Category: General (Page 4 of 37)

I got this from latest Scottish Community Alliance mailing and its inviting participation from anyone who is interested, Nick Kempe

Invite to U.Lab Scotland

by Kenneth Hogg, Scottish Government

When the First Minister laid out her Programme for Government, she made great play of the fact that this would be the most open and accessible government yet. Participation and civic engagement were to be at its heart. Nice ideas but notoriously difficult to deliver. It’s now becoming apparent that some serious thinking has been going on in the background and plans are starting to emerge. Working with the world renowned MIT on a bespoke Scottish programme to facilitate change at all levels, Scottish Government is now inviting the country to get involved.

20/5/2015

Dear Colleague

I am writing to invite you to participate in and help lead a unique and innovative opportunity to transform communities, organisations and businesses across Scotland. Our world is changing rapidly around us. In mobilising change to deliver the outcomes we want to see, I believe we need to align ourselves with a sense of the emerging future as well as learning lessons from the past. We want to put participation and engagement at the heart of public policy in Scotland and across communities. U.Lab is an exciting new programme which stimulates and facilitates change in a way that values these goals. It offers a highly participative, future-focussed learning journey, designed to generate new approaches to delivering results and to accelerate the translation of ideas into action. U.Lab will run over September and October 2015 and will be open to anyone to participate, at no financial cost. I hope that participants from across Scotland’s communities will join us, along with colleagues from across the public, private and third sectors. A few of us from Scotland participated in a trial version of U.Lab earlier this year: we all found it a uniquely powerful and inspirational experience, and wanted to widen this opportunity to others.

U.Lab Scotland

You can find out more here In summary, U.Lab is a global programme run by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and led by Otto Scharmer, one of the world’s most respected thinkers and change practitioners. U.Lab will run from 10 September until end-October 2015, and will be delivered partly online and partly through local groups meeting together (physically or online). Participation will involve a commitment of a few hours (at least 3) each week, primarily through online learning materials which can be accessed 24/7 – whenever it suits participants. U.Lab provides world-leading expertise on how to accelerate change; participants themselves will bring the particular issues that are important to them. Given the potential we believe U.Lab has to support communities and improve outcomes the Scottish Government is working with Otto Scharmer to deliver additional bespoke Scottish elements of the global programme, including developing a supporting local infrastructure of hubs across Scotland.

Invitation

The invitation to you is twofold. The first is to participate yourself in U.Lab Scotland, and to invite others in your organisations, communities and networks to participate too. The more the merrier, and the formal online sign up facility will be available in a few weeks’ time. The second invitation, and the main reason for writing to you now, is to ask you to consider becoming a hub host and to encourage others to consider this role. Although it will be possible for any participant to engage with U.Lab entirely online and on their own, we are keen that where possible participants also meet in local coaching groups where they can provide and receive support from others in developing their ideas. Some hubs might be convening places for people who live in a particular geographical community and wish to focus on the needs of that community. Other hubs could support a more geographically widespread community of interest. The particular model developed would be up to those involved in each case. Although the Scottish Government is working hard to support U.Lab in Scotland we will not be influencing the specific work done within the hubs – that will be determined by the participants. In addition to hub hosts’ willingness to devote a few hours each week to U.Lab over the 2 month period and to facilitate hub discussions, the only other requirement would be that hosts were able to secure access to a physical space (usually a suitable room) or create an online space where participants could meet to discuss, display and develop their ideas. In the trial version of U.Lab, hubs were often hosted in workplaces

including local authorities, businesses, social enterprises and shared community spaces like cafés or community centres, and even in hosts’ own homes.

Hub host training and support.

We would like to invite anyone interested in participating in U.Lab Scotland, and particularly if they are interested in becoming a hub host, to attend some of the following preparatory events in Edinburgh:

1 June: 11am to 4pm – open to anyone wishing to learn more about U.Lab and how we might use it to lead transformational change in Scotland. Please book your space here

3 July: 9.30am to 5pm – strongly recommended training event for all hub hosts. We will be joined by Otto Scharmer and his colleagues to provide support and training to everyone taking on the role of hub host. Please book your space here

1 September: 9.30am to 5pm – strongly recommended preparatory event for all hub hosts. Please book your space here

Please contact Angie.Meffan-Main@scotland.gsi.gov.uk (0131 244 0545) if you have any queries.

At our last Committee Meeting (21st April) we agreed to review all of the communication systems currently used by the Strathbungo Society. As it is such a wide topic, we are going to have a single item meeting to fully discuss it.

Please come along and help us with this and if you have particular skills and knowledge in this area, we’d love to have your input. Attached is the agenda. The meeting will be held on Wednesday 13th May 2015 7.30 – 9.00pm at McMillan’s, corner of Pollokshaws Road and Titwood Road. If you can’t make the meeting but want to contribute, please get in touch at chair@strathbungo.com See you there!

LibraryTalks2015HS

New Glasgow Cycling App

If you are a cyclist you are being urged to download a new Glasgow Cycling app, developed by the council’s Future City team, to share information about the routes you use to travel. By doing this you will help create a more accurate picture of how you travel about the city. It will also make sure future investment is made in the right places.

You can download the app now from the Apple store. An android version will be available soon on Google Play.
The app also includes a new interactive Future City Glasgow map showing the locations of cycle parking, bike shops and biking organisations.

Figures show the number of cycle journeys into and from Glasgow city centre has increased from 3,012 to 9,255 a day – a rise of 207% – since 2007. This is equal to 1,851,000 cycle journeys taken evey year into and from the city centre. The city’s new bike hire scheme has had 34,128 rentals.

Future City Glasgow is a £24 million programme demonstrating how technology can make life in cities smarter, safer and more sustainable. The city won the funding in a competition run by InnovateUK – the UK Government’s innovation agency.

More information: Visit www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=14348.

From Teresa Mooney, the Chair of the Strathbungo Society:

Annual General Meeting – Tuesday 21^st October 2014

Many thanks to all of you who attended our AGM and took part in some lively discussion on areas of work that were proposed for the Society to take forward in the next year to improve our neighbourhood and address the issues that matter to residents.   Thanks to David Meikle and Norman MacLeod, our local Councillors, for attending our AGM and offering information and support of our work.

On the night Office Bearers were elected:

Chair – Teresa Mooney   chair@strathbungo.co.uk

Vice Chair – Allison Hussain

Secretary – Alison Hunter

Treasurer – Bryan Miller

It was agreed that we will continue with our events programme, the first of which is:

Bungo Birl: Get out your tartan for this great family event! Saturday 22^nd November

6 – 9pm. Tickets are on sale now (includes delicious buffet!)

Adults £12, Children £6, under 3’s free. Bookings at: bungobirl@outlook.com

In addition to all of our events, we have agreed to take forward the following – not in rank order!:

1. Improvements to the pedestrian bridge at Regent Park Square and the railway bridge at Susie’s Shop
2. Improvements to the raised grass verge and roundabout at Nithsdale Road
3. Traffic management in Strathbungo, including awareness raising regarding speed and parking, improvements to street lighting, pavements and possible closure of the streets in a rolling programme, to allow children to play unhindered by traffic.
4. A greater focus on the history of the area and origin of the Society and its work on heritage and conservation.

I’m delighted to say that we have a few volunteers to help us to make these plans real in the coming year and beyond – some of them will definitely take a bit more than a year!   If you were not able to attend on the night and would like to be part of developing any of the above areas, and/or our existing areas of work, please get in touch: chair@strathbungo.com

We’ll keep you updated on progress and look forward to seeing you at the Bungo Birl!

Looking for something to do over the October Holidays? Come join us at Cochiti Kids on Tuesday morning (10-12) at Shawlands URC Church Hall (111 Mossside Road) and together we’ll do some singing, dancing, and playing instruments to celebrate autumn!  Hazel, the squirrel, will be there to greet everybody and we’ll do songs and dances about falling leaves, golden corn and pumpkin patches. Afterwards, there will be a time for socialising with biscuits, fruit, juice, tea and coffee. Everybody welcome–school-age children, as well as 0-5 year-olds, parents, carers, grandparents. Cost: £8 for adult + child; £1 for each additional child.

The Strathbungo Society is gearing up for its annual AGM, taking place this year at 7.30pm on Tuesday 21st October at The Bungo-Lo on Nithsdale Road, G41.

Everyone is welcome to come and discuss, or just listen to, the Society’s plans for this year. Tea and refreshments will be available and it’s a chance to hear what and how local issues may affect you.

Items to be discussed at the AGM include:

• Maintenance & improvement of pedestrian bridge and upgrade of rail bridge
• Proposed bus lane running through Strathbungo, traffic management and cycle ways
• Improvements to raised grass verge on Nithsdale Road and Roundabout at Nithsdale Street
• Community Mural at Sainsbury’s
• Theme for Children and Young People’s Art Competition 2015
• Fixed Community Noticeboard
• Burns Supper/Ceildh in January
• History of Strathbungo/possible Blog page
• Any other suggested area of work on the night

Registration is open for this year’s 5k Glasgow Santa Dash.

The event will take place on Sunday 7 December 2014 starting and finishing in George Square.

The run, co-ordinated by Land and Environmental Services, is always popular – attracting runners of all abilities and ages.

This year 3,000 ‘Santas’ will run to raise funds for our two nominated charities: the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice and the Sunday Mail Centenary Fund.

Every registered participant will be issued with a Santa Suit and will receive a medal at the finish line. There are also fabulous spot prizes to be won on the day

Register now.
Registration for adults (over 16) is £15; £5 for children. To register and find our more visit www.glasgow.gov.uk/santadash

Teresa Mooney, Allison Hussain and Nick Kempe from the Strathbungo Society met with a representative from the roads section of Land and Environment Services (LES) on Thursday 25th September about the Nithsdale Rd and Street pavements resurfacing (see previous post on this issue).

We walked over the three pavements that had been resurfaced pointing out a large number of defects including places where the work had not been finished leaving a rough surface and holes. We pointed out that most stanks and other coverings to utilities to flats and businesses are now below the pavement level and many are now impossible to open, identified a section of pavement that had been missed because tree roots were protruding and to tubs and other street furniture belonging to local businesses that are now sealed into the pavement. Local business owners also pointed out that the contractor had left the pavements before they had set and removed barriers and this had resulted in people walking over the wet surface leaving footprints and bringing tar in shops and pubs.

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