Glasgow Reflections

Last night I was staying at the Glasgow Central Hotel, as I had an early start in the morning.

Before meeting up with members of the Mackintosh Society I went for an early morning walk and as I was passing by Wellington Street the reflections of the old buildings in the new building caught my eye.

Our coach picked us all up outside Central Station and then we made our way down to Greenock, to the Old West Kirk which is steeped in history. Originally built in 1591 at Westburn. The church has a copy of the Royal Charter signed in 1589 by King James giving permission for the church to be built and making it the first reformation church to be built in Scotland. In 1926, to make way for expansion of the Harland & Wolff shipyard (the present-day location of Container Way), the church was moved stone by stone to the corner of the Esplanade, with a new tower designed by James Miller. The masonry, window tracery and balustraded forestair are all original. The Old West Kirk contains a unique collection of Pre-Raphaelite stained glass windows designed Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Daniel Cottier.

The group were blown away by the quality of the stained glass windows in this beautiful church and were saddened by the Church of Scotland's decision to close this church.

We then made our way up to the Quarriers Village for lunch at the Three Sisters Bake.

We were then taken on a tour of Quarriers Village by Michael Lewis. The village was the brain child of William Quarrier. He opened his first service for destitute children in Glasgow on 18 November 1871. He resolved to take these children from the Victorian institutional environment to a children’s village where they could live in cottage-style homes with house parents. The first cottage in Quarriers Village began in 1877.

It has been an exhausting and emotional journey over the last few weeks, but I hope I can get some sleep now. Many thanks for being patient with me and I will get back to responding to your journals. I cannot believe this is my 730 blip. It has been an amazing journey.