from different ethnic groups and backgrounds can meet and mix together socially. For as we know, while this area is very culturally diverse, there seems that there is little intermixing between the various ethnic, religious, social and, dare I say it, class backgrounds.

Any venue that can bring people together more is, in my view, a very good thing and should be supported.

Thing is, I can’t work out where it is going to be. They are having a bash this weekend at La Roche Rumba this weekend which looks like cracking fun. But I can’t see anything on their website to suggest where the cafe is going to be located. If anyone knows then please do include the address in a comment on this post or let me know and I will add it.

This is what they write about themselves,

The venue will be open in the evening to provide a home for creative new and world music and other artforms that exist outside of the mainstream.

It is intended that the Glad Café will be a café/venue based in the Pollokshields/ Govanhill area of Glasgow – the heart of Scotland’s most ethnically diverse community. We’ll provide freshly prepared seasonal food as well as a warm hub that will encourage people from different backgrounds to meet and mix informally. In addition, we’ll also have a well equipped, 200 capacity venue that will be open in the evening to provide a home for creative new and world music and other artforms that exist outside of the mainstream.

And I do love their video.

On Monday 22nd at around 9pm a car was abandoned and torched beside the pedestrian railway bridge at the corner of Moray Place and Regent Park Square. A fire engine quickly put out the blaze and the police were on the scene in minutes. No one was reported to be hurt in the incident and it is unclear whether other vehicles were damaged either from the fire or as a result of the car driving the wrong way along Regent Park Square.

There is no suggestion that this was the work of someone living locally or someone who is known locally but the police were taking statements from residents. If anyone else has any information about the driver of the car or any passengers please do contact the police.

Zero tolerance for street crime in Strathbungo

Update – Seems that someone tried to rob a G4S security van on Victoria Road yesterday at around the same time. I suspect that this was the getaway car which they trashed to destroy any evidence.

After the English riots last week there was something very reassuring about this photograph by David Levene which whizzed around the news wires and the internet. It showed a strength of community spirit that wasn’t going to be broken in spite of some pretty severe provocation and not inconsequential damage to town centers throughout England. It got me wondering why there weren’t similar riots or at least disturbances in Scottish towns and cities which, I am sure, most Scottish politicians could answer, but I, not being from around these parts, was unable to answer.

As an Englishman having lived in Strathbungo for the better part of two years now, it has struck me that Scotland has a much stronger sense of national and cultural identity than England. No doubt the reasons for Scotland remaining riot free are considerably more complex than a strong sense of identity but I suspect that it counts at least for part of the explanation.

An (unrelated) discussion with Police Officer this week about crime prevention in Strathbungo did yield an interesting comment from her on community spirit. She said that in the past people were much more willing to challenge antisocial behaviour whereas now people were more minded to call the police. Perhaps we are more afraid of the consequences of challenging unruly behaviour for fear of being verbally or physically attacked. Certainly the level of violent crime in Glasgow reported weekly in the press would appear to warrant such concerns, but it is a pity that we are more afraid of challenging bad bahaviour that we were. My suspicion is that, like the fear of hitchhiking, the fear of reprisal following challenging antisocial bahaviour is more imagined than real. Challenge doesn’t need to be aggressive – indeed it should never be aggressive – but more a reminder to those out to disrupt the social order we have enjoyed for a long time that antisocial behaviour is not acceptable.

Those people in the photograph holding up brooms are not afraid. They are not aggressive. They do not even appear to be angry. They are just reclaiming the streets from thugs and louts. The response to the riots in England as shown in the photograph should be an inspiration to us here in Strathbungo. Certainly next time I come across someone raking through and overturning the bins in the lanes, or trying car door handles, or shouting at someone I will be having a quiet word to remind them that Strathbungo is not Enfield, Peckham or Croydon. If it gets nasty I will however be the first to hightail it out and give the police a call. But the first line of defense in Strathbungo should be its community members. Every riot has its warning indicators and they invariably involve a breakdown of any sense of community spirit and antisocial behaviour and petty crime left unchallenged.

Let’s never let Glasgow look like this on google maps! Let’s clean-up Strathbungo before we need the brooms!