In Recognition of GalGael's Work

GalGael have been favourably mentioned in a variety of publications recently including articles from The World Health Organisation, Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Scottish Natural Heritage, Oxfam, British Journal of General Practice and Fiery Spirits- Community of Practice.
Its great to know that our pioneering work is being recognised by diverse organisations who have identified that our approach makes a real and positive impact on not only to peoples health and well being but on the local and wider community. Our work extends to improving the landscape itself like tree planting in Argyll, involvement in the local community garden and helping build tidal defences in South Uist
GalGael have long recognised the inter- connectivity between poor health, addiction and crime as a product of the break down of community life. We also recognise that giving people something meaningful to do in an environment where everyone is respected and valued goes a long way to rebuilding lives and good citizenship. Our day to day work shows how the cost to the State can be reduced by helping people to reduce medication, treatment and contact with the criminal justice system by getting to the heart of the problem and not just by sticking a plaster over it.

To find out more have a look at the links below.

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/89/10/11-021011.pdf

http://www.gcph.co.uk/assets/0000/2627/GCPH_Briefing_Paper_CS9web.pdf

http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/C305095.pdf

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/scotland/2011/09/glaswegians_sail_to_south_uist.html

http://www.scdc.org.uk/news/article/community-resilience-handbook-based-global-experie/

GalGael AGM Thursday 27 October 5.30 til 9 p.m. GalGael Workshops 15 Fairley Street The past year has been a bit of a bumpy ride - as it has for many! But we're still here, still picking up hammers + chisels and making a difference where we can. Our AGM celebrates our journey through the year and the journey made by our participants. We do this through photos and collective remembering of the years events. We'll also be sharing food and music. Hope you can join us!

GalGael in the Papers

 GalGael are once again in the newspapers.
Journalist Deborah Anderson has a half page in the Evening Times on the new GalGael CD "Birlinn".
We held a well attended launch event on the 15th Sept. with around 100 people in the building. Songs from the CD were performed live to a very appreciative audience and we managed to sell some copies of the CD on the night.
Thanks to all who came along in support and it was good to see a few well ken't faces.
(Click on images to enlarge)

An intreped cohort of stalwart eco-warrior poet GalGael volunteers are in South Uist, braving gales and rollers blasting in from the Atlantic to erect coastal defences against rising sea levels. Or maybe they are in the hotel.
This is the second posse we have sent up as part of an Oxfam project where various community groups work on initiatives to share skills and empower each other. Read more in Gordon Blackstock's article in the recent Sunday Post.

GalGael Album Launch

The new GalGael album "Birlinn" is now on sale.

The whole project was initiated and brought to completion by some of our volunteers who also contributed their musical talents to a piece of work we are all very proud of.

Also included are songs and poems from staff and friends of GalGael and also includes some words from Colin.

We will be holding a launch (not a boat this time)event for the album on the evening of Thursday 15th September and all are welcome. Food and live music will be available.

If you would like to purchase the album online go to;

GalGael/Indiegogo

Thanks to all involved.

Interesting perspective on GalGael's work

Dr. Sandra Carlisle of the Afternow Project shared these thoughts on GalGael's work.

"One of the strengths of the GalGael Trust lies in the clear and obvious benefits it brings to participants, such as teaching various kinds of practical skills that foster their sense of social worth, and social skills that enable them to participate in and contribute more fully to their community - and, potentially, perhaps gain employment in future. It also, crucially, provides a culture of belonging for those who have often been shunned or dismissed by others. These are strengths the Trust shares with other exceptional community development organisations which deliver both intrinsic and instrumental benefits.

Where it differs from virtually all other such organisations – making it probably unique – is in providing a different kind of ‘story’ by which to live and with which to think, and thus a different kind of purpose and meaning in life. This strength should not be underestimated, even if it might not be readily understood by outsiders to the project. The meanings and values that GalGael participants bring to their work differ sharply from those found in mainstream society, where the dominant social and cultural values appear to be economism, individualism, consumerism and materialism. These dominant values impinge hardest on the lives of those living at the margins of mainstream society – unemployed people; people living in disadvantaged areas; people living on a low income, and so on – because they are associated with a particular way of life and a particular set of assumptions, from which disadvantaged people are effectively excluded. A key point to make here is that these mainstream values and assumptions have been found, by some of the most expert social commentators, to be damaging to both individual and social wellbeing. The conclusion many have drawn is that what makes for the good life, the life worth living - and in a sustainable form of society - is in urgent need of re-thinking.

The GalGael Trust actively resists the damaging socio-cultural trends referred to above in its day to day work and seeks to cultivate a deeper sense of what might be a life worth living. It arguably does this by re-integrating key dimensions of human life that are often separated by modernity, i.e. by forging new links between ‘the individual’ and ‘the collective’ (community, society etc) and between the social world and the natural world. An important point to make here is that, for any of to thrive in the face of the daunting problems now facing humanity world-wide, these separations urgently need to be addressed. The work of the GalGael Trust thus provides an extremely useful example of how this can be achieved, and one from which many others could learn. Given that most of the people with whom it works have experienced the most profound forms of disadvantage and exclusion, the Trust demonstrates the enduring human capacity for achieving transformational change and the ‘art of the possible’."

GalGael at Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival

Blessed with some blue sky, a work team of twenty occupied GalGael's now customary site in the Old Harbour at the Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival. Over the course of the weekend, the festival was reported to have 16,000 visitors and a fair whack of them will have come through our marquee, taking in carving, spinning and oar making. Our workshop back in Govan looked like we'd moved out as GalGael went on tour and set out their barra on the Moray Coast. It's always heart warming to interact with the general public and we got some tremendous feedback.

Mark on oar making

Rosie & Dougie rustle up custom on the raffle

Our boat (red, centre) nestles in with the rest of the skiffs

ps. if you entered the raffle, it was drawn on the stage in the harbour at 4 p.m. Sunday. 1st prize Flory, Portsoy; 2nd prize Romanik, Portsoy, 3rd prize Morag, Portsoy Thanks to all who entered!

Community against Coastal Erosion

Seumas and Tam reperesented GalGael along with staff and volunteers from Sunny Govan Radio, Tea in the Pot, Govanhill Baths and Karibou on a trip to South Uist to share experiences with locals and to see where we can help each other set up some new community initiatives. The trip was organised with Oxfam as part of their domestic strategy to deal with issues around poverty in the UK.

The group visited a fish farm, a hatchery, a seaweed processing facility and helped put up some fences as part of a coastal barrier to prevent the sea encroaching on precious farmland and machair. You can see pics at the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65054665@N05/