OUR NEW 2010 BLOG IS NOW ONLINE

Follow the link below for our 2010 blog .

http://galgael2010.blogspot.com/

Christmas Karaoke

Participants, volunteers and staff finished up for the festive season with a no holds barred karaoke session in the workshop. Three hours of partying and bampottery without the aid of alcohol, yes folks - it can be done. We were worried that folk wouldn't get into it but there was a steady queue of singers waiting for their turn on the mike. The picture shows the wimmin performing a choral piece by Bach- or was it the Bee Gees?

Guardian Article on GalGael

Follow the link to read Libby Brookes' article (9/12/09) on GalGael, heritage and Scottish History. Interesting comments at the foot of the article worth checking out


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/08/gaelic-longboat-healing-heritage-scotland

Happy Birthday Nel.

Many happy returns to our wonderful office manager Helen Hollywood on her birthday (not telling which one though). We had a good wee swaree in the reception area where trainees, volunteers and staff joined the celebration. One of the staff (not telling which one though) who is occasionally also known as Mr Elvis Prestwick provided some music in the style of the King (in his latter years). Thanks to all who helped out with the food etc and we hope Helen had a good day and liked her presents.

Booking essential - to book click here
or call 0141 427 3070 or email: dorna@galgael.org

Welcome

We would like to welcome our latest intake of participants to Galgael's Navigate Life course. We hope they enjoy their time here and make the most of the opportunity. It's great to see the workshop so full of activity.

GalGael BBC film project

Participants from our Navigate Life course were involved in the filming, sound recording and editing of a ten minute film which looks at the some of the work we do here in Govan. The film features trainees, volunteers and staff who give accounts of their invlovment with GalGael. Thanks to the BBC LAB staff for providing us with this wonderful opportunity which was greatly enjoyed by all who participated.

(click link below then click on the Govan link on the animated heading)


http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/lab/projects/clyde/

Poetry Reading at the GalGael

If you check out this blog regularly you will know we at GalGael enjoy a bit of poetry and try to encourage folk to write it too. We were lucky enough to welcome poet James J. Lafferty who gave us wonderful readings of his work to beautiful harp accompaniment from Noel Donnelly. Thanks to Alastair MacIntosh for setting up the occasion which was very well attended and we were glad to welcome some new visitors to GalGael among whom were some of James' family. Hopefully we will put some of his work on our poetry blog for you to have a look at, it really spoke to the folk at GalGael and James kindly did a very emotive reading of of our own Colin MacLeod's poem which you can read in our Poetry blog

Berlin Exchange

Well done to the girls from LISA in Germany who have just completed their three week exchange to GalGael. Lisa is a community boat building project in the city of Berlin and some of the group visited Glasgow last year so we are hoping to send some GalGaelians to Germany in 2010. The group have been working on oars for Orcuan while here and managed to get some time to visit Glencoe and the Wallace monument. We had a braw wee ceilidh to see them off and the even did a sword dance. Good luck lassies.

Orcuan trip to Iona

Orcuan is presently bearthed at the marina at Ardfern in Argyll waiting to head back to Crinan at the most suitable opportunity and then home. The crew had intended to sail her to Iona but due to bad weather and various other problematic issues the trip had to be cancelled. On the good side, some of the trainees and volunteers managed to get in some valuable sail training and had a good time on the water. The trip was to commemorate the 400th anniversary Statutes of Iona where James V1 attempted to undermine the traditional ways of life of the Clansfolk. Another reason for the trip was to deliver some stones. These were to commemorate the "Black stones of Iona" which seemed to have been very significant for centuries as a site over which binding oaths were made by clan chiefs on important matters and those who broke the pledge were accursed. Three good size stones were delivered across land by a team of stalwart GalGaelians who sited them on top of the highest hill on the island.

Film nights at GalGael

We have recently started to screen some films in the GalGael workshop to create awareness and stimulate discussion on various social and environmental issues. We have showed two to date- "Farming for the future" and "How Cuba survived peak oil". Both were very inspiring and thought provoking and we hope to continue with screenings every six weeks or so. Thanks to Anneruth Strauss and Lusi Alderslowe for getting it all going.

Glasgow River Festival 2009

While we didn't have any boats on the water this year, this was probably our biggest and best land based display at the Glasgow River Festival. The Clyde Waterfront marquee was stuffed to the gunnels with our ever growing body of crafts people including wool craft, pottery, carving, furniture making, basketry, and outside we had the blacksmith, wood milling, survival skills, pole lathes and of course battle re-enactment. The public seemed to love it judging by the feedback and it was good to be back on our old pitch next to the river. Thanks again to all who made it a great event- our staff, trainees, volunteers, crafts people, and to Mark and the team from Clyde Waterfront.

Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival

A large contingent of GalGaelians were up in Morayshire to attend this years Portsoy Traditional Boat Festival. We were blessed with great weather and a lovely wee spot next to the sea. Our marquee was a popular attraction and we made some good contacts even though we were slightly away from the town centre . It was a long journey but well worth the while and the event had a real holiday atmosphere. Some of us kipped in the marquee while others used the local scout hall. In the evenings some of us headed down to the town for a small refreshment by the beautiful 17th century harbour. We all had a great time and thanks to the organisers an people of Portsoy for their warm hospitality. You can see more pics at;
http://picasaweb.google.com/gehanmacleod/Portsoy09?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPvj_fF0OjfqAE&feat=email#5359064184476315922authkey=Gv1sRgCNPvj_fF0OjfqAE&feat=email#5359064184476315922

Glam-Gael at the Govan Fair

Having won first prize two years running, we had a lot to live up to at this years Govan Fair.
Glam was the name of the game and we didn't hold back. Some great footage coming up soon- especially Diarmid's groovy dancing in his Village People construction worker guise.

Red Nose Day Total

We have finally recieved the totals from all the teams who rowed like warrior poets to raise funds for Comic Relief. We estimated we would raise around £1,500 - the final total was;

£2,537.54

Well done to all who were involved and we look forward to doing something similar next year.
Lets get more boats & more people back on the Clyde doin' good stuff.

Bronze Casting Success

We finally succeeded in casting the bronzes from the Tramway project in the GalGael workshop. Our last effort failed but being out of the cold wind and a different metal mix helped us get the bronze melted and ready to pour within about forty minutes. It's an amazing process to observe and thanks to Kirti Mandir for doing the project and sharing his wonderful skills.

It was a lovely wee occasion and the folk from the Hidden Gardens and Coach House Trust got to see the bronze being poured into the molds and the finished work being broken open.

You can check out more of Kirti's work at;

http://www.kirtimandir.com/

Orcuan Update

Oor Rosie has been busy helping to get Orcuan prepared for summer sailings and our intended voyage to Iona. The boat is propped up at Rothesay Dock where teams of course participants and volunteers are doing their bit to scrape off the dirt and give her a fresh coat of Stockholm tar. Rosie has been coating the oars, rudder and tiller which are all at the workshop. Shouldn't be too long before we are back on the water.

Progress Update from Barmaddy Farm

On our latest work trip to the farm we continued from where we left off, carrying on with re-wiring and decorating the big bedroom in the farmhouse plus planting some seed tatties in the garden. Once again we took a full van load of gear from Govan including a couple of large wooden crates for the Failte project near Oban who we potentially may be doing more work in the future. These are by way of saying thanks to Sid, who helps run the project and who has assisted with many of the jobs on the farm, particularly the wiring and electrics. Once the wiring is finished the last of decoration in the bedrooms can be completed.

Sid and GalGael participants Nico and Ryan also mucked in with not only the internal work but also the gardening programme by planting spuds in the front garden. Since time was tight we rattled together two raised beds using straw and earth. hopefully the tatties will come through - unless the mice get them first.

We managed a few other wee jobs and payed Peigi a visit. Peigi's family lived on the farm and she has been a great source of information on farming life at Barmaddy before it was taken over by the Forsetry Commission. A good time was had by all.

Seumas.

April Update

It's mid April and there's quite a lot going on at Galgael at the moment. Orcuan has been taken out of the water and is propped up at Rothesay dock -down the river at Clydebank. We are taking teams of volunteers down to give the boat some care and attention to get her ready for the sailing season.

We have a new intake of trainees on the course and they seem to be getting on well and enjoying things so far.

We were also involved in setting up a bronze casting project in the Hidden Gardens at the Tramway theatre and gallery. Wax models were sculpted by staff from the Hidden Gardens and Coachouse Trust with assistance from Rhiannon, one of our volunteer artists.

The Tramway laid on a lovely evening with superb food and live music on a sunny but cold Thursday evening. All had wonderful time although it proved very difficult to metal to the desired pouring consistency so Kirti Mandir, artist and bronze caster wisely postponed the pour to a later date. We hope to be continuing the project in the GalGael workshop in the next couple of weeks.