GOW Evaluation Questions (10 Questions)

(Please only answer these questions online if  a) You are a GOW Resident and b) you haven’t had a face to face with Olivia.)

Your input is essential to further our understanding of how to best serve you as residents. Thanks for taking the time to help !

It’s nearly completed, pending some technical tweaking.

A big thank you to the existing residents who have looked at our drafts and helped to make the end result better, you know who you are. A lot of the information included is expanded upon in our ‘New Residents’ section.
Some of you have joined us in the last 6 – 9 months, so are best placed from your experience of moving into GOW to tell us if there is any information that would be helpful for other newbies. Let us know if you have any comments to make.

The leaflet will be available for download once completed and will be delivered in hard copy to new residents as they join us.

For individual tenants, this video meant the opportunity to express what the renovation of the communal space meant to them. It’s also a reminder for us all, that it doesn’t take long for closes and the backcourt to become a mess which no-one takes responsibility for, if even small degrees of neglect creep in.

The 9 minute DVD was made as part of a national action research project, ‘Demonstrating the Links’, funded and supported by Greenspace Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Communities Scotland, NHS Health Scotland and the Scottish Community Development Centre. 2006

(Director: G-MAC with Editing by Craig Walker 2007)

We also have a bank of laminated photographs, GOW posters and a table-top exhibition stand.

We want to know what you know about GOW

Perhaps you saw our recent website consultation posters and flyers ? It may have been the first time you became aware of your community group. For some of you, you’re already familiar with GOW from posters or events, but have never contacted us or taken part in events. Others have a long active association with us.

One of the main objectives of us all having this website is as a virtual ‘meeting place’ and to facillitate better communication between our community. We also to need to understand how to best how to best serve your needs. This can only effectively be achieved with your feedback.

Use the contact page or email us at gowcommunity@gmail.com to let us know what you like, what could be improved. Or let us know if you want to contribute towards the website in terms of news, events, local knowledge or any issues we should be aware of.

The more information we share the better equipped we are as a community to help each other and similar groups throughout Glasgow.

But what makes a community ?

Is the neighborhood just a collection of people living in the one area, or is it more than that ? Research has shown that people feel better about themselves when they are part of a ‘community’.

Does the Glasgow tenement still seem like an ‘urban village’ ?

A comparable complex community recently broke down at Glasgow City Council’s flagship development on the river Clyde. Relationships deteriorated when factoring services were withdrawn when absentee landlords failed to pay factor Life Property Management. The nightmare began for some residents as vital repairs were ignored. As common repairs mounted, around 30 flats were put up for sale, some were re-possessed. It was the community who suffered, with reports of children given panic alarms due to broken security doors and some fearing that the water and electricity would be cut off. The publicity has been extremely damaging for the modern development.

So what does this have to do with GOW ?

Here too the relationship betwen the community and landlords is vital. We would love to hear your views on this topic and encourage everyone to get in touch. By gathering the views of the community, we hope to create a better understanding of the realationship between landlords, tenants and resident owners, and ensure problems which occur in other areas are not repeated within our own neighbourhood.

Use the contact page, or email gowcommunity@gmail.com to get in touch.

C.Frew

GOW is the community group established by those who live around the backcourt bordered by Gibson Street, Otago Street and Westbank Quadrant

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Why ?

We work for the physical and social improvement of our community. Our journey began with the transformation of our shared backcourt.

The GOW backcourt is an open communal space with access through two gaps in the surrounding sandstone tenements. The refurbishment of the backcourt included re-organising the open space, improving the bin storage, dealing with security and access problems, planting and artworks.

The improvement project was neccessary because the GOW backcourt had suffered years of neglect. The backcourt was also vulnerable due to the lack of security, giving the public free access for a range of unsavoury and illegal activities.

View the transformation here

Where do we Go From Here ?

We aim to maintain the standards we have set. To upkeep our beautiful communal area and to encourage everyone in our community to both enjoy and be responsible for it.

We will enhance our community’s understanding of the history of this little part of Glasgow and appreciate the huge strides made within it. We will encourage action, progress and care for the wider environment.

Our belief is that a cohesive, involved community with pleasant surroundings, creates a better environment and inspires everyone to make a difference.

We’ve begun to build on our success and offer more opportunities for community involvement. Join us now.

A Brief History of GOW

In 2000, a group of students from 97 Otago Street decided to have a clean up. They posted around notes inviting residents to come along and help. Armed with heavy-duty black bags donated by Glasgow City Council, they and other residents made some inroads into the dreadful mess, filling a huge number of bags.

GOW community group tentatively formed in late 2001 and in February 2002 had their first public meeting held in an empty local shop. The aim was to find out what the residents wanted from the backcourt and to find out what was possible.

With the assistance of Kelvin Clyde Greenspace, who formed the Sustainable Backcourt Initiative (SBI) in 2003, we were able to build on the efforts of residents to clean up the area.

Kelvin Clyde Greenspace, assisted us both in terms of practical help (cutting back of overgrown trees and bushes) and advice (how to obtain funding, a bank account and organise GOW etc.). Our group gained confidence in realising a backcourt intended to be used by all, not just abused by a few.

Work was completed in 2006