I travelled to Glasgow with a friend a few years go, to walk the West Highland Way, which starts there. On arrival at the main station, I asked the station master, where I could get the train to Milngavie, mis-pronouncing the name. He replied with a smile and advised me that in general, the local people pronounce it Mill-guy. It was such a dry, beautiful and polite correction and I smiled back. I had a wonderful two weeks and the beauty of the walk is just amazing and all the people we met, without exception were charming.
Glasgow is an enigma for lots of reasons..post industrial but blessed with outstanding parks and urban woodlands...but the people are its hidden treasure warm. humorous.and always keen to meet visitors for a Blether ..i agree the west highland Way is jaw dropping...Crainlaroch..and Rannoch moor..i remember as a child climbing the easy route up Ben Nevis...i had a transcendental experience..looking over this magical mystical landscape..there is a earth energy all around the Highlands that is unique and .spiritual..soo glad. you enjoyed your time up here in our wee hidden jewel.....Haste ye.back
Glasgow has gone through cycle after cycle of demolition of "slums" only to replace them with the next generations slums. Other cities conserve, protect and repair. Glasgow shatters its own communities and builds disruptive dual carriageways and roads that disconnect communities from their own historical city. Now ironically, the authorities are paying attention to the quality of housing but they are trying to repair the super-slums that they constructed on the outskirts of the city in the 1960's, ie "the scheme's". Time will tell but the quality of much of the city has been destroyed by those who were supposed to care for it. Selling cheap houses in urban jungles may be the way to revive the city but I doubt it.
William Bolton : All my family and relatives lived in the Tenements, I was born in Toonhied, 1948, ran away in 1966, some family moved to Drumchapel, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Rutherglen, I left with a Ten Bob Note... You can take the boy out of the slums, but you have to take the slums out of the boy... Take a look at The Drum and East Kilbride today... shiteholes.
I lived in Glasgow from 02 to 08... loved it. Its a city that knows what it is. Its rough. Its industrial. It's artistic. It's full to the brim with talent. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is. A phenomenal place.
A lot of replies from people who dont seem to appreciate where they live. Glasgow has so much opportunities such as education, more employment. Appreciate where you are, maybe the area you are in is the issue, not the whole city.
I loved my childhood in Glasgow never easy always exiting running free some would have said kids in the 70s were neglected but kids these days are over protected and modern parents are scared if our kids leave the house the media mould us into what we are the more restrictions that are put in place to make our life’s safer the more anxious and fearful we become I don’t have an answer but I see it happening more and more
Hi Dave , couldn't agree more! Life just isn't the the same any more! We made our own fun and future then! Nowadays they all want it done for them! Although sometimes hard, Our times were much different and better!!!!!
I think you meant ‘ exciting’ not exiting such as what they done as they headed to the New Towns like Cumbernauld and Livingston. It’s not pretty and certainly not nostalgic. It was brutal.
Thank you for this. I was born, raised and live in West London, but I lived in Glasgow from the early to mid 90's and made the best friendships and was made welcome. I remember the city with warm memories and still visit to this day and hopefully to the end of my days. I love the city.
I was born in the Salvation Army hostel on the great Western Rd and stayed in Govanhil before moving to what at the time was a luxury apartment in Toryglen. 9 of us in a 3 bedroom apartment. Me, my mum and dad 2 sisters and a brother together with an uncle and my grandad. We didn’t know we were poor, everyone was the same. Looking back, now 69, I loved it
We moved to Glasgow in 1973 from Huddersfield. Glasgow beats every other city simply because of the beautiful and family loving people. Bridgeton will always be in my heart.
I'm a West ender from Kelvinside Glasgow who became a youth worker within my faith group The Salvation Army in Bridgeton. The locals took the Mic at my ***posh *** accent but I've never seen such kind, caring committed people in my life. I moved on to work in the armies homeless addiction services again in city centre / East end of Glasgow where I spent the years till I retired. I loved my job. Today I remain a member of the Salvation Army and choose while living at the other end of Glasgow I worship still in the East End at Parkhead Corps.
Back in the 60s when they cleared the whole area from Tradeston to Kiningpark, I grew up in it, living on the Paisley Rd, where now the Kingston Bridge stands. The first thing to say is that, the people wanted to knock all the buildings down. They believed there was a better life, than living up a close with an outside toilet and a trip to Baths once a week to get a bath. I was 21 before I ever stayed in a house with a bath. It was 1975. I am not saying I wasn’t happy. It was a harsh life but there was still plenty of happiness. I had childhood full of wonders, play and adventures. At 8 climbing up the stairs, 3 stories, of dark strange close, could be terrifying as your imagination took hold. Climbing over broken walls and playing in rubbish bins, might seem to monochrome photo viewer as hell, but it was not. It was just home and at the end of day, you came home hungry, tired and happy, to what ever your Mum gave you for your tea, and in your bed you slept like log under your pile of eiderdowns and coats.
That was beautiful. I wish my late brother could have seen this. Our family left Glasgow in the early 60’s. I returned with my daughter in 2008 and it still felt like home even though I was a little girl when we left. Can’t pin down why it’s so special.
I was born at home in springburn in 1957 moved to ruchazie in 1962 and then to cumbernauld in 1971. I still consider myself as Glaswegian. So it saddens me to know that the house i was born in the house i moved to, the two primary schools and the secondary school i attended, no longer exist. But at least photographs of them and my memories of them still exist.
strange I was born in Bedley street in Sprinburn 1959...movevd to Torbrex in Cumbernauld in 63...loved it all...my childhood and teenage years were magical lovely neighbours..tough at times..but never felt soo alive
@@katherinewilliamson7670 I was born at home in petershill road diagonally opposite the school that had a side entrance to bedlay st then moved to ruchazie in 1962 then cumbernauld in 1971 . If you went to cumbernauld high you may have known my 2 best pals who were in your year.
@@thomassutherland377 I have many freinds that went to Cumbie high....i went to Our Ladies High..in Seafar....small world I know the school with gate onto Bedley street...my family were originally from Maryhill...then Springburn..but we moved to Cumbernauld..with houses with flat roofs...nae.radiators...spent the winters with coats on the beds lol...ala..Billy Connolly sketch...have to say loved Cumbernauld..whete did u stay Carbrain ?
I photographed Glasgow over one glorious summer weekend in 2018. Extremely photogenic. Loved the place. I am in New Zealand. Yeah, bits of G. To be fair. My ancestors btw sailed out the Clyde in 1867. Of course I photographed the glorious deserted docklands. I will exhibit them next year. I am slow! I enjoyed this immensely. Thanks.
I'd be very interested in seeing how photography... Where do you intend to exhibit them? I remember those shipyards from visiting my aunties and uncles as many lived overshadowed by John browns yard etc. I remember the hull of the QE2 looming over us at the back of my aunties home at the back of the yard where my uncle worked and being shown around the unfinished ship not long before it was launched into the river Clyde - families of the workers were allowed to be shown around before she was due to be floated, and sent to the finishing dock. All have been swept away, the tenements, John browns and much of Clydebank too... All that remains is the old Caledonian Railway station that is now a house...
My name is Thomas Kidd.I lived totally in the middle of the video !Aged 5 ,I moved from Camden street s old sand stone building,to the Cumberland Street high rise flats, I lived there til 1983 ,got married ,moved away and returned in2000s to watch Cumberland Street be blown down! I later bought a house in what they called the new Gorbals,! Itt was never the same after this ! I'm not happy that time changes so quickly now! ,And miss how life was then!!!!!
My parents lived in Hospital Street in the Gorbals. In 1952 my mother went into the Royal Maternity, Rottenrow, to bring me into the world. Some neighbours' keys unlocked each other's doors, and while my mother was in hospital, her neighbours accessed her tenement flat and redecorated it for her before she came home. My mother said she never ever had better neighbours than those in the Gorbals. 🙂
I’ve lived in England for 25 years but the first half of my life was Glasgow - born and bred. My daughter now studies at Glasgow University and loves the city. This video was at times haunting; often beautifully so. I am a particular fan of the work of Oscar Marzaroli. His book ‘Shades of Grey’ perfectly captures Glasgow in the 50s-80s and showcases my home city as a place of contrasts ... sometimes quite stark contrasts.
Looking at 1800s photos of the Glasgow architecture is just absolutely astounding. It’s almost hard to believe men from those times could built such glory. My ancestors trace back to Scotland and it’s where I’ve always wanted to go most. Never been out of America. As a photographer of historic architecture, I’d be in heaven in Glasgow. Cool video. Cheers
@@adambritain5774 Yes. Very few people today can fathom someone’s thought process and motivation from those times. The work ethic, the dedication, the pride. Fascinates me to no end.
Thank you for posting this. I've never been to Glasgow but found this fascinating. The photos are well chosen and I've never heard of Marzaroli and I was very pleased to be introduced to his work. The commentary is passionate and intelligent and I love Chris Leslie's photos. One of the best photography videos I have seen for a long time. Best wishes from Hull.
I'm 57 and was brought up in Glasgow. I don't live there now, but have some amazing pictures from the 70s that my mother captured on a simple camera. I returned there in the 90s and added my own pictures of a changing Glasgow Scheme.. Thank you for sharing this on your channel..
Have to say, I consider that it was an absolute act of desecration that the University of Glasgow demolished the home of architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh ; Southpark Avenue, number 78. I lived in Southpark Avenue as a student.
It's like a beautiful jigsaw that's lost its pieces and every time someone tries to put new bits in their places it becomes a mess and they have to be thrown away. Demolition city.
I agree, I grew up in the city and moved (reluctantly) to ireland when I was 20. I still go back regularly to visit my three brothers and their families. I was born in Annick street in shettleston 59 years ago
💕👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 The 80’s gave us unemployment drugs and Maggie thatcher = Hopelessness! Not here for many though. Toughness for whatever life put in your path. 👏👏❤️👆🏻🙏🏻 The flats ware a representative of prison halls. Built in a square with what looked like prison landings
by oscar mazzarolli its called the glasgow boys i was photographed by him standing with my granda watching the tenement buildings being bulldozed in the gorbals 60 years ago linda wilson
All I remember growing up in the early Sixties is seeing these new buildings being created, if I can use that word loosely? And the Sandstone Tennements being unsympathetically Brutally destroyed, is the times out with my Mum, sister and Brother passing by the new building sites listening to the Pile drivers, some under steam, others, the New Hydraulic Technology destroying our hearing! Those were the Days! 😉 Seriously, it was better times!
This is stunning - my son is at University of Glasgow and has adopted Glasgow as his forever home having been there a few years now - he also takes stunning pictures of the city with an impressive set of eyes - thank you for these
Respect the past, live in the present and quietly look at and plan for the future. Stunning images and lovely story. Makes me sad hey happy. I’m Romanian. Moved to Glasgow 2 years ago. Loving it. People do make Glasgow still and I hope they will continue to do so.
Glasgow is a great city it is always re inventing itself the damage done by the m8 through the city is criminal the city is repairing the damage done 50 years later to this day it will take time but we will get there one thing has not changed glaswegians are the best and go out their way to help visitors to the city plus are friendly and have a great sence of humour
I think the gent at 4:13 timestamp is my Grandfather who we lost in March to this virus. Would love to know more info on the photo please? Could you provide anything on it, even the date please?
Sorry for your loss Andrew. You may be able to find out more about the photograph by contacting the filmmaker Chris Leslie via his website: www.chrisleslie.com/contact/ Hope this helps Best wishes, UofG
Glasgow. Highs and lows. Romanticism is only for the good memories. Some of us had to move to newtowns and see our dreams of being professional football players destroyed. Like an evacuation of promising players sent out to live and share maybe one gravel pitch. The history of Glasgow could be longer than the sixties and seventies if there was a togetherness to carry us into the future. East end west end north and south side. Green and Blue have grown up into shadows of division where the possibility of mutual progress has descended into mutual hatred and lack of respect. Drug dealing gangs war against each other against a historical background of some of the greatest football teams the world has ever seen. Sadly the world has overtaken that background and left behind a nation of streetwise gallus football players to only be a part of history. Respect each other. Don't let history divide you anymore and walk on from the south side to the east end together with mutual respect like the example of John Greig and Billy McNeil. And let Glasgow flourish together.
Powerful piece this, really enjoyed it. I grew up in Glasgow in the 80s and early 90s and have fond memories, i miss it. Westminster's conservative party decimated Glasgow and to a greater extent Scotland. Scotlands wealth built Canary Wharf and the London skyline we know today, imagine what it could have done for ourselves. Scotland is the only oil rich nation in the world having to use food banks. Didnt mean to get all political but some of those images hit hard.
I was born in Glasgow, Stayed in Partick, I remember the old back courts, Moved to Livingston in 1972, To have your own bedroom was a Luxury, I’m back now, staying just outside Glasgow, but Partick is always in my heart, lived those old photos,
I love vids like these and I'm glad someone did this for posterity. I grew up in Glesga but moved doon south in 1994 - absence make the heart grow fonder.
I grew up in the area in the 1960s and '70s and certainly don't remember life being as creepy and hideous as these pictures suggest. Rose coloured memories perhaps?
I was a small child from London visiting my mother’s mother in the 1950s , who lived throughout her entire life in the tenements in the gorbles of Glasgow . The experience of that summer has stayed with me ever since.
"Like many other British Cities at that time" London was booming while in the same decade Glasgow lost 25% of its population. They closed the shipyards in the same era they found north sea oil (of course the oil rigs were built in forgien countries) GLASGOW WAS DESTROYED BY UK POLICY
Almost all the Brent field was built in Scotland, same goes for Piper and Forties. Of the other fields, most had topsides built in Scotland, with only specialist deep water jackets being built abroad since no Scottish facility existed for deep water construction. On top of that we have Sullom Voe, St Fergus and Grangemouth, all Scottish built.
As a child I remember areas of Glasgow in the 1970’s that were ruined. Waste ground, raised buildings, rubble, litter. Half derelict tenements, rooms opened to the air. Scary and sad. I wish we could go back and do what we do today. Sandblast the tenements, new windows, new plumbing. Clean them up, and keep communities together. But knocked down, these areas are gone forever.
Nice photos, interesting compositions. Particularly Oscar’s terrific work which is very poignant and profound. I was lucky enough to have seen Oscar’s exhibition at Street Works before it recently ended. It’s terribly upsetting seeing the identity and soul of many of these areas featured on the video vanish in the city, getting ripped apart, swallowed up by gentrification despite the positives and negatives gentrification brings. Have to say tho the way this video is romanticised with sentimental and saccharine piano music is heavy cringe and the photos presented toward the end are conveying a false, exaggerated impression of poverty porn. I live in Yoker / Knightswood near the demolished high rise flats at the 6:15 time stamp. Nothing wrong with the area, it isn’t abandoned like many areas in the north of the city nor is the area bleak and miserable. The area is a lovely place to stay in with plenty of affordable living accommodation and no dodgy landlords, a library 15 minutes up the road in Knightswood but the swimming pool next to it is sadly boarded up which is an utter shame. Despite that the area and the community is friendly. Yes it has its fair share of hardship, deprivation and societal problems like every other area in the city where life is more of a struggle compared to the leafy, out of touch, affluent bubble that is the West End. An area of the city that is completely disconnected from areas like Yoker, Milton, Easterhouse, Summerston, Possil, Shettleston, Springburn, Bridgeton, Whiteinch, Knightswood etc. I just hope more funding by the local authorities and the Scottish government can urgently go into those areas in the future to help rejuvenate and revitalise those areas. More job opportunities, better leisure facilities for exercise and sport, more green spaces, libraries and learning facilities, carpentry workshops, apprenticeships or creative NGO arts and music organisations like the success of Platform in Easterhouse. Make things more accessible rather concentrating everything centrally within the city centre boundaries, merchant city or the West End. So long as changes and improvements aren’t grossly gentrified to the point where locals can no longer stay in those areas and are forced to move further away if rent becomes too expensive.
Born in Rotten Row 1973. Lived there from 2000 to 2008. So much better than Edinburgh. Glaswegians take time out to say hi and speak to one another. Big City with a village mentality.
In addition, I remember my late mother telling me a story. Very glamorous, she had been dancing at one of the many dancehalls in the late 1950’s, and she and a boyfriend were invited to a party in the Gorbals. This was when there was still tenements, the traditional Gorbals. She was shocked to arrive at the flat to see a coal fire burning, a flat immaculate and highly polished brasses on the fireplace. It was so welcoming.
I used to travel here for the Celtic matches in the eighties, but it’s sad to see , I once new with urban skyline all gone now a completely different place, but has the same people 👍
All too easy to romanticise poverty and deprivation..in reality it is sad and distressing place to be...great idea and great and interesting photos though 👍
I started working life in C&As in Trongate in 1972, the only recruit ever to ask for Glasgow. A brilliant city, and many happy memories outside work. "Glasgow's Miles Better" - the best ever city slogan, and still true today.
Having moved out of Glasgow several years ago i reminisce about my life there. I grew up in the Old Gorbals where decent folk were harassed on a daily basis in those giant tenement blocks. Moving to Maryhill seemed like an escape but in reality it was the same. But it is still home, regardless of the poverty and the crime and the violence. It is a city where humility and respect has been earned. A city where life is brimming and hardship will forever be endured. I miss the people, the lifestyle, the landscape. I miss my home.
Always a pleasure to see shots of Glasgow from bygone days, Chris does a good job narrating folk like Chris and Oscar Mazzarolli gave me the idea to take shots of Glasgow as it was when I started in late 1980s and I am still taking shots, I am well out of their league but take what I see. For the past few years I have been taking whats coming down and whats going up , the changing face of Glasgow, some folk dont like it but its happening
My pal and I used to wait outside the gates of that very shipyard on the day the men would get their pay pokes ( packets to non Glaswegians). We were only about 7 and the men would quite often drop half pennies . Between us both we could get enough for some sweeties. I remember the Govan fair too. Beautiful big cart horses striking sparks on the cobbles as they passed in the procession. It wasn’t a bad childhood at all.
Can anyone explain the current work visa situation in the UK? Since the salary requirement is now set at £38,700, how can you extend your work visa if your salary is below this amount?
I can remember the 90s growing up was old houses getting ripped down every second street where I lived but was good d back then great images and video 👍
I grew up in cranhill when the tenements were being demolished and my mum refused to move because even though there was eight of us the council kept offering her two and three bedroom flats. So for three years we lived with every house round about torn down and with us living in the top floor, the view was incredible. We brought in the new millenium in that house thinking it would be our last new year there but a year later we were STILL there untill finally moving in the summer of 2001 to a four bedroom semi. It was so exciting! I had my own room for starting secondary school and we had lots of new friends to play with. I've heard cranhill described as 'the most deprived area in glasgow' but I can't remember being deprived of anything
You seem to think that the people of Glasgow had a say on the so called re-generation schemes over the years. Well no matter what the council say's Glasgow people were told WHAT they were getting take it or leave it. Same goes for Edinburgh.
Loved it, the working class that I am part of, is down trodden by life. 1980’s brought unemployment ,poor housing and child neglect . There is no escape
I'm not saying I'm in the same league of those photographers shown in this interesting film, but I'm one of those unseen ‘street photographers’ that are in and around Glasgow recording the lives of those who live, visit and share our great city. I'm a Glaswegian who ‘migrated’ into the overspill new town, Cumbernauld as a child, but I still consider myself a proud Glaswegian. I'm often in Glasgow (and other places in Scotland) recording the activities of the ordinary people of Scotland going about their daily business... Whether that's the street performers and their audiences, or the independence marches, or the demonstrations in George Square, or a mother and her child dressed up as Buzz Lightyear, it all adds the character and life of Glasgow. Some, like myself, are interested in everything that catches our eyes (people, murals, street performers etc) and others are purely interested in individuals (street portraits) but in all, we are recording the heartbeat of the city of Glasgow... The people. Those of us ‘working the streets’ are more fortunate than those mentioned in the film, as we have means of getting our work seen more easily than what was available back in the 1800s, the fifties, sixties etc as we have the World Wide Web to show our work on (Flickr being one example), but even though that is true now we are mostly unknown to the general public just like those who came before us.
@2:47 I really had to look closely as I thought it was my relatives or people in the neighborhood, the gentleman on the far left with the long Coat looks like my own Father. I was born in Toonheid, 1948, Alexandra Parade between James Orr St and Wishart St, neither exist anymore, it was just behind the Royal, where they stoked the Boilers with Coal.
Lovely vid & photos. As someone who lives down south, I’m pleased that I visited Glasgow, but was genuinely shocked at the genuinely third world look of some of the back street old stone darkened tenements, with their washing line strewn clothes & rubbish blowing in the street. Loved the MacIntosh school of Art hidden on its steep slope & the grandeur of George Square. There was a definite hostility toward the English accent though, which I can only assume has worsened in recent years, sadly. I hope Glasgow finds itself on the up these days.
I was born in Glasgow and lived in the South Side. The heart of Glasgow was torn out of it in the 70's and finished in the 80's. It's industrial heart is dead, all that is left is service industry and Council Job's (26%). The City produces little anymore and the skills that made it famous have died with the old men.
This is so well done. This focuses on the Gorbals/ center of the city. My life in Glasgow was mostly in the west end, life on Buchanan st, Sauchiehall st, getting out to other parts of the city. Proud to be from Glasgow. from a Scot now living in North Carolina.
