The Martyrs' School finally gets a buyer

Dear readers, at least one third of The Bell team (Robbie) had a rather cultured weekend. Friday started off at a talk at Glasgow City Heritage Trust on Modernism in Glasgow, followed by the Architecture Fringe opening party, at which members of Brass Aye? paraded around a warehouse in the Briggait dressed as famous local buildings (including an inflamed Art School, of course). It was a level of whimsy he was not prepared for (although quickly embraced).

Saturday involved catching some of the GSA degree show at the Glue Factory and Stow building, and somehow he had time for a screening of Murray Grigor’s film Mackintosh Redux, as well as a quick visit to see the new Grateful Gallery on 50 Hill Street. He capped it off at a wholesome folk festival on Sunday. It was one of those weekends during which bugbears and gripes seemed to vanish; a glad reminder of why Glasgow is an endlessly exciting place to live. 

Now, onto your briefing. 

Glasgow in brief 

🔔 Stuart Robertson formally announced his resignation as executive director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society at the organisation’s AGM over the weekend, although he’ll stay on until February while a successor is appointed. It follows news in April that the society is facing investigation over allegations it violated planning conditions imposed by Glasgow City Council. Robertson will continue to have a role at the society, although the specifics were not elaborated upon. Surprisingly, the elephant in the room — the destruction of church pews that has led to Robertson’s departure  after almost 25 years as director — was never addressed. We’re told the agenda was tightly controlled, and by the time an opportunity arose for questions at the end of the meeting, there was little appetite to re-litigate the dispute. Members also heard that the steering group for the Glasgow School of Art restoration project, on which Robertson sits, hasn’t met since November 2024, while a feasibility study is conducted. 

Pews it or lose it: the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society is at war

A debate about church furniture has sparked a bitter conflict about who gets to protect the legacy of Glasgow’s greatest architect

The BellRobbie Armstrong

🏤 Speaking of Mackintosh: the fate of his famous Martyrs’ School has been decided. The Townhead building was put up for sale by Glasgow City Council last October, after the local authority said they couldn’t find any use for it. Now, The Herald reveals, a buyer has been selected. The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland have bought the site — for a cool £250,0000 — and intend to turn it into a public museum of Scottish Catholicism, with additional office space developed. A £1.75m renovation — “sensitiv[e] refurbishment” is how The Herald puts it — will take place, funded by the Bishops’ Conference.

🚂 A historic revived railway yard in east Glasgow has won a major new contract with Transport for London, reports The Times. Formerly the St Rollox Works, and locally known as ‘The Caley’, the depot used to be the main site for building and maintaining Caledonian Railway Company stock. But prior to its reopening last year, the works hadn’t been in use for more than a century. Now local manufacturer Gibson’s, backed by millions from site owner David Moulsdale, have been awarded a contract to overhaul 23 Transport for London wagons. The deal means The Caley will take on 40 new workers for the next two years, although they have ambitions to create 10,000 jobs by 2034. Fraser Gibson, managing director, said the contract: “shows that we are well on our way to seeing The Caley thrive again”. 

✍️ Experts at Scotstoun’s Great Western Auctions have found a previously unrecorded manuscript of the Enlightenment poet and impresario Allan Ramsay. Dated 1719, the writings are notes of his complaint to the town council of Edinburgh, delivered as a poem, where he claims his works are being pirated. Titled, The Author’s Address To The Town Council of Edinburgh, the manuscript is the only original account of the poem known to exist. GWA’s auctioneer and specialist Tommy Alexander said the 300 year-old paper was found in “complete obscurity, amongst a bundle of miscellaneous ephemera” as part of a larger consignment. It was brought in by an anonymous seller who was completely oblivious to its significance and was  discovered wedged between frames of other pictures. The manuscript will go under the hammer this weekend. 

🏥 A firm being sued by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for construction flaws at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was previously awarded a £250,000 bonus for installing environmental features at the site that are now being examined for potentially playing a role in the QEUH infection scandal. Brookfield Multiplex was promised extra cash if the hospital achieved a certain level of environmental efficiency. To achieve this, the firm installed temperature control systems in some wards called chilled beams, which use water. A public inquiry investigating the construction of the site has previously heard these beams subsequently malfunctioned and dripped water into rooms. Over 80 children contracted airborne and water-related infections between 2016 and 2018 while in QUEH wards, including two who died. We’d like to look into this more so please get in touch if you have any information on the events - calum@glasgowbell.co.uk. 

Stories you might have missed: 

✈️ Glasgow Airport workers planning to strike during summer holidays

⚽ American rapper Snoop Dogg says he wants to open a “Paradise” burger van outside Celtic Park

🛏️ Hundreds of homeless people were refused a bed for the night in April 

🎥 Glasgow’s got a bunch of road closures coming up. Here’s the council’s full list

Read/listen/watch: A lament for the Forth and Clyde canal with Fyfe Robertson 

Superfans of the BBC Archive will be familiar with the distinctive brogue of broadcasting legend Fyfe Robertson. Most recently, we loved his 1962 lamentation on the Forth and Clyde Canal, a dispatch from the waterways as they were closing to navigation after almost two centuries of use. “This canal was not only a notable example of human ingenuity, but a guarantee of a brighter future,” he opined. What Fyfe didn’t foresee was the manifold ways the canals would continue to be used, from running, cycling and narrowboat trips, to magnet fishing, kayaking and paddle boarding. The canal is dead; long live the canal! 

We also rec: 

🗳️ Inside the elite Labour campaign that upset by-election odds in South Lanarkshire (£)

💰 The Rise and Fall of Michelle Mone

Catch up and coming up: 

• Last week Calum brought his data skills to bear with the launch of a new map documenting fires in Glasgow’s heritage buildings over the last 25 years. It’s an amazing piece of work, listing the dates of fires and building owners. Patterns quickly emerged. But to build the map further, we need your input. If you’ve got any fires you want added — or more information about ones listed — email Calum with the details. 

Tinderbox: The Bell launches a new map of Glasgow’s many fires

The propensity for so many buildings to catch fire has stoked conspiracy theories galore. Is there anything to them?

The BellCalum Grewar

• Margaret Taylor delivered a fascinating read on the struggle over the future of a listed cinema in Govan last week. On one side, senior SNP councillor, Ricky Bell and a local community trust. On the other — the current owner of the site, Mohammed Choudhry, and Labour MSP, Paul Sweeney. Has the Lyceum Cinema become a proxy in a political war?  Form your opinion here.
• At the weekend we had an exclusive extract from Liam Turbett’s shocking new book, which details the 1975 killing of a young Jamaican man in Woodlands by a Loyalist and National Front member. Why did the murder get buried? Read about it here. 

Unconstructive critique: The Reeling, Rouken Glen Park 

Surely there isn’t a more picturesque festival in Glasgow (okay, East Renfrewshire, but who’s splitting hairs?), than the trad music knees-up that’s taken place in the bosky environs of Rouken Glen since 2023. I arrived yesterday to the sounds of the dreamy harp and fiddle duo, Rebecca Hill and Charlie Stewart, performing at the Park Bar stage as the sun shone and silver birch leaves glistened in the wind. Later, at the main stage, Blazin’ Fiddles managed to corral the crowd into an impromptu military two-step; quite the sight to behold. An instrumental set from Rura, impeccable as ever, closed out the festival. Even if it was less well-attended than previous years, the event still draws in folks of all ages — a powerful attestation to the rude health Glasgow’s trad scene finds itself in.—Robbie. 

Glasgow calendar: Refugee Festival Scotland

Refugee Festival Scotland kicks off on Friday, running until 22 June. There’s a full events listing here. We like the sound of Sadia Sikander’s photography exhibition, documenting the untold stories of those trapped in the UK’s asylum backlog. Exhibition opening ceremony: Goma, 13 June, 11am–1pm, then until 15 June. 

Other dates for your diary:

🎹Sonic Interventions: experimental music festival from UK and Ukrainian artists
11–15 June; various venues in Glasgow. 

🏗️ Architecture Fringe event: stories of Dalmarnock past, present and future
14 June, 11am–2pm. Free

🛸 Scottish UFO and paranormal conference
14 June, 10am–7pm. Tickets from £11.55