Heard about Toyah Willcox performing in HM Prison Aberdeen...?
I Want To Be Free singer’s impromptu visit
JOHNNY CASH’S prison gigs at San Quentin and Folsom are legendary.
But for Bryan Glennie, live shows by ’80s songstress Toyah Willcox and Irish crooner Dominic Kirwan at Craiginches Prison are just as memorable.
Bryan spent 24 years as a prison officer at Craiginches, officially HMP Aberdeen, and looks back on the celebrity visits with great affection.
“Toyah just turned up at the prison entrance, unannounced, and asked if she could have a look around,” Bryan recalled.
“I was asked to take her round and she explained she liked to visit local prisons while she was on tour.
“When It old her we organised gigs for the prisoners, she promised the next time she was in Aberdeen she would perform a show for us, and she was true to her word. “She was a great character.” When Toyah turned up for the concert, there was nowhere for her to change.
So Bryan took her to the prison chapel and the flamehaired star got ready behind a confessional box, before entertaining inmates for more than an hour.
“She did a tribute to Janis Joplin, performing songs such as Piece Of My Heart and To Love Somebody,” Bryan said. “The prisoners loved it and lapped it up.
“She signed autographs and gave a few lasting memories to the inmates.”
Singer Dominic Kirwan’s visit was another notable one.
“He arrived 20 minutes late and explained it was because he had struggled to find somewhere to get his laundry done,” 73-year-old Bryan said. “While he and his band set up, I asked our laundry chief, Tam, if he would do Dominic’s washing.
“By the time it was finished, Dominic was on his last song and Tam was annoyed he had missed the show, so I asked Dominic if he could play a couple of extra songs, by which point his clothes would be dry and ready to go.”
Dominic described the show as good craic and said he hoped the guys enjoyed it as much as he did.
Those are just two stories from a new book packed with recollections of Bryan’s long career inside Craiginches.
He had been a postman in his hometown of Insch, but he changed career after the postal strike of 1971 began, becoming a prison officer. “There were always going to be reservations beforehand,” he admitted. “But I’ d done my homework and it felt like the best option for me.
“I’m not going to say the prison was perfect, but it was a small, close- knit place with a good rapport.”
There were some unruly moments, of course, like a rooftop protest.
A prisoner decided to go walkabout during his daily stroll in the exercise yard and climbed up on to the jail’s roof.
“We had to leave a guard out all night to keep watch,” dadof-two Bryan explained.
“At around 2am the prisoner decided to go into the tower and start ringing the bell.
“The longer the ringing went, the more and more lights you could see going on in the nearby houses.
“When he eventually gave himself up he was put in solitary confinement and, if I remember correctly, he lost the chance of early release.”
The bell was removed and kept in storage for 20 years, until it was put back to mark the jail’s centenary in 1991.
By the time the jail marked its 100th birthday with a series of events, Bryan had been honoured for his dedication to the prison.
He instigated a series of outdoor projects, where prisoners worked on local regeneration initiatives, benefiting both themselves and the area.
Bryan won the Butler Trust Award, one of the highest accolades in the profession, and he received it from HRH Princess Anne.
He said: “Meeting Princess Anne was a huge honour and having her later visit the jail was a big thing for me, too.”
He retired in 1996 and Craiginches shut in 2014.
Bryan continues to keep himself busy.
He and his wife, Hazel, have three grandchildren and he completes a seven- mile walk every day.
Now he hopes his book can be a lasting legacy to Aberdeen’s prison.
“I never seriously thought about writing the book until the place was being demolished,” he added.
“I just felt it shouldn’t be forgotten and hopefully it won’t.”
Craig inches–Life In Aberdeen’s Prison by Bryan Glennie with Scott Burns is available from Black & White Publishing on April 27.