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Beating the chill in Glasgow West End: First blog of 2016

I’ve been trying to grab some time to update my blog – so much has been happening I can hardly believe that’s us into a new year.

Some Highlights of 2015

Twenty fifteen held quite a few highlights – worthy of note was Professor Louise Welsh’s inaugural lecture  as new Head of Creative Writing at Glasgow University. It was a brilliant event – if you ever get a chance to hear her give a talk, don’t miss it.  There were lots of familiar faces in the audience –  I was particularly happy to catch up with Pauline Lynch, who’s debut novel Armadillos will go on sale in April.  I was also pleased to see John Dingwall  and Lala Manning – watch out for Lala’s Vintage and Retro Jeweller – you can buy online or atlocal craft fairs.

I also spotted a few faces from the briefly resurrected Hobsbaum Writers Workshop, including  Phil Murnin and Gail Honeyman, I was never entirely sure why I was included within this group of very talented writers but it was fun and I got to read a lot of poetry – quite a novel activity for me.

Launch of Bearpit Brothers’ ‘Something Cruel’

Another highlight of 2015 was the Bearpit Brothers launch of their CD, ‘Something Cruel’  – the gig at The Glad Cafe´was great; the band (Jim Byrne, Robert Ruthven, Larry Alexander and Angus Ruthven) were in excellent form and were well supported by Ryan Morcambe and Stephen Watt.  (Watch out for the launch of Stephen’s new pamphlet Optograms on 11 February at The Tron)

As usual we had a brilliant time at the West End Festival. We loved the Mardi Gras Parade, Gibson Street Gala and the new Queen Margaret Drive Street Festival, where both the Byrne boys, Peter and Jim, were on the programme. It was also a treat to see the Electric Gardens return to Glasgow’s Botanics Gardens.

Jim and I had a brilliant night out at Jersey Boys, in the fabulous Theatre Royal – Glasgow’s oldest theatre really is pretty impressive – and the show was great fun. Earlier in the year I had the pleasure of meeting some of the cast at a Jersey Boys promotional event in Ashton Lane.  The songs are fabulous and the cast incredibly talented.  See it if you get a chance.

More recently Ryan, Josh and I went to Webster’s Theatre to the Pantomime, Belter of a Cinderalla Story.  It was a laugh and very well done with just a handful of performers. Afterwards we met up with my son John and tried out the new Pizzas Express on Byres Road. We loved it and the staff were particularly pleasant.  I was back in Byres Road to celebrate Roisin Brady’s graduation in Casa Russo – congratulations, Roisin, and thanks for inviting me along. 🙂

The next celebrations was my birthday and I saw lots of friends and family.  Most of the men in my family came for dinner and Val, Rosemary and Margaret came for a wee soiree, laden down with presents.  Of course, we had more celebrations at Christmas and it was fun spending time with Ryan, his new wee brother Tai and Caitlin and also seeing all my great-nieces and one great-nephew.  Hogmanay with the Wilsons was also excellent.

It was also good to catch up with Jackie at Eusebi Deli , one of the best new restaurants to arrive in the West End in a long time.  After a delicious lunch and some Prosecco, we popped into the fabulous Thistle Gallery in Park Road. 

Another day I had a leisurely lunch with Anne and Frances in Cafe Source 2 and the other Frances and I had a tasty brunch in OranMor– followed by a wander round the shops in Cresswell Lane.  Nancy Smillie’s , as ever, was looking wonderful.  I introduced Frances to  The Hoodie Stop /Apple Box Gift Shop , Janet and John and Alison’s Attic – I think a return visit is definitely on the cards.

Along in Hyndland, Gillian and I had some delicious Welsh Rarebit in Epicure and then enjoyed a great browse in Cassiopeia Gift Shop, another shop now featured on my Best in the West. 

Sean’s Trip to Scotland

We had a great time showing my nephew Sean around when he came on a  visit to Scotland from Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He loved Glasgow and got to know the West End and the City pretty well. The Merchant City Festival was on so we spent some time at the markets and wandering round the Trongate. We also went along to the Graduate Show at Glasgow School of Art.  Our other nephew Sean, on Jim’s side, has just started the Art School – we had a lovely day out with him and Grandad, Jimmy, at The Lighthouse.  Hopefully we can hook up with him again soon – I fancy going along to the exhibition: Hello My Name Is Paul Smith , which starts on 21 January and runs until 20 March so that might be up Sean’s street.

Holidays

I had more than my fair share of holidays in 2015. Ryan and I had a great time in Nerja on the Costa del Sol,  I went to Canada to visit my sister and Jim and I had jaunts, to Paris and  London .  We had a lot of fun and visited some amazing places.  There’s nothing planned, as yet, for this year but I would love to see some more of Scotland’s islands and I quite fancy a trip to Italy but who knows – someone was recommending Split in Croatia and it sounds very enticing.

Fairs and Galleries

We’ve had lots of great days out with Jim’s dad, Jimmy. We’ve enjoyed the arts and crafts fairs at the Drygate and the Royal Concert Hall and we had a super wander round The Barras.  We’ve also spent a lot of time at the People’s Palace, GOMA and Kelvingrove – where we’ve been twice to see the wonderful exhibition – A Century of Style, 1800– 1899  You’ve still got time to catch this fabulous show as it’s on until the 14th February, 2016.

Recently Jim, Jimmy, Ryan and I enjoyed a wander in the snow at The Botanics.  The park was busy and beautiful with all the families and children out making slides and building quirky snow creatures.  The snow only lasted a day or two but what a treat after all the rain.

Glasgow Spring 2016

Spring is just around the corner – well just about. In the meantime there’s a lot going on in Glasgow, including  Celtic Connections, back in town with a vast selection of traditional and roots music in venues throughout the city. 

It’s also time to gear up for Glasgow Film Festival – the programme is out today (20 January) and you can now DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE  It’s going to be fun choosing what to see – one definite is Anomalisa at the closing gala

Burns Night is also coming up and you can take your pick of ceilidhs, suppers, concerts and literary evenings. Burns Events.

Including Night at the Museum at The Hunterian. Friday 22nd January.

Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival 2016  will be on between 10 – 20 March. This is one of my favourite events and I was delighted to meet Bob McDevitt the Programme Organiser for coffee at The Mitchell Library. Rrest assured this year’s festival is looking particuarly attractive with such diverse topics including ‘music, memoir, poetry and science.’  The programme will be available from 30 January.

A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Glasgow’s Lunchtime Theatre at OranMor, is looking good and a new Spring Programme for 2016 kicks off  on 25 January with ‘Causeway’

There should also be some exciting events in store with Scotland’s Festival of Architecture 2016  
and  Glasgow International Comedy Festival 10 – 27 March

Keep watching my What’s On for regularly updated information on new events and also check out What’s New

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