The party in Kelvingrove park on April 29th descended at it’s forced closure into chaos. Organisers had called for respect to be shown for the park and other users, but significant numbers of attendees, overly drunk and of ugly mood helped the event to an ungainly conclusion.

Police were in attendance in small teams during the day, many on bike for quick mobility. However, throughout the afternoon large groups of young people were heading seemingly unchecked through the park entrances with crates of alcohol. Many were clearly underage and under the influence.
Beyond a request by the Police to deflate a bouncy castle, the policing was relatively hands-off at the offset. Yet when more officers arrived in force to shut down the decks, clouds had gathered and several hours of drinking later, the response from too many in the heaving crowd, was to rain bottles down the hill. A policeman suffered a head injury as did several people scrambling for cover. A horseback-led retort alarmed those in the dip, and Police vans, motorbikes and a helicopter were all employed to control and disperse the crowd. Vans were vandalised and skirmishes continued. Hours later still, all that was left was a drizzly, rubbish-strewn park and from now on, a more intense Police focus on activities there.
The other legacy, of course, is the bill of £40,000 for the clean up. At least one GOW resident was canny enough to take the opportunity to reclaim some of the discarded cans for our can crusher recycling scheme.

UPDATE :Taxi driver dies after collision with Police van attending disorder

A GOW resident was at the park when the Police stopped the party. Send us your photos gowcommunity@gmail.com

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It’s a tribute to Sam Bates’ skill, that his wonderful graffiti mural remains untouched by tagging.

Sam, 26, is a West End graffiti artist and we haven’t been the only one pleased with his results – and style. Glasgow City Council are thrilled with the product of the collaborative project. Pupils from Willowbank Primary School, Hillhead Primary School and Hillhead High School took part in workshops with Sam, discussing graffiti and ideas for the mural sited along the Kelvin walkway. In addition, he recently designed a huge hoarding transformation for Selfridges and was picked to adorn the underpasses along the Broomielaw for the Commonwealth Games.

Thanks Sam - Unite – how about getting a great artist to freshen up the base of your building ?!
Ramsay has a brilliant scrolling panorama of Sam’s work at Kelvinbridge. It’s worth the click.

Middle photos from Clyde Waterfront

Yes we do get people who pass and drop butts, and it might be just the one for you – But if it’s being done persistently one area, it builds up and looks rubbish. It’s also pretty easy to see where they’re coming from. If ”it’s someone else’s job to clean this up” occurs to you, the trouble with this is that it assumes that ‘The Council’ cleans these fag ends up. They don’t. They are cleaned up by your neighbours who like to see the area clean and un-littered, for you and themselves. Even if you can’t see why others take pleasure in this, please at least respect their efforts.