Groups share in funding to celebrate north Glasgow’s canal area
CELEBRATIONS (socially distanced of course) are taking place in the centre of Glasgow where local canal-based groups have been awarded shares of £36,000 funding to help the local community explore the canal’s history and create new activities once the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.
The money comes from the Heritage Project Fund, part of the National Lottery Heritage Lottery Fund, and will be overseen by the Glasgow Canal Co-operative on behalf of Glasgow City Council.
Navvies Barge is one of the projects benefiting from the award. The project, a floating social enterprise, plans to launch a free monthly boat bus service along the 2.5-mile-long Glasgow branch of the Forth & Clyde Canal, and offer free boat trips for organisations and charities operating in the local area. Navvies Barge also plans to train volunteers in skippering, repaint the barge in traditional canal art style and transform the boat’s back room into a ‘history snug’ exploring the background of the canal.
Other projects are the Hamiltonhill
Family Learning Centre which will create an outdoor classroom in the Claypits urban nature reserve, allowing families to explore wildlife and nature beside the canal.
Gathering Ground, a new social enterprise, runs community foodfocused events and will design and create a large set of handthrown crockery based on people’s ideas, memories and stories of the surrounding canal district. Other organisations include Agile City, which will work with local communities to design and build an outdoor cooking and eating area, and Saracen Street Traders will create a canal-inspired look and signage for the busy street.
Christine Kuhn, Glasgow Canal Co-op chairman, said: “Glasgow’s canal is a truly special landscape with a unique history. This pot of funding will help empower people to capture the strong cultural identity and sense of place that is engrained within communities lying along the edge of the canal, or for those that have lived in, worked near or enjoyed the canal over generations.”