Bungo Blog

Some great news from Govanhill Baths Community Trust this week.

They, The Arches and the National Theatre of Scotland have clubbed together to create a “celebratory and interactive community drama production” in the toddler/learner’s pool.

20 performances will take place over three weeks and as part of the production the toddler/learner’s pool will have a £90,000 refit, leaving it fit for use thereafter on “a limited but significant basis”.

The performances will be in October, which means we should have a partially refurbished pool open to swimmers by the end of the year!

http://www.govanhillbaths.com/news/2012/mar/19/90k-investment-re-open/

For those new to the area, you can find out a bit about the long path to this here:

http://www.govanhillbaths.com/about/origins/

Glasgow City Council is carrying out a slighty-worryingly-titled “dog fouling initiative” in our ward just now.

Some householders may have received a letter and flyer but for those who haven’t, the initiative means the Council will be stepping up enforcement activity in the area.

Enforcement officers will be “actively” monitoring the area for dog fouling offenders and issuing on-the-spot fines of £40. They will also be making more use of CCTV and are encouraging residents to call the Clean Glasgow hotline to report dog fouling in their area, particularly if they can identify the owner.

The hotline number is 0800 027 7027

or email clean@glasgow.gov.uk

or write (evidently on a very large envelope) to:

Clean Glasgow, Public Relations and Marketing, CEO’s Office, GCC, Room 2, City Chambers, George Square, Glasgow, G2 1DU.

It may be churlish to point out that the address is for PR and Marketing and there’s an election coming up…but as my nursery run is also fondly known as “the dog poo buggy slalom”, it’s good to see some attempt to sort out the problem.

Some… Starthbungoites? Strathbungoians? Strathbunyans? are probably aware of the Viennese Ensemble. (At least four people are, since there are two members from Strathbungo and I’m pretty sure our spouses have noticed us slipping out for rehearsals every week.)

The Viennese Ensemble plays pop music so old that my grandfather, who recently passed away in his mid-nineties, may have just barely remembered it from his childhood. Think of European cafe scenes from old films, gas-lit streets, waltzing in nightclubs, that sort of thing.

Though the music we play is as old and durable as Strathbungo houses, the Viennese Ensemble has now entered the digital age! We have:

• an archive of live tracks onBandcamp,
• a WordPress blog for keeping track of upcoming gigs,
• and a Facebook page that you can ‘like,’ and where I’ll post links to new gig and tracks

We hope that you enjoy listening to this music as much as we enjoy playing it- and it is FUN to play.

We’ll be playing at the craft fair at Church on the Hill – kitty corner across Queen’s Park – this Saturday, March 31st, from 2:00 to 4:00.
(Please note that the fair has been moved from Sunday to Saturday.)

Come listen to us for free and buy our new CD!

Not an easy thing to do, animation can take years to make.  But many children who came along to the Spring Fling at Queens Park Parish Church on the 17th March took part in animation workshops led by local animator Jim Stirk of Red kite Animation studios in Edinburgh. The kids had only 1½ hrs to make cut-out animatable puppets and use computers and cameras to animate short films. They did great and their films are now on Red Kite’s workshop website for all to see for ever!! Well done film makers!

See the films on Red Kite’s site

So what’s opening up on Nithsdale Road? Merry-Go-Round is a not-for-profit organisation selling good-quality used children’s items.

As well as having a gorgeous shop packed full of goodies, they will also have a real nappy library for you to rake through, a toy library that you can borrow from, a fantastic parenting room and space for local groups to meet.

As it’s not-for-profit, the owners are being resourceful in refitting the shop. They have shelves made by Glasgow Wood Recycling from salvaged scaffolding planks, second-hand furniture which they’re repairing and repainting and the shop is being redecorated by volunteers, friends and family.

They’re always looking for extra help, donations of items to sell and to fit out the shop. Right now they’re looking for light grey floor paint, some sheets of MDF and someone with joinery skills to make mantelpieces for the original fires they’ve discovered.

Contact them via Facebook, or pop by the shop whenever you see the shutters open.

The winning artworks in the Children’s Art Competition have gone on display in local cafes. Please enjoy them while you can as they are only on display for a fortnight. Looking for a particular pictures?

Winners in the 0-5 category are on display in Gusto And Relish.

Winners in the 5-8 category are in Tapa.

Winners in the 9-12 category are in The Bungo Bar And Kitchen

Winners in the 13-16 category are on display in Mulberry St.

120319 Strathbungo Society Monthly Minutes March 2012

South Glasgow Heritage and Environment Trust and Tram Direct are presenting “To Serve is to Resist,” a new play by Ian Morland, on the last weekend of March at Queen’s Park Church. The artistic director is Isobel Marrett.

The play is based on the life of Jane Haining, a Scottish Missionary and Queen’s Park Church parishioner who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1944. Jane was born in in Dunscone near Dumfries in 1897 and later moved to Glasgow, where she was employed for ten years at a threadmaker’s in Paisley. She volunteered as a missionary and was sent to a Church of Scotland mission in Budapest in 1932.

In Budapest, Jane served as a school mistress and was in charge of 400 orphans and poor children, mostly Jewish, who attended the Scottish Missionary School. The Church tried to recall her to Scotland when the Nazis invaded Hungary, but she refused to leave the children. ‘If these children need me in the days of sunshine’, she said, ‘how much more do they need me in the days of darkness?’

This is Jane with the children at the school in Budapest. She's second row, third from the right.

In 1944, she was arrested by the Nazis for helping Jews and for “espionage” and sent to Auschwitz to be killed.

One of her former students recalled ‘I still feel the tears in my eyes and hear in my ears the siren of the Gestapo motor car. I see the smile on her face while she bade me farewell. I never saw Miss Haining again, and when I went to the Scottish Mission to ask the minister about her, I was told she had died. I did not want to believe it, nor to understand, but a long time later I realised that she had died for me, and for others. The body of Miss Haining is dead, but she is not alone, because her smile, voice and face are still in my heart.’

There are two stained glass windows in Queen’s Park Church commemorating her heroism and she has been included in the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles in Jerusalem. You can find out more about Jane Haining at Wikipedia, at the East Renfrewshire Council’s Holocaust Memorial Day site, and at ‘The Holocaust: Crimes, Heroes and Villians.’

There will be three performances at Queen’s Park Church (170 Queen’s Drive):

• Friday 30 March 2012 at 7 p.m.
• Saturday 31 March 2012 at 2 p.m.
• Saturday 31 March 2012 at 7 p.m.

Tickets cost £7 (concessions £6).

For more information, telephone 0141 423 6037, email manager@tramdirect.com or visit www.tramdirect.com. Ticket can be bought in advance, and any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

A small exhibition will be on display during the production. Tea and coffee will be served, but I would advise attendees to bring their own supplies of kleenexes.

Is there a plant you associate with Strathbungo?

What grows well in your garden or a neighbour’s?

Which plants do you notice as the seasons change?

The holly trees that punctuate the green streetscape of Pollokshields relate to its motto “Do good while the holly is green”. There are holly trees on nearly every street and this got the Society thinking – is there a plant for Strathbungo?

We know the area was known for growing flowers as crops in the past and we’re researching this but we’d like you to nominate a plant for Strathbungo with the aim of finding one we can all be encouraged to grow in pots, window boxes, back greens or gardens.

We’re hoping to combine this with a community planting project at Bungo In The Back Lanes and distribute seedlings.

We’ve already had one suggestion for Eryngium Alpinum (pictured), described as “A really lovely plant; it is strong, tough and really represents the spirit of the Strathbungo Community.”