Who are the people who make Glasgow?
YOU will have seen the bright pink signs. On the old Building and Printing college overlooking George Square, visible from all over the city; on the hire bikes, on taxis, on litter bins and recently on the SEC walkway over the Clydeside Expressway. You can’t ignore them.
People Make Glasgow, they proclaim.
Who are these people, who make this city? This fine, flawed, yet still awesome city.
Well, they are all over the place, in every community, working and volunteering in every industry and sector in the city. They walk among us.
They go unnoticed, they go about their business without fanfare or seeking recognition.
But this week, some of them were recognised – at the Glasgow Times Community Champion awards.
At the City Chambers, in the banqueting hall, Glasgow said thank you to people who don’t just go out of their way to help other people ... they are so far out of their way that a Nasa satellite wouldn’t be able to locate them.
The winners of the nine awards given on the night were the pinnacle of the triangle, the tip of the iceberg.
They emerged from dozens, hundreds, who were nominated for the selfless work they are doing.
Many are volunteers in volunteer organisations. Some of the winners were still at school, such as nine-year-old Heather Bryson and 12-year-old Che Gallagher, while others have been helping people out for decades.
Being at the ceremony, witnessing winners accepting their awards, was inspiring and humbling.
Inspiring: to find out what motivates people to dedicate a huge part of their life to making someone else’s life better.
Humbling: to see their reaction when they were told they had won. They were grateful that someone had recognised their efforts because that is certainly not why they are doing it.
The awards are in partnership with three organisations that play a key role in communities across Glasgow – Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Housing Association and Trades House of Glasgow.
All want to see communities thrive, people grow and efforts to help those in need rewarded.
In an age when many people are pushing and shoving to get noticed, with social media platforms overflowing with people seeking fame and fortune, it can be easy to not see the genuinely selfless acts of goodwill.
As part of my job, I have over the years attended many awards ceremonies and each is a very worthwhile event to rightly recognise talent, success and achievement and to inspire others.
But there is something special about awards like Community Champions.
Firstly, many, probably most, if not all, are unpaid. They are volunteers responding to need where and when they see it.
The need shouldn’t be there in the first place, of course, but sadly, it is.
Take the Glasgow Baby Food Bank. In what sort of society, in any age, should there be people unable to feed and clothe their infant? Yet, the need exists. And where there is need, there is a response.
When the team from the baby food bank received their
second award of the night, from the Lord Provost, there were emotions clearly showing.
And it wasn’t just from the team members as they were invited to the stage. Others in the room, including myself, were also clearly moved not just by their work but in the manner in which they, like others, accepted their award.
The awards, for the winners, were not an ending, reaching an achievement of recognition, a full stop.
It was a punctuation mark, in a sentence, in a longer chapter yet to be written.
All the winners said they would continue to do what they were doing.
While each was visibly and audibly grateful for the recognition, it is clearly the existence of need that drives them.
The past two years have seen an incredible amount of community work all around the country, and in Glasgow people really shone in a period of darkness for so many.
Food was donated, cooked and delivered. Transport was provided to get people to medical appointments and later to vaccinations.
And in a period when it wasn’t permitted to put your arms around someone, instead a friendly ear was offered for people, who were isolated and alone, to speak to.
Many services and workplaces went into lockdown and were closed by law. At the same time, others in the voluntary sector went into overdrive to make sure people were not left alone and without the very basics needed to survive.
This need was there before the pandemic. The pandemic made it more acute for many.
After the pandemic, the need will still be there, and in many cases it will have heightened.
But there is one thing we can be sure of.
People in Glasgow will be there. People like our Community Champions this year, last year and next year, will be there, ready to meet the challenge head-on.
So, if anyone asks: “Who are these people you say make Glasgow?”
Tell them they are all around us, you don’t have to look far.
Yet, the need exists. And where there is need, there is a response