RENEWED CALLS FOR CEMETERY SECURITY MEASURES
RIDDRIE residents have called for better security at the cemetery, after a spate of vandalism left graves trashed. Riddrie Park Cemetery was targeted by vandals last weekend, leaving graves and memorials smashed and torn up.
A body was also found there on Friday, May 9, with police treating the death of the man as unexplained.
Now locals have been calling for better security measures to ensure that repeat incidents do not occur in the cemetery.
Mary Barnes, who had family gravestones and memorials trashed in last weekend’s vandalism incident, said: “The cemetery has been neglected for a few years now.
“There’s no gate on the Greenside Street entrance and we’ve asked repeatedly for some sort of security for the cemetery like CCTV cameras or even lights.”
Residents have raised the issue of increased security measures at the cemetery for some time now, asking for the gravestones of loved ones to be protected from incidents of vandalism.
Mary said: “It’s been run-down for a while and it’s horrible to see so many graves get damaged like this – but we knew this could happen without the security.
“There are some really good people in there and it’s not just one person that they’re upsetting when they’re so mindless like this.”
Glasgow North-East councillor Ruairi Kelly said: “It’s horrible that people are going to visit graves of friends and family members, maybe during their daily exercise, and finding vandalised graves and memorials.
“Blackhill and Provanmill has been a quiet area in the past few years, so it’s not great to hear this about the area.
“Youth clubs and forums such as
A NEW generation of wearable devices could be powered by human sweat instead of conventional batteries, scientists have said.
Engineers at the University of Glasgow have developed a new type of flexible supercapacitor,
St Paul’s Youth Forum are helping to playing a big role in the area with local kids and teenagers.
“The gate is something that I’m going to be checking out to see what we can do and I will be raising any issue with lighting with the relevant officers.”
Since the vandalism, Glasgow City Council announced that there would be an increased response in the area.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of the recent vandalism at
which stores energy, replacing the electrolytes found in conventional batteries with sweat.
It can be fully charged with as little as 20 microlitres of fluid and is robust enough to survive 4000 cycles of the types of flexes and bends it
Riddrie Park Cemetery which has since been respectfully cleared.
“Vandalism of any kind is completely unacceptable and we have requested our Community Safety teams make additional patrols of the area.”
Police have also upped their patrol of the area following the vandalism and body found in the grounds, saying: “Police enquiries are continuing into the vandalism at this time.
“Since the vandalism was reported, officers have increased their patrols in the area.
“We would urge anyone who witnesses any criminality in their community to contact 101.”
Mr Kelly thanked locals for their help in the aftermath of the incidents, saying: “Blackhill and Provanmill is quite an isolated area of Glasgow – we’re separated by the motorway so the community spirit is very strong here.
“The entire community looks out for each other and the response of the community to the cleanup after this has been completely commendable.”
The gate is something that I’m going to be checking out
might encounter when being used
As the specially designed cloth absorbs its wearer’s sweat, an electrochemical reaction generates energy.
The researchers tested the effectiveness of their technology by having volunteers run outdoors and
on a treadmill while wearing a 2cm by 2cm cell version of the device. The runner sweated enough to allow the device to generate enough energy to power a small bank of LEDs.
The team hope it will help reduce the use of toxic materials.