Minutes of Commonwealth Games Celebration – Ideas Meeting

Sunday 8^th December 2013 4 – 5.30pm

Sederunt:

Teresa Mooney (Chair), Allison Hussain (Vice Chair), Daanyaal Hussain, Imaan Hussain, Eshan Hussain, Andrew Downie, Alisdair Downie, Nick Kemp, Councillor Norman McLeod, Baillie Hanif Raja, Paola Rezzilli, Rozanne McElone, Mark McDermott

Apologies:

Stephen Rees, Sharon Withey, Bryan Miller, Deidrie Miller, Allan Hunter, Miles Hunter, Lucy Hunter, Jenny Dalrymple, Elena Cooke, Daniel Cooke, Eleanor Downie Councillor David Meikle, Alison Hunter

1. Welcome & Introductions:

Teresa welcomed all to the meeting and noted that the reason for this meeting was to progress the decision at the AGM in October for the Strathbungo Society to organise a celebration of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

At the AGM, one of the ideas put forward was a closure of Nithsdale Road from the roundabout to the deadend at Pollokshaws Road and to hold games in the Street.  The purpose of today’s meeting was to firm up some of the ideas and make decisions on organising the ‘Strathbungo Games’.

Concern was expressed that there would be insufficient people to take responsibility for organising and running any celebration, particularly if it was on the same day as Bungo in the Back Lanes (BITBL’s).   Currently, the Society struggles to have a good level of volunteers.

However, it was noted that despite this and the relatively low turnout to this meeting, that there are people who are interested in being involved.  Some have expressed a willingness to support, but have not been able to attend.

Teresa noted the various sources of funding:  Glasgow City has sources and can also facilitate other funding, especially if a project takes up and uses the games legacy branding; Pollksheilds Area Partnership, Celbrate It! Fund ( Big Lottery ) and many others.  It was noted that funding for anything that the Society and the community wanted to arrange, should not be that difficult.  The first thing to do was to decide what activities would take place and where and then seek relevant funding.

1. 2.  Ideas Groups: facilitated:

The meeting did not split into groups.  Ideas were discussed and noted on flip chart paper on the walls, with the following headings:

Name   Logo   Theme    Activities

These have been collated and summarised on the attached sheet.

Some amazing and wonderful ideas were noted and it was agreed by all that there is certainly enough creativity and enthusiasm to make a start.

Some discussion took place about the closure of Nithsdale Road.  Councillor McLeod noted to the meeting that prior to it he had made enquiries about this and had had a positive response.  He noted that any road closure requires specific formal measures and takes time to go through all the necessary processes and procedures. He noted that the Society was beginning the planning process early enough to ensure success with this.

He noted his full support and help with putting the Society in contact with all the relevant services and agencies.  Baillie Raja also noted that he would support in any way possible the requests of the Society.  He noted that he would be willing to be proactive in ensuring the involvement of our culturally diverse community.

Discussion around the date and day took place and it was agreed that any Games celebration should not take place on the same day as BITBL – for practical and timing reasons.  Eventually it was decided that a Sunday would be easier in terms of any road closure and also that that Sunday should be as close to the start of the Games as possible.  As the Games run from Wed 23^rd July 2014 to Sun 3^rd August 2014, it was decided that the nearest Sunday is 20^th July 2014.

There were some very good ideas presented on involving ‘taster’ events and activities prior to the Games as a way of raising awareness of these activities and also generating interest in participating in the ‘Strathbungo Games’ as well as the actual Commonwealth Games as a spectator.  It was noted that the Society’s calendar of events, like the Children and Young People’s Art Competition and BITBL’s should have a sporting theme and perhaps some of the activities at them should be around sport.

It was noted that any pre-event ‘taster’ sessions, should be recorded by photographs, videos etc and a display of these made at the actual ‘Strathbungo Games’ as part of the area legacy.

It was noted to the meeting that there are a lot of local sporting and health activities on offer in the way of Clubs and Groups and this would be a good opportunity to involve them.  It was also noted that it would be good to have some sporting personalities and/or those associated with them to give talks, open any Strathbungo event and generally give a boost to the locality and promote interest in the event and the Commonwealth Games.

Some discussion took place around the involvement of local schools and in particular the possibility of using some of their sporting facilities, for example Hutcheson’ s Grammar ( ‘Hutchie’! ).  It was noted that some schools had been contacted re their own plans.  These could be considered along with all the other ideas.  There may be capacity to bring some of these together.

The purpose and participants in any Strathbungo event was discussed and it was agreed that although the event is primarily about the Strathbungo area it is anticipated that the wider locality and area would be included.  Many Strathbungo events, like BITBL’s attract visitors from far and wide.  However, more explicit links and involvement of the wider community in the event is sought.

There was discussion on how to publicise any road closure to the businesses and residents of the relevant part of Nithsdale Road, in order to gauge support and gather information about any specific issues that might need addressing.  It was agreed that this could be done via a ‘flyer’ delivered in the current Newsletter.

3.  Formation of young people’s group

There was no formal process to make a group of interested young people, those who were there expressed an interest in helping with this and this will be progressed more informally via e-mail etc and reported on at the next meeting.

1. 4.     Decisions and next steps

1. Date of ‘Strathbungo Games’ is to be;  Sunday 20^th July 2014
2. Teresa will collate and publish the ideas for activities generated at the meeting, along with those that have been given outside of the meeting on the Bungo Blog and via e-mail.   Any posting to ask for additional ideas and/or volunteering of help and support.
3. Nick will gather information about local sports Clubs and Groups
4. A meeting early in Jan 2014, to decide on activities for the Strathbungo event and all pre-event ‘tasters’ and activities and people who will coordinate the various elements.