Issue Twenty: A Collection of Artworks by Platform Glasgow

ISSUE 20 16TH APRIL 2021 Front cover by Jim Rafferty Back cover by Tommy Sherry

FRIENDS We turn to our friends When we’re feeling blue Treasure your friends always Because true friendship is important We laugh with our friends Over silly little things If we feel downhearted, sad or blue A friend brings special gifts of joy A friend can fill our lives With joyous harmony A friend can make the skylark sing On a bright and sunny day I’m grateful to my special friends They cheer me up and make me smile Cherish every moment and every Friend you have throughout life You will find plenty of perfect Moments along the way. I’ve faced some really hard times Times I didn’t know I would get through But there were some wonderful people right there You all know who you are. I really am so grateful you are in my life Thank you. Margaret MacCallum Steele

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ANDY GRAY: GROWING UP IN DRUMCHAPEL Case study prepared by Rachel McGee Although Andy Gray grew up without his father, who left when he was two years old, he did not lack for male role models. His three older brothers would allow him to join their games and, being the youngest, Andy would often find himself the designated goalkeeper. Despite this, Andy developed a passion for football, and his experience of playing with older boys cultivated a “desire to be the best”. Gray developed a determined, one-track mind, and despite achieving 7 O-Levels in school, never considered any career other than football. He won his first football medal with the help of Mrs McArthur, his coach and mentor at Lochgoin Primary School. This small success gave Gray a taste for success, “I remember how good winning it felt. And that feeling became my motivation”. His early career began when he was asked to play for Clydebank Strollers - scoring a hat-trick in his first game - where he was scouted by Dundee United’s Maurice Friel. Despite being unable to impress the Dundee United manager, Jim McLean, on the first attempt, Friel saw talent in the teenager and continued to sing his praises until he was finally signed for the team in 1973. Gray proved a significant asset for the team, and McLean would later say that, “The day I sold Andy Gray my son told me I knew nothing about football”. Gray has fond memories of growing up in Drumchapel, describing it as a “working-class paradise” due to the abundance of green spaces (a rare sight for a city housing estate) which allowed him to play his beloved game. Although Gray would grow up playing on poor pitches, with few facilities, including one pitch made of sand, his talent blossomed. Gray attributes his grit and determination to the work-ethic instilled in him growing up on the streets of Drumchapel. Andy Gray signed his first professional contract with Dundee United in 1973 and went on to play for Glasgow Rangers and Aston Villa, Wolves and Everton in the English First Division. He made over 500 club appearances, scoring more than 185 goals. Gray also represented the Scottish national team on 20 occasions, finding the net seven times. Excerpt from Local Heroes a project led by Professor John McKendrick of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University. For more information on the Local Heroes series contact John at j.mckendrick@gcal.ac.uk / 0141 331 8221

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I am going for my first Covid-19 jab on April 10th at 10.20am. Will probably feel a bit drowsy after it. Edward Henry

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THE LONG BENCH For the times ahead when we will be as if at either end of the long bench where distance kept is love’s measure and death dances the space between when words alone are not enough and queued memories reach out to touch let longing be a store of nut and seed that grows each day in strange hibernation readying for its end the sharing of the feast. A poem by Jim Carruth, Glasgow’s Poet Laureate submitted by Rena Quinn

In answer to the question that John sent in asking what I look forward to in Spring, for me it is watching my dogs running around in the garden and I have included a photo! Angela Cunningham

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Why was the Easter Bunny so upset? He was having a bad Hare day! What do you call a rabbit who tells jokes? A funny bunny! What do you get when you pour hot water down a rabbit hole? A hot cross bun! Where do Easter bunnies dance? At the basket-ball What kind of stories do easter bunnies like best? Ones with hoppy endings! What holds lots of money you put on lamb? A mint Who was the greatest chicken killer in Shakespeare? Macbeth, because he did murder most fowl Why should the number 288 never be mentioned in company? Because it is two gross… I went to the doctor with an illness and ask what is the cure? He said, that’s easy – an 1980s Rock Band! I was looking for watch batteries but I wound up at a clock shop! What did the dirt say to the rain? If this keeps up, my name will be mud! Rob Haughie

Very good to receive your magazine. A lot of good stories, good to read about Andy McLaren, Frank McAvennie and all of the poems – very deep. The drawing and the paintings very interesting indeed. John Seebaluck

Some jokes and a picture for you… Looking back, I really wish I had brought my baked beans online Heinz-site’s a wonderful thing! Why did the pie cross the street? Because he was meeting potato! I hope Mags keeps on sending in her artwork. Her entry in the last issue was so nice I am going to cut it out and put in on the front of a card I am making. Rena Quinn t

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PADDY CRERAND: GROWING UP IN THE GORBALS Case study prepared by Serena Swanson

Crerand was born in the heart of Glasgow’s Gorbals in 1939, a child of Irish Catholic immigrants. Paddy dealt with a great degree of hardship from a young age, losing his father at the age of two from a German bomb and living what he describes as “an impoverished and underprivileged existence”. Paddy considers that, “with hindsight I realise that we lived in abject poverty, but at the time we didn’t know any different and I never felt hard done by”. Football became a large part of Paddy’s life from a very young age, he played every day before and after school as, “the playground was the only place to play without breaking the law”. However, the threat of rule-breaking never stopped him from playing outside of the school grounds. In some respects, street football was an easy option, as there were few cars in the Gorbals. The pitch was an improvised affair, “we used the lampposts as goalposts only stopping when the man came to light them”. Paddy continued to play football and after achieving good grades at school he attained a place at Holyrood, a school with a good academic and sporting reputation. Paddy claims that, “there were loads of lads who were better footballers than me in the Gorbals but they were distracted by drink and drugs in later years”. Hardship continued for Paddy as he grew up. Losing his older brother John hit him hard and he missed him immensely. Thankfully Paddy had a lot of good friends and, “before long I was immersed in football again and life continued as normal, only John wasn’t there”. Money also continued to be scarce, stating that he would often marvel at all the things people could buy when he would venture into the city, “plenty of my mates were stealing, but I was never tempted”. Although Crerand’s reputation as a footballer was growing, he still needed to work to make ends meet. However, he found it difficult to get a job due to the “blatant sectarianism that existed”. In Paddy’s view, “It wasn’t living, it was surviving, but rather than becoming disillusioned, it made me determined to get out and be a footballer”. Excerpt from Local Heroes a project led by Professor John McKendrick of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University. For more information on the Local Heroes series contact John at j.mckendrick@gcal.ac.uk / 0141 331 8221

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Bashful Radicals: A Quiet Rebellion by Greer Pester & Jassy Earl

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BERTIE AULD: GROWING UP IN MARYHILL Case study prepared by Daniel Connell Robert (Bertie) Auld was born on the 23rd of March 1938. He was the eldest of eight children being brought up in a two-bedroom tenement in Maryhill in North West Glasgow. Auld’s father was employed as a crane driver by trade but also worked many other jobs and his mother, despite raising eight children, would frequently work as a ‘hawker’. Auld remarks that he was never without a chore around the house, often helping his mother sell her produce by plucking chickens, polishing apples and scaling fish. Auld describes his family as neither rich nor poor, remarking that he and his siblings never went hungry. His family even had an indoor toilet, whilst most of their neighbours shared a communal one. Auld suggests he was spoiled as a child. As the eldest son, he would always receive a proper football for Christmas, whilst most of his peers played with a tennis ball. Auld stated that while the tennis ball was good for improving one’s skills, having a proper ball ensured that he was always first pick for a team. Auld describes Maryhill as a close-knit community with lots of warmth between neighbours. Everyone had big families of five or six children which resulted in many children being out playing football until late. Auld’s family looked out for each other and enjoyed each other’s company. They would put on their best clothes on Sunday and, after tea and scones in the Salvation Army, they would go for a long walk around Maryhill, before putting their old clothes back on to go out and play football. He talks of holidays spent in Girvan, which with its beaches and boats seemed exotic. The holiday was always provided by a family member who put Auld’s family up. Space was tight on the holidays with the youngest kids sleeping with the parents and the older boys and girls sharing one room. As a teen he was dared to jump into and swim under the canal, which was filled with rubbish. To maintain his reputation, Auld did so, in the process injuring himself and receiving a large cut on his torso. Auld concealed the injury from his parents, remarking that the thing he was truly fearful of was his mother finding out. Auld always remained close to his family, and once he was earning enough from playing football professional Auld bought his mother a proper shop, both to make her happy and to ease the burden of his dad, who was working three extra shifts a week to get-by. However, Auld’s father refused to cut down his shifts because they allowed him to go for a pint and buy cigarettes. Excerpt from Local Heroes a project led by Professor John McKendrick of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University. For more information on the Local Heroes series contact John at j.mckendrick@gcal.ac.uk / 0141 331 8221

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