FACTS
City set to remember cultural event of a generation
IF YOU lived in the west of Scotland in the late 80s, it is likely to be one of the most memorable cultural events of your life. The 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival was launched 30 years ago. And it is now being marked again in the city by a series of nature events next month. The Glasgow Wildlife Garden Festival 2018 will feature a series of talks, walks, fairs and exhibitions, and will hark back to the iconic celebration which helped rejuvenate Scotland’s biggest city. For the entire summer of 1988, Glasgow city centre became an attractive venue for a family day out as the Garden Festival offered an open-air celebration of local culture and entertainment, set in a beautifully landscaped riverside setting that made it seem like a foreign holiday destination. There was the first The Clydesdale Bank tower was dismantled and re-erected in Rhyl, north Wales. However, its spiritual successor came in the form of the Glasgow Millennium Tower as part of the Science Centre complex, almost on the same spot. BY BRIAN McIVER b.mciver@dailyrecord.co.uk rollercoaster that many Scots had ever been on, boat trips, a 240ft revolving tower and fantastic open playing fields where you could try out new sports.
Recreated tenement blocks and working trams offered a nod to the city’s past, while entertainers, stalls, food courts and even a cool steam train which would take you around the massive site on the south side of the River Clyde, all offered a fab day out for than four million people.
The Coca Cola Roller and Clydesdale Bank 150th Anniversary Tower were incredible landmarks and attractions, and the Bell’s foot bridge predated the squinty bridge by connecting north and south. Both the rollercoaster and tower were sold off and exported to new homes around the UK and there was genuine sadness when the festival shut its gates in September 1988.
For years, there was chat about reinventing the site as a park or public space for Glasgow but there was a real sense of missed opportunity when the site was stripped and mothballed.
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on the site of the 2012 Games is a large scale example of what could have been done next to the Clyde.
Thirty years later, the location is at last in use and busy again.
The fantastic Glasgow Science Centre is there, next to the headquarters of STV and BBC Scotland, looking all shiny in concert with their opposite bank neighbours of the Armadillo and the Hydro, and now a number of nice hotels.
Could still do with a rollercoaster, though.