My picture gallery contains; photographs of the West End of Glasgow, photographs of Glasgow, and photographs of Scotland.

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25th April 2001

I have noticed this remarkable building a few times while driving up St George's Road - it seems so at odds with its surroundings; high flats, modern buildings, car parks and the odd bit of wasteland.

I know it is called St George's in the Field because that is clearly written across the top of the building - but apart from that I know nothing about the it. I wonder if it is still functioning as a Church?

The building has some pretty grand ironwork out-front. Here for instance is a picture of one of the 'gate posts'; it is the one on the right hand side of the main picture above.

Now that we are almost sure that the Kibble Palace will be closing down for a couple of years to get restored and 'developed' I have a good excuse to continue to take photographs of it. Proposed changes will include a new walkway within the building sloping gradually downwards to an underground cafe. There will also be a new building outside on the right hand side. I doubt if it will look quite the same after it has been restored; particularly if much of the original glass is lost.

The lighting is also sure to change - hope that doesn't mean the end one of the West End's best known nightime scenes.

I know that there are a lot of people who are in favour of the changes - and they may well be right, but my gut feeling is that I would like the Kibble Palace restored but not altered. Maybe there are economic reasons why that is not possible - or maybe it's a good thing, and they are right and I am wrong.

Anyway I figure I'd better get on my nostalgia trip right now - before the rush.

Around to the right of the Kibble within the herb garden you can find this Sundial. I am not sure of its history - although I have a vague memory of hearing that the friends of the Kibble collected money to get it restored.

Above you can see the playwrite and cast of the play 'Rent Strike Memories' who were rehearsing a few weeks ago for their show. The show is on tonight in the Annexe in Partick. On the left hand side is Sheila Reid the author of the play. Pat's freind Issi invited us along to the rehearsal and to take some photos. Sorry to take so long to get the photos on to the Web site.

Last week I took some time off work and we took a trip down to Prestwick and walked along the beach towards Troon. It was a nice day, bright and not too cold. I took some photographs - but the one I like most is this natural sand sculpture I spotted while walking along the shore.

On the way back from Prestwick we popped into the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine where Pat spotted this huge sculpture which had been rescued from the front of one of the old sailing ships. Very big, very strange and very colourful.

11th April 2001

I am very late starting my diary this month - if by any chance anyone was logging on hoping to see the latest photographs - I can only apologise.

While out trying to get some decent photographs of the Grosvenor Cinema I took the above photograph. This is the only part of Ashton Lane where you can see the original brickwork of the buildings - and very attractive it is too.

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You may or may not know about this old sundial that is situated within the grounds of Glasgow University. It is called the Terrestrial Globe or more commonly 'Lord Kelvin's Sundial'. According to a leaflet called 'Glasgow University - an Architectural Trail' I picked up from the University shop a while back it may have been made by Lord Kelvin himself - or it may be the work of his father James Thompson who was the professor of Mathematics at the University from 1832 until 1849. Interesting stuff eh?

A couple of weeks ago we had some lunch in the 'Naked Soup' restaurant in Byres Road. Very stylish I thought - nice colours, nice simple design. I had my camera handy and couldn't resist a couple of photographs.

A good friend of mine Derek McPherson returned to Scotland from Australia after a period of 14 years. Sadly he was home to attend his fathers funeral. I knew his father Hugh when I was young because the McPherson family lived next door to us. I liked him a lot; a friendly adult who had a passion for 'building things' in his attic workshop - for me this all seemed pretty exciting. I have fond memories of Derek's father and was very sorry to hear this bad news. By all accounts though he led a successfull and fulfilling life.

This was the first time I we had met Derek since he left Scotland - a strange experience; are we the same people? Should we relate to each other as friends or does 14 years turn you into a stranger? We shared a love of playing music when we were young - and that was a still meeting point for us - the musical dreams are still alive with Derek.It was good to meet up after all those years.

Bernard MacLaverty is a famous writer and frequent broadcaster on Radio Scotland. I went along with Pat who interviewed him for an 'up and coming' feature in the local characters section. A warm friendly person with stories to tell. I did my 'official photographer to the stars' bit and took a few snaps.

Some of his books have been turned into films - the most famous being 'Cal'.

I have a selection of my photographs for sale in the Gallery Shop.

Comments

Hi, I just came across your photo essay of Glasgow's West End. I used to live in St. George's in the Field and, while in Glasgow was able to find some literature at the library just down the road (down St. George's road towards Great Western Road). I was in Flat 1/2 which is the first one on the right at the top of the stairs. Some wonderful flats (unfortunately ruined by a terribly aggressive roommate... Pat, are you still living there?). I was interested to see the photo-detail of the iron works. I had the match to the top piece from the photo in my bedroom. I suppose some kids had knocked it off so it became my decoration. I look forward to checking into this site in the future to see if you update the info. Brad Martin
--Brad Martin ( ummar173 at cc dot umanitoba dot ca ) from Now Canada on 30.12.2001; 11:00:29 Uhr

Hi Jim Was interested to find a photo of my abode whilst looking for some history about it. I live in St Georges in the Fields. This was converted to flats about 13 years ago. I am looking for info on it myself. I do agree with you in that it looks out of place where it is. Thanks for taking a photo of it! Lynn
--Lynn McKenzie ( lynnmckenzie at supanet dot com ) from Scotland on 18.12.2001; 0:16:59 Uhr