"Glasgow User Manual " Big issue article
City Strolls "Big Issue Article "
The Glasgow User Manual aims to provide an alternative to all those city guides that only tell you where you can spend your money. Clare Harris met the creators of the community-based project to discover whether the best things in life really are free.
What can you do for free these days? If you asked most people, they'd probably say 'not a lot'. But one small group of culture vultures in Scotland's largest city hopes to change that, with the launch of the Glasgow User Manual. A working title for what its creators hope will become a well-thumbed publication, the manual should be ready to hit our bookshelves this time next year. A long time to wait, you might think, but right now is the most important stage in the new guide's life - what the very first people's guide to Glasgow needs is information.
Bob Hamilton and Beth Hamer, who came up with the idea, have both been involved with community arts and culture projects for several years, and decided it was high time there was a cultural resource that everyone could play a part in, not just the guys who decide what picture goes in which museum, or how many more shops the country needs.
"If you go into the city information centre there's nothing about the indigenous population," explains Hamilton. "How many leaflets do you need about Charles Rennie Mackintosh, or about shopping centres like Princes Square, where all you're meant to do is spend money?"
Instead, the duo think, it would be nice to be able to get up on a sunny Saturday morning and say, 'well, what can I do that will be fun, but won't mean I have to enter a land of business and shops?' They believe the key to discovering what's out there is getting involved with every youth group, drama class and local coffee morning around - and that's what they intend to do this year.
It's a big project, they admit, but ultimately they hope it will take on a life of its own as people across the city realise that it's their guide, and that they can contribute as much to it as anyone else out there.
"I remember going to Germany, France and Holland in the 70s and you'd ask to see the user's guide whenever you arrived somewhere," says Hamilton. "It told you about stuff you could do on the cheap, and they'd always keep it under the counter in tourist information places! But it was such a well-known thing that they had to stock it, although they didn't like to display it on the shelves.
" Today, there are less of these types of guides about, and they're harder to find - although you will get some useful websites about cheap and interesting things to do in a city, the internet is not the necessarily the best way to find out about them, says Hamer. "What if someone doesn't have a computer, how will they find out? We think word of mouth and handing out leaflets and postcards -and also having a place where people can just drop in and see us, is the best way to get all the information we can about the city."
That's why, ultimately, the user's guide will be in print, hopefully in translation for the many different nationalities which now make up Scotland, and perhaps even in the form of a periodical paper, a sort of DIY What's On.
But there's a lot more to the idea than cheap days out. When Scottish Arts Council chairman Richard Holloway heralded a new scheme for community artist residencies last month by saying that some areas in Scotland are "not only money-poor, they are culture-poor", a debate was sparked over what exactly "culture" is, and whether, in shipping ready-made parcels of it to supposedly poor areas, the powers that be are doing no more than preaching from on high.
"It's easy to throw money at a project, but it's harder to actually get people involved," says Hamilton. "For example, one of the things we want to include in the guide is a section on allotments, and how you can grow your own food. When people say they can't grow their own stuff in their garden, or they can't start an allotment or recycle, it's not because they're not able, it's because they don't get encouragement," says Hamilton. "This manual is as much about social education, about getting people doing things in their own garden and back lanes, as it is about publicising events."
The guide will include a section about where to look for funding for community projects, and how to fill out the forms as, its creators say, many people with great ideas get put off at the first hurdle when it comes to bureaucracy. "I want everyone to be able to apply for arts and culture funding," explains Hamilton, "and a lot of people don't even know that it's available to them.
"We're going to be doing workshops around the city, and if we have to stay in one area for a few days first to get to know people and what they want, then we'll do that. What we're trying to do is get to the roots of people's history, their culture, which we sometimes have to be reminded about. You can get loads of great ideas but if it doesn't reach 80 per cent of the people, then you're wasting your time. Unless everyone feels part of these tilings there's no point."
As well as linking in with existing organisations -like the Glasgow Braendam Link, a group fighting poverty and getting people involved in drama and music - the guide aims to pinpoint Glasgow's hidden gems, some of which are fast disappearing. There's the last remaining public toilet in Glasgow's city centre to have been carefully decorated with flowers and doilies by the attendant, or the fast-crumbling architecture in areas like Govan.
"If kids find a bit of grass to play on you worry that the next moment it'll be turned into a car park, or a sports centre where they'll have to pay to do what they were doing before," says Hamer, "What we're trying to say is act as if you own the place -it's about reclaiming the city for yourself, and not letting big business and retail parks take over."
With the user's guide, Hamilton and Hamer hope to kick off ideas that could be transferred to anywhere else in Scotland, or the world, for that matter.
Your first chance to get involved is on June 11, at the Pearce Institute in Govan, where there will be a whole day of entertainment, food and talks, finishing with a ceilidh and bar.
What would make your life culturaly richer. (people in the street)
CULTURALLY RICHER?
"I would like somewhere where people can go and have freedom of speech and express their opinions."
Andy Smith, 51, unemployed from Govan
"Somewhere you could go where you wouldn't need to spend money. If you go to the cinema it's not just the film, it's sweets and popcorn and McDonald's afterwards - then a taxi home, because I don't feel safe taking children into the city centre at night. Even the groups in our area, they're first come, first served and many children are excluded, and if you're not in with the right people there's nothing. My daughter does get to go to the local disco, but my boy has special needs, so there's nothing for him. They're bored out of their nuts, and so am I."
Andrea McAllion, 31, mother of two children, from Royston
"We need another skatepark, there's one in Kelvingrove Park but that's it. Sometimes we skate in public places like benches, but there are people around so we're really restricted. There's definitely a demand for another park, because Kelvingrove is always busy." Craig and Paul Pyne, 17 and 13, rollerbladers from Kilsyth and King's Park
"We'd like something more interesting than just clubs, shops and the cinema. It's pretty cheap to go out to the student unions and bars during the week, but the cinema's expensive, and there's not that many parks here where you can play football or relax - it's all so towny, and if you've got no money there's not much to do."
BasemAudah, 19, Louise McKerrow, 18 and Helen Bonnick, 19, all students at Glasgow Caledonian University
"It would be good if there was more to do than shopping. There are nice places to go if you have transport, like Rouken Glen Park or Loch Lomond, and there are places like St Mungo's Museum or the Provand's Lordship in Glasgow. But I've found that some people from Glasgow don't even know that kind of thing exists. It's more likely to be people from abroad who go. I have a garden so I spend a lot of time there, but it must be a nightmare if you're younger and on a limited income, because the shops are so in your face now." Lyn Turner, 60, sessional worker from outside Glasgow
(Some names have been changed)
'Act as if you own the place. It's about reclaiming the city for yourself, and not letting big business and retail parks take over'
For more information call 07814 303 151, email: user_manual@citystrolls.com
Or: Pop into the Pearce Institute, 840 Govan Road, Glasgow
June Issue 531 Clare Harris