Remember when ... Fire at Glasgow Academy, Christmas 1954

ON Thursday, December 23, 1954, Glasgow Academy broke up for the Christmas holidays. One day later, “attracted by the clanging of the fire engines”, many of them returned to the school to see firefighters tackle a blaze (above).

One of the pupils, on the far right of the photograph, brought a camera – but, as the Evening

Times remarked, “he seems to be leaving that part of the business to the press photographers”. The roof of the academy’s threestorey building was destroyed, and six classrooms and a gymnasium on the top floor suffered extensive damage.

“At the height of the blaze,” the paper reported, “a false ceiling under the glass roof collapsed, and debris hurtled into the rooms. Windows were shattered by the intense heat.”

Every available fire engine in the city was rushed to the academy after the fire was discovered at around 10am on Christmas Eve.

Firemen under the command of Firemaster Martin Chadwick took some 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control. British Movietone footage of the operation can be seen on Youtube.

Two escape ladders were run up so that the fire crews could play hoses on to the roof; and some of the firefighters wore oxygen masks because of the stifling smoke fumes.

Hoses were led across busy Great Western Road, where crowds were gathering, and up Colebrooke Street, bringing traffic to a halt.

From the moment the outbreak was discovered, the head janitor, Charles Jones, and the under-janitor, a Mr Farmer, ran back and forward to the main part of the school, retrieving school records and other important material and taking them to the preparatory school on the other side of Colebrooke Street.

The rector, F Roydon

Richards, was called from his home in Milngavie as soon as the fire was discovered. When, later, he emerged from the school, carrying some correspondence, he told reporters that the school records were not in danger.

SCOTLAND’S salmon farmers grow fish for dinner plates here and abroad. Salmon is bought by retailers, supermarkets and, ultimately, by the consumer – you and me. From Shetland in the north down through Orkney, across to the Western Isles and all the way along Scotland’s beautiful west coast people harvest the seas.

We all rightly take a close interest in where our food comes from and how it is produced. Food buyers pay great attention to animal welfare and to all aspects of production. There is no room for any dodgy practice and nor should there be. Consumers demand and get independent audits of our fish farms and many of these benchmark Scotland against international standards. There is, again, no room for any wrong practices.

We are rightly a heavily regulated industry here in Scotland. We are more regulated by government than other salmonproducing country. So in this competitive international marketplace where we produce quality protein for worldwide customers, we face real competition. Scotland’s best selling point is the pristine marine environment around our coasts and our reputation for quality food and drink. No fish farmer wants to hurt this marine environment and therefore our fish. We want to enhance that reputation, not harm it.

For the hundreds of people who work on Scotland’s fish farms it is very wrong to assert that fish health and welfare standards are not followed. It is an attack on our people’s integrity. Who does that? Every industry in the world faces activism. Full-time campaigners, often funded by secretive backers, are paid to make up stories, invent allegations and peddle lies on social media. Scotland’s fish farms are no different in facing this. Such people always turn down our offers to visit farms. They do not want to listen to facts and see evidence that might be unhelpful to their campaign.

LAST November Scotland’s fish farmers published a far-sighted Sustainability Charter. It recognises our role in reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change.

Our farms aim to meet

Scottish Government and international targets for net zero in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The charter was built by brilliant people in our companies and incorporated wider views and opinions from our many partners. It is our future, our commitment and our list of action points that we are determined to deliver on.

Farming anything has an impact. Cattle on land, crops in fields and fish in the sea. Through our charter, our vets, our marine biologists and hundreds of dedicated people, Scotland’s fish farmers grow healthy, nutritious fish for you. And you are most welcome, when Scotland comes out of lockdown, to come and see. We would love to show you how fish are looked after and how we invest in science and people to constantly learn and innovate. And how not just our producer companies but 3,000 other Scottish businesses in every part of the county are part of Team Scottish Salmon.

Apply your critical facilities.

But unlike our detractors, we trust the people of Scotland, the consumers of our country, to leave their prejudices at the water’s edge.