Old Glasgow Club

Minutes of ordinary meeting of Club held at Adelaide’s, 209 Bath Street on Thursday 11 October 2007 at 7.30pm

Attendance

86

Chair

Mrs Thomson (President)

Welcome

Mrs Thomson welcomed members and visitors to the meeting.

Apologies

There were no apologies.

Minutes

The minutes of the last ordinary meeting held on 13 September, having been circulated, were approved, on the motion of Mrs Simpson, seconded by Miss Cairns. There were no matters arising.

President’s report

Mrs Thomson advised the meeting of the untimely death at the age of 35 of Simon Merry, librarian in the Glasgow Room at the Mitchell Library.  The funeral had taken place on 6 October and flowers had been sent on behalf of the Club.

She then gave members a demonstration of  the club’s new website (www.oldglasgowclub.org.uk).  The site had many features eg timeline, application form, merchandising pages, minutes pages, and  an archive section for Glasgow buildings.

Secretary’s report

Mrs McNae noted that the new format of tea at the beginning of the meeting had been deemed a success, as had the guided walk on Glasgow Green on 6 October.  The new style notice board at the back of the meeting room was proving popular and a laminator was being purchased.

The Club had lodged an objection to the proposed erection of advertising hoardings around the Langside Monument.

A book by Colin Mackie (Club speaker in 2005/06) on the Southern Necropolis would shortly be published and was highly recommended.  Mrs McNae was sure that the book would “bring the place to life”!

Speaker

Mrs Thomson introduced Mr John Cooper, who spoke on the topic of Anderston.  Mr Cooper apologised that he had often meant to come to the club and it was only now that he was here.  He gave a fascinating resume of the history of Anderston (which he defined as the square mile from Glasgow Central to Finnieston Street and St Vincent Street to the Clyde), from the first grant of lands at Stobcross by King David I in 1136, to the development of “Anderson’s Toun” in the mid 18^th century.  Centred on the weaving industry, the town was home to the Menteith family, who came from Aberfoyle, and produced many famous people whose names survive in street names eg Brown, Carrick, McAlpine, Houldsworth, and James Watt.   In its heyday there were 30 churches and 12 Mission Halls.  Adam Smith met in a club under where the Kingston Bridge now stands.  Anderston became a burgh in 1824 and had 7 Provosts until its absorption into Glasgow in 1846. In the 1830’s and 1840’s many immigrants from the Highlands and Ireland moved in and this led to overcrowding and disease. The area was also the home of engineering works owned by such as James Barclay, the Napier bothers, David Elder and William Pearce.  Other people with a connection with Anderston included William Quarrier, Thomas Lipton, William Sommerville, Duncan Macrae, Roddy Macmillan, Tony Roper and Michael Martin (present Speaker of the House of Commons).  Significantly damaged in World War II, the heart of the community had then been ripped out by the building of the Kingston bridge.  “Progress” might not have been kind to Anderston, but the values of its motto still survived  “alter alterius auxilio veget”  - one grows strong with the help of another.

Mr Cooper then illustrated aspects of his talk by a series of slides.

Vote of thanks

Mr Gordon thanked Mr Cooper for his thoroughly interesting talk and slides, which had brought back many fond memories of a historic part of Glasgow.

Any other business

Mrs Thomson announced that the winner of this month’s  photo competition, to identify a Glasgow landmark (Doulton Fountain at the People’s Place), was Nan Martin.

Close

Mrs Thomson reminded directors of the next meeting on 18 October, and members of the next meeting on 8 November, and wished all a safe journey home.

JN Gibson

Recording Secretary