A celebration of Colin's life.

Thanks to all who attended or contributed to our event to commemorate the life and achievements of our own Colin Macleod. Around a hundred people braved the terrible weather to turn out and we kicked off with haggis and neeps to warm us up for the rest of the evening and thanks to all the kitchen posse once again. We had songs, tunes, poems and reflections all relating to Colin who passed away five years ago on November the 2nd.

It was great to see some faces from the past among the audience as well as folk who never met Colin but wanted to be involved.

It was celebratory event where we looked at Colin the guy who inspired us, made us laugh, and who let us see what is possible when we work together to build community with nature and with each other.

Recordings of the event should be broadcast soon on Sunny Govan Radio- we will keep you posted.

Thanks also to all those who attended our recent annual general meeting. Again, we were very happy with the turnout and Gehan, myself and all at Galgael would like to extend a very special thank you to Mhairi Hearle, Alan Edmonds, Penny Cousins, Wendy Reid, Ronnie Renton and our Alastair- our non staff board members. They have put in a huge shift recently when things got a bit difficult on a couple of fronts and we would like to express our gratitude for all the skills and hard work they bring to GalGael.

NEXT WEEK:


The life of Colin Macleod
- 5 years on

Monday 1 November, 6 – 8.30 p.m.
GalGael Workshop 15 Fairley Street

As All Hallows Eve gives way to All Saints Day and on the eve of the 5th anniversary of Colin’s passing, we invite all who share a connection to come together for an evening of story, poems and music.

In our day-to-day work at GalGael, in reaching out to others, Colin’s life is as relevant now as it was then. With this in mind, we’d love your company for an evening to connect with what it was about Colin that inspires us rather than remember sadness.
Please bring inspiring memories, stirring poems and songs to share. Please leave behind heavy-hearts and booze.
Please help get the word out by passing this on.

We hope to see some familiar faces on the night but please don't feel bad if you can't be there - life has a habit of being busy, which is why we're a bit late getting the word out. So we understand & it's enough to know people are around.

Gehan

The Secret Millionaire

Remember, we will be featured along with two other Govan projects on Channel 4's Secret Millionaire on the evening of November 21st. We are all dying to see it and hope we get positive feedback on the back of it. I'm not giving away any more information so you will just have to tune in and see what happened.

GalGael also have a five page feature in Novembers Scots Magazine which you can pick up for £1.99 in a good newsagent.

The Big Tidy

Thanks to all participants, volunteers and staff who helped in the recent big clean up of all corners of the GalGael premises. We closed doors for a week and blitzed the workshop, the sailing loft and other areas to get rid of all the stuff that has been hanging about for years. We recycled and gave away some of it and the rest went in the skip. We still have a few outstanding tasks but we are feeling the benefits already of having things in a bit more order.

The clean up gets us another step closer to refurbishing the kitchen area as well as opening up the sail loft as a potential space for wool craft as well as meetings and events.

Our wood storage area near the shipyard is also undergoing a good muck out and Tim and his team are supplying our burner in the workshop with some winter fuel as they get our stock of timber sorted out and ready for drying.

Tidy house, tidy mind as they say.

Star Student

Congratulations to Patsy Anderson on receiving an award from Cardonald College on being their best outreach student. Patsy claimed her award in the theatre within National Stadium at Hampden in front of a full house with her nearest and dearest in attendance. She is a wonderful lady and totally deserves her award for all the spirit she has displayed and for inspiring those around her.

"If their were more places like GalGael then there would be less need for medication" says Patsy and I am sure many of our participants would agree.

(pic to follow)

Blaze scare next to the GalGael workshop

Monday September 6th 2010

Sixty fire fighters managed to bring a blazing pile of burning tyres under control just a few yards away from the GalGael workshop. Emergency service vehicles filled the length of Fairley St and a cordon was set up around the area. Ibrox underground had to be closed as the blaze raged. GalGael staff evacuated the building. We were very lucky that the wind was carrying the flames away from our premises or it might have been a whole different story.Three exploding gas bottles were heard though do not seem to have caused any damage either.

The plume of smoke could be seen from Ayrshire but fire fighters brought it under control relatively quickly. Thanks go out to the Fire Service who saved the day, the GalGael women who arrived first and cleared away flammable containers and wood away from the danger area and to the Whitefield Centre for the tea and for accommodating us while we nervously waited as the firemen tackled the blaze.

As far as we know no one was injured. We will bring you more information as it comes.

Sail and Oar event Millport, Cumbrae

Despite numerous hurdles, all our hard work paid off at the sail and oar festival at Millport on Cumbrae. It was our biggest ever event and it stretched us to the limit but our efforts fell into place and we were also blessed again with brilliant weather.

It was amazing to watch traditional boats moving about the bay under sail or being rowed as families watched from the beach. There was a myriad of activity on both land and sea for the two days, with our usual crafts displays as well as raft races, boat trips, a music marquee, tug of war, kids boat pool, ceilidh and much more.

The local community were delighted with the event with many of them being involved in the organising or just having fun with the activities.

It was fantastic to meet the Basques, Galicians, Portugese and the Irish crews as well as those from various parts of Scotland, they all helped to make it a wonderful, colourful occasion that many wish to repeat.

A special "well done" goes out to Gehan our Project Manager for her hard work and for doing such a mighty shift. She pulled out all the stops to make it happen and deserves much praise for the success of the event. Also, thanks to everyone who worked their buns off to make it the great weekend it was.

Try the link below for pics to get a flavour of the event.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gehanmacleod/SailAndOarFestivalOnCumbrae?feat=email

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdVrvjCqX1Y&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyz0gQTtD5w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWUYMBTWP3Y