SADNESS AND LAUGHTER
SIX days a week, 52 weeks a year the Evening Times brings you the best in Glasgow news coverage, from the courts, council, community groups, schools and streets. We report the good and bad of the city and hope the stories we tell encourage and inspire the public bodies and citizens of the city to do the best they can. Here
looks back through their cuttings file at the past 12 months CATRIONA STEWART
JANUARY began with some sad news.
Clydesdale horse Baron, the heavy horse immortalised in Andy Scott’s Kelpies sculpture, died following a short illness.
Described as “gentleman”, Baron has been much missed by all those involved in his care.
In February I was contacted by residents in Toryglen who wanted help publicising the terrible time they were having with energy works that should have 12 weeks to complete but were then running 191 days late.
A wide variety of botched jobs and snagging issues had locals tearing their hair out.
Now running more than a year late, the situation for the 608 properties involved is still not entirely resolved.
Glasgow City Council is planning an investigation into the saga involving Thistle Housing Association and energy firm E-on.
We revealed in March that new build primary schools in the city are to have unisex toilets.
Despite some concerns from parents, education chiefs were at pains to point out the benefits of non-gendered bathrooms and said there would still be private spaces for pupils who didn’t want to use the shared toilets.
Fraudster Douglas McAllister found himself on the front cover of the Evening Times in April, his theft having been unmasked by a sordid affair with a colleague.
The married father-of-three put more than 40 jobs at risk when he stole more than £43,000 from city family firm Mandors.
He began an affair with a woman 14 years his junior and left their sex tapes behind on memory cards in a box marked ‘To Do’.
Husband and wife Karen and Michael Deutsch spoke of their devastation at being betrayed by a man they trusted.
I went to McAllister’s home to seek a comment from him and met his wife who had no idea about her husband’s actions.
She later supported him at Glasgow Sheriff Court where he dodged jail due to having borrowed money from friends to repay Mr and Mrs Deutsch.
Also in April I had the great privilege of meeting teenager Connor McDowall, who was weighing up the pros and cons of a stem cell transplant to treat his leukaemia.
Connor and his mum, Angela Quinn, had an obvious bond and Connor was a delightful young man.
I was deeply saddened to learn in July that Connor had died of his illness. At Christmas Angela was in my thoughts.
Throughout the year, as benefit changes have taken their toll, the strain on foodbanks has been a recurrent theme.
In May Glasgow NW Foodbank was so low on supplies that organisers said it would only be able to help a handful of people despite seeing 20 to 30 clients a day.
We launched an appeal on behalf of the foodbank, just one of a number of calls made for support in the Evening Times in 2017.
Also that month we told how Bonnybroom Nursery had its brand new outdoor play huts wrecked just 24 hours after they were completed.
Just like foodbank appeals, school vandalism was another appalling theme to the year.
Cranhill’s Bellrock Nursery was also attacked and just last month we told of repeated assaults on Cardinal Winning School in Tollcross, including one incident where thugs took a McDonald’s meal to eat during a raid.
In June the “deeply disturbing” mismanagement of Wellhouse Housing Association came to light.
A damning report from the Scottish Housing Regulator revealed dozens of issues with the association, including tenants suffering financial
losses while bosses bought £50,000 worth of cars.
In July I was awarded Highly Commended in the Refugee Festival Scotland Media Awards 2017. There was also success for the Dennistoun War Memorial Campaign as organiser Jim Watson told how the scheme had hit its £10,000 target.
August saw us take a first look round Barmulloch’s new community centre, build thanks to the tremendous efforts of local people.
School pupils were out in force to tackle zig zag parking at city primaries – another hot topic that hits the headlines every year.
I could have filled my entire review of the year with Govanhill stories as the community has more than its fair share of headlines.
In October calls were made for a more consistent approach to protecting tenements in the area after several collapses caused real concern among residents.
It was good news for pupils in Glasgow in November as stats showed an increase in the most disadvantaged children going on to college and university. And this month Govanhill was in the news again as a charity for Roma people hit back at border control, saying members of the community are being unfairly targeted by immigration officials.