November 16, 2009
I’m a big fan of parades and the Christmas lights switch on in Aberdeen holds a special significance for me as my Father used to be involved in setting them up as part of the council Street Lighting Department’s duties.
One of my favourite stories I was told is of how a lucky child would be chosen to throw the switch at the Music Hall turning on all the Christmas lights down the length of Union Street but that those in the know could look out for the men standing up ladders at intervals up & down the street. They were each waiting to throw their own switches on cue to give the impression that all the lights were connected and controlled by the ceremonial switch. I understood that sometimes adults tell little white fibs about the magic of Christmas, but being in on this secret was just as special for me.
These days rather than the static ceremony huddled around the Music Hall we have a procession down Union Street with each set of Christmas lights switched on as the parade passes underneath with a big explosion of confetti. It always pleases me to see Union Street closed to traffic — when you have the freedom to wander off the narrow pavements you can see how impressive the street & it’s architecture really is.
I hadn’t decided beforehand but as the parade passed I realised it was a good time to use video rather than still photographs. I missed out Santa and most of the lights but it has cute big dogs, fabulous swans (seven of them, a-swimming) and a rather unseasonal steel band, also in it’s favour is that it’s short enough to not get boring—I hope!
I enjoyed the parade a lot, maybe because it had no pretensions of being any grander than it was, so I’ll leave you with two choice quotes overheard during the evening:
A rather plaintive cry from the parade:
“We’re not pigeons, we’re turtle doves!“
Two auld wifeys at the bus stop:
“Did ye see the reindeer?”
“Aye, they wir shittin’ ah ower the place.“
July 23, 2008
This year saw the fifth annual River Festival in Glasgow, centered around the Science Centre and the SECC on opposite banks of the River Clyde. Taking place on the Glasgow Fair holiday weekend, 19th & 20th July, this was my first visit to the River Festival, and indeed the first I remember ever hearing of it happening! The weather was “sunny intervals” and really quite windy at times down at the River Clyde. After I made a quick sneak preview visit to the festival on the Saturday afternoon I made plans to stay down by the river for all of Sunday.
As well as Silk Screens and Beach Vollyball, the River Festival itself had many visiting ships and boats ranging from the tall ship Loth Lorien to fisheries ships. The Fleetwood trawler Jacinta & FPV Norna berthed next to the Science Centre while the NLB Pole Star and two Royal Navy Hunter class minesweepers, HMS Quorn & HMS Middleton, tied up next to the Finnieston Crane. Other smaller steam powered & pleasure boats including the famous Clyde Puffer, Spartan, lay along the quayside on both sides of the River Clyde. Adrenaline and speed fans were kept happy by jet ski racing and freestyle displays from Lee Stone & Dan Ashcroft throughout both days as well as the chance to take to the water for powerboat & zapcat rides.
The atmosphere was great all the way from the Science Centre tower, past the Millenium Bridge and BBC Scotland to Bell’s Bridge and across the river at the Crowne Plaza hotel. The only negative being the chill in the wind when the sun hid behind clouds and the events at the SECC carpark and even more so at the Tall Ship Glenlee feeling somewhat disassociated from the rest of the festival. The display of modern & vintage fire engines felt somewhat out of place at a river festival, although I guess the water theme justifies their welcome attendance! It was a great day out with loads of photo opportunities and I’ll definitely keep and eye out for the River Festival 2009.
[flickr tag=riverfestival]
July 22, 2008
Glasgow isn’t renkowned for it’s beaches (having none!) but these days sand is commonly dumped in urban locations to provide a temporary beach for all those unfortunate inland city dwellers.
As part of the Glasgow River Festival 2008, the Glasgow Fair holiday weekend of July 19th & 20th saw a temporary beach volleyball court set up in the SECC carpark next to the River Clyde. Organised by the Urban Beach team alongside Beach Volleyball Scotland the event included Beach Kids coaching and Beach 4s. Long weekend lie-ins meant I only made it along to watch some of the Mens semis on the Saturday and the Mens & Womens Elite finals on the Sunday afternoon.
I’m not a big sports fan but I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of taking photos of sporting events and beach volleyball must be one of the best. The cliched expectations appear to be true and it’s a sport where the competitors tend towards being amongst the beautiful people – no doubt from spending plenty of time outdoors and it goes without saying they’re all fit! Beach volleyball is quite an easy sport to watch, the rules being the same as any other volleyball match I assume – a combination of tennis and basketball to my untrained perception.
In the end the mens matches proved easier to get pictures of being more desicive and falling into the routine of serve, set and spike it was quite easy to predict when and where the good photos would most likely be after watching one game. The womens elite final was more scrappy, more entertaining for the novice watcher in it’s back & forth points and there’s no denying the attraction of watching fit sports women compete in bikinis.
[flickr tag=beachvolleyball]
Well done to Barry McGuigan & Graham Riddle for winning the Mens Elite final and to Mel Coutts & Eilidh Smith for taking first place in the Womens Elite.
Silk Screens is a multi-city celebration of Chinese culture and heritage in Britain. Taking place in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester each location had big screen video displays of events from the other cities as well as their own performances. Glasgow’s Silk Screens events took place outside BBC Scotland’s new headquarters at Pacific Quay on the River Clyde and, being part of the River Festival, the theme was ‘water’. This meant a giant turtle leading the live spectacle performance based on Chinese myth “The Eight Immortals Crosing The Seas”. The clothes as always from Glasgow’s Chinese community were incredibly beautiful and full of dazzling colours, especially favoured were the Cantonese Opera outfits with beautiful make-up and stunning headresses and acres of flowing, dazzling silk!
Silk Screens in Glasgow involved performances from Fong Lui, the Mauchline & District Caledonia Pipe Band and featured the Yuet Ming Cantonese Opera Harmony Music Ensemble and Glasgow Chinese Opera.
[flickr tag=silkscreens]
