# A Workshop and presentation given by our host ,Anne Dundas at Reidvale Housing Association . A community led social economy project which first saved and then refurbished this part of Duke Street . Commencing in 1975 by refurbishing a single one room apartment the project has grown today to a 2.6 million pound turnover with responsibility for over 1100 homes , both rented and sold to the local community at affordable prices. This remarkable story was the subject of the BBC 2 documentary ” The Secrets Of Our Streets ” and is a truly inspirational example , serving as a lesson of what working class communities , in this case a majority of women volunteers , can achieve through bloody minded hard work and integrity.
Dr Adamson OBE as Patron of our group presented copies of his book Dalaradia and our just published Old Testament in Plain Scots , this is the first time ever that the Old Testament has been translated into a standardized form of the Scottish Language and grammar !
Reidvale Housing Association is at 13 Whitevale Street , Glasgow , 01415542406
Quote ” enjoyed meeting you all today and was blown away with Bibles and Ians book . Hope your oranisation continues to grow strong , if we can help in anyway please let us know .”
Irene @ Reidvale Housing
# B Workshop at Redmonds Bistro ,
Presentation by Mr Miskimmin , owner of this newly opened bar – restaurant , in a somewhat run down part of the city , other business,s are now following suit and regeneration of this community is under way , The only licensed trade business in Glasgow paying all staff a Living Wage as opposed to the minimum wage with a profit sharing scheme as well , this business has featured heavily in the local media because of this trading module . Connor has also appeared on local Scottish Television cookery programmes showing his healthy range of meals , in particular his unique range of delicious steamed buns with fillings! After the presentation we enjoyed a great evening meal with our Question and Answer session .
Redmonds is at 304 Duke Street , Glasgow ,
# C We continued or trip next day by hiring a minibus and driver who proved to have great local knowledge and was most helpful , our first stop off was at Dumbarton Castle , centre of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde whose history and culture has direct links to Dalaradia and the ancient Ulster Kings , and ties in to the field trips we carried out previously to Fort Dunaad and Crewe Hill . There is also a direct link to St Patrick , who may have originated in this area , Patrick wrote a letter to Croticus , King of Dumbarton and Strathclyde reprimanding him for trading in slaves whilst proclaiming to be of the Christian Faith . Patricks first convert in Ulster was of course , Bronagh , daughter of the Dalaradian Chieftain , Milchu .
This fortress along with Dumbarton was known as ” Fortress of the Britons ” , attesting to the closeness of our ancient peoples , culture and language , it was sacked by the Vikings who used the plunder to help establish Dublin as a center of their power in Ireland. The castle continued to be a bastion of medieval Royal power and was used as a military garrison and prison until recent times .
Dumbarton Castle is off the A82 , postcode G82 1JJ , 01389 732167
# D Afterwards we traveled to the nearby Scottish Maritime Museum where we enjoyed a tour of this beautiful Victorian Building , given by a most enthusiastic guide . Sometimes called a ” Cathedral of Engineering ” this building was a showcase for the cutting edge technology of its time and was home to the Denny Ship Model Experiment which used exact scaled down models of new ships to prove their effectiveness before the real thing was built , thus guaranteeing proven results for the shipping companies. Later we had an open workshop in the museum cafe , we couldn’t help but draw comparisons to our own world famous Belfast Harland and Wolff shipyard , with its similar history of innovation and expansion followed by decline with all the implications for its employees as they struggled to adapt to a changing society and the prospect of finding employment and feeding their families in a new generation.
Scottish Maritime Museum , Castle Street , Dumbarton , 01839 763444
many thanks to
Fantastic Scottish Destinations , Minibus Tours , 0141 2787277
With our weekend drawing to a close we proceeded to our last event , a visit to the award winning St Mungo Museum , in Glasgow.named of course after the patron saint of the city .
Of particular interest was the current exhibition ” In Honours Cause ” which celebrates Glasgows memorials to the Great War ,which touched a thread with our group who have taken part in several memorial events in 2014 relating to the centenary of the outbreak of World War One , as well as attending the inauguration of The Sword Of Sacrifice Memorial in Glasnevin Cemetary , Dublin .
The museum is dedicated to images and icons of Religious Life and helped us reflect on the religious and political conflict which has only recently diminished in our own country of N.Ireland . There are also displays on age , death and the afterlife as well as religious beliefs of pre Christians , Celts , Catholics , Protestants , Jews and Muslims.
After a question and answer session in the cafe we again had a unique moment when we met Museum Supervisor , Brian Reid who graciously accepted our donation from Dr Ian Adamson OBE , of copies of the Old Testament in Scots . As noted previously this is the first ever translation of the Old Testament into Plain Scots Language using a standardized grammar !
It did feel strange for our Ulster group to be presenting a Scottish Bible to a Scottish Museum in Scots ! but we hope it fits well with the Museums theme of Religious images and icons , we have opened a channel of communication with the Museum and will be happy to provide further copies on request , this concluded our field trip Scotland , we certainly discussed and learned a lot and felt it was time well spent .
St Mungo Museum Of Religious Life , 2 Castle Street , Glasgow 0141 2761625