West Boathouse
West Boathouse

Thank you!

There are a LOT of folks to thank for the West Boathouse re-opening event, so here goes…

Clubs

Thanks as ever to members, friends and family of our resident West Boathouse clubs - Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club, Clyde Amateur Rowing Club and Strathclyde University Boatclub for their support on the day and in the weeks leading up to the event, and a special shout-out to Ken Diamond, Julia Anne MacDonough, David Collie and John Eadie. To Glasgow Rowing Club for joining in the procession, and to the freshly-minted Skylark IX Trust coastal rowing club on their first trip ‘up the watter’ and to Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club for supporting the Skylarkers. To William Graham, Glasgow Humane Society officer, and his team of volunteers for keeping everyone safe on the water.

Volunteers

Thanks to all our volunteers (over 60 in total!), who came from the clubs, the West Boathouse project, Glasgow Doors Open Days, Friends of the River Kelvin, and the local area, to give up their time to make this happen. From stewarding to setting out tables, delivering the food and giving tours - we couldn’t have done it without you.

Speakers

Thanks to David Cook of Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (GBPT), who acted as Master of Ceremonies. We heard from Liz Davidson, Chair of GBPT; Stuart Housden of the National Lottery Heritage Fund; Bailie Leòdhas Massie and representatives from the resident rowing clubs - Caitie Gorton-Phillips (Clyde Amateur Rowing Club), Matthew Bell (Strathclyde University Boat Club), and Ken Diamond (Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club). And of course, a big thank you to our final speaker, Harry Leask, Team GB Olympic silver medalist and former Clydesdale ARC club member.

Catering

Thanks to Joanne Munro and team at Kelvingrove Cafe for the fabulous picnic lunches, and Rapscallion Soda who provided the very tasty (and healthy!) fizzy juice - and who very generously donated an extra 75 cans on the day. Necole Gallacher at Cakes, Balloons and More made our wonderful boathouse cake. Definitely NOT sugar-free!

Entertainment

Music was provided by the amazing Gorbals community music charity, Givin It Laldie and community brass band, Brass, Aye? A very special thanks to Chani Bond, Marix Leahy, Patrick Shand and Neil Sturgeon of Givin it Laldie, for putting together fabulous aquatic-themed sets that ran the gamut from The Chemical Brothers to Otis Redding. Members of the G5 Kids Choir (along with some members of the Youth Guitar Group), and Strum for Life truly lived up to their names and gave it plenty laldie. A special shout out to former Clyde ARC rower and musician Mick Slaven, who worked and performed with Neil and the Strum for Life group.

Brass, Aye? is a New Orleans-style community brass band and ALWAYS bring the party. They kicked proceedings off with a procession following the boats along from the suspension bridge to greet the arrival of the new flag for the boathouse. The finale of the ‘Tide is High’ with Strum for Life was truly joyous.

Talking of flags, the new flag specially commissioned for the day, was designed and created by artist Fiona Fleming with input from members of the Glasgow Disability Alliance.

Poet and author Carla Woodburn read out our ‘Promise to Clota’ to our river goddess (Julia-Anne MacDonough). Clota’s headdress was made by artist Willie Sutherland, from recycled lace by MYB Textiles. The promise was hand-stamped onto a reused stair tread from the building. Willie also created the souvenirs for the day - upcycled from the stair balusters of the building.

Partners

A huge thank you to all our project partners and friends.

In the marquee:

Our river goddess, Clota, talking about the newly launched draft Environmental Policy for the clubs and building. 

The Conservation Volunteers, who’d also been delivering some family workshops at Cuningar Loop in the morning (thanks also to Forestry Land Scotland and Clyde Gateway), along with local historian Peter Mortimer who gave a heritage walk along the Clyde. Also in the marquee were Friends of Glasgow Green, The People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, Glasgow Humane Society, the GALLANT project, and The Skylark IX Trust team.

On the Green, Glasgow Disability Alliance showed off the two ‘Caravelle’ skiffs they built with Archipelago Folkschool for the project back in 2019 and PEEK Project kept the kids amused with creative play and a fire pit.

In the boathouse:

Huge thanks to Willie Yeomans and team from the Clyde River Foundation, who brought along a tank of baby salmon and an eel! Also a huge thanks to Tita, Bodil, Billy and John, West Boathouse collections volunteers, who chatted visitors through the heritage collections. Special thanks to Chris Parsonage of SUBC for leading tours of the building.

Support and Logistics

Thanks to Baillies Marquees, GBR Scotland for a/v equipment and stage hire, and Diamond Shine Cleaners left the building spotless, 360 Events Hire, Eclipse Fire Extinguishers and Security Scotland kept us safe and secure on the day. Thanks also to Alistair from Timorous Beasties and Verity from Strange Field for helping us out with the project boats.

Glasgow Humane Society provided advice and support in advance as well as on the day. Thanks also to Glasgow City Council for getting us through the many legal and logistical hoops, and to the Shettleston Harriers for liaising around their 10k running event in the morning.

GBPT would like to say an extra special thanks to Sally Johnston for coordinating and bringing this all together, and to Hanneke Booij for generously giving her time and support to this and many other events and activities over the past three years.

Capturing the Day

Thanks to filmmaker Ally Bhatia from Mambo Video, official event photographer Julia Bauer and all the other folks who have kindly shared their images of the day.