Radical Roots

Yesterday the rage burned
today the tide’s turned.
With forked tongues
you speak Tannahill’s name
but you’d ignore him still
if he was born again.
You’d wave Wilson off
with cheerful glee.
While sitting on
the establishment’s knee.
Excluded, rejected,
suicidal, dejected.
His body found
in Candren Burn
Too young by far for
an unsanctified urn.
He whispers to me
from times goneby
As together we ask
Why oh why?
Radical roots under
the streets of Paisley
Unlike my friend
deaf ears won’t phase me
The martyr’s rise
a radical revival
blossoming still
for our survival.
So many tales
still to be told
a Paisley pattern
of the brave and bold.

#RadicalRoots #PaisleyPoetry #RobertTannahill #AlexanderWilson #1820sMartyrs #RadicalRenfrewshire

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Just Gulling Around

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Snow Scenes 2

On Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th January Paisley was covered in a blanket of pure white, it’s all just pretty much melted away but the memories sledging down Saucel Hill will last a life-time. If I remember to back them up, my pics might too.  Warm wishes, Rashelle x

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Saucel Hill Snow Scenes 1

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Renfrewshire Remembering Hiroshima

    

“There is no war that serves any other purpose than to destroy but there is something that is different, an extra dimension, nuclear weapons because when a bomb falls and it’s victims are taken on instant impact it’s horrendous but when a nuclear bomb falls for those that survive, it’s only the beginning.  Gums will bleed, hair will fall out in clumps, skin will begin to erode, children will be born deformed with disabilities, they will be born with instant disadvantages, and yet, we have not seemed to learn from this.” Mhairi Black M.P. 

“What we must remember is what our purpose is, our purpose is to make sure this never happens again and the reality is that no matter where nuclear weapons exist, that no matter whose hands those nuclear weapons are in, we are one step away from this kind of event happening, so long as they exist in our society. So let’s keep going, let’s keep bringing this to the forefront of political debate and let’s make sure that the victims of this disaster and any other disasters are not forgotten and we make sure they are remembered through fighting for that better society.” Mhairi Black M.P. 

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‘Flourishing through ancestral honour’

Photograph by Rashelle Reid

Motto: Avito viret honore
‘Flourishing through ancestral honour’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renfrewshire_(historic)

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Anti-Austerity Demo, Glasgow 20th June, 2015

 

Once again Freedom Square, Glasgow was awash with saltires flying high as Scotland joined thousands around the U.K. and Europe taking to the streets to demand an end to Austerity.  Estimates from Police Scotland say there was 1000 in attendance but I’d say that’s a fairly low estimate as people were coming and going all day.  The mood was more sombre than it’s been at the recent Hope over Fear demos as the memory of those we’ve already lost to austerity and what the next five years might bring weighs heavily on the minds of those in attendance.

Renfrewshire was well represented with members of the SNP’s Tannahill branch in attendance as well as members of Renfrewshire CND and individuals from Paisley including local teachers and nurses who see clearly the effects these cuts are having on real people’s lives.  Our newly elected M.P. for Renfrewshire and Paisley, Mhairi Black was also in attendance, though unfortunately I never seen her as I was walking around in a cold induced haze giving out Scrap Trident leaflets for Scottish CND.

With stories that Paisley’s job centre is one of the most heavily sanctioned in the country, there is no doubt our community is paying the price for austerity and yet the current government would rather spend £100 billion on Trident instead of investing in the people of the U.K.  As Scotland is the home of this supposed “nuclear deterrent” that Greenpeace showed long ago isn’t a deterrent  and we are all in the Kill Zone should there be an attack or accident at Faslane it is vital we encourage all our representatives to work together on this regardless of their political persuasion.

Overall the message of the day was hopeful and as the event came to a close the crowd sang along with Gerry Cinnamon’s Hope over Fear anthem, optimistic that we can create a fairer more just Scotland together.

Mhairi Black M.P. being elected was one of the highlights of the 2015 election and shows clearly what can happen when a community comes together with a common goal.

As we approach the Scottish Elections in 2016 it is important that we understand that should Scotland return 67% of Pro-Indy supporting SMP’s a Universal Declaration of Independence is not only possible but inevitable and Scotland’s Independence is the key to changing it all and the reason why so many people in attendance at Saturday’s event were wearing their I’m still YES t-shirts while waving their YES flags.  We are no longer a country divided, we are a country united in our vision for a fairer more just society and this time we’re gonna do it anyway.

https://www.facebook.com/events/921928267846219/

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Little Glimpses of the Eclipse

    

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The hills were alive with the sound of music – Part 2

We’ve had orchards for public consumption and people singing in the streets. the snail case, saints, socialist’s and some really horrendous history. We’ve had patterns, poets, philanthropists and our fair share of mystery. We’ve had tragedy and triumphs and starting again, we’ve had dark days that feel, like they’ll never end. We lift up our heads and we keep stumbling on, no longer are Gleniffer Braes filled with our songs. Our voices are muffled and the tune’s hard to hear, maybe that’s why we’re not filled with more cheer. The resonance changes as we come together in song, so let’s do it again before very long. A summer festival, just like the old days, a chorus of voices from Glennifer Braes. Songs of freedom and tales never told, a coming together of the young and the old. Our hearts lifted as our voice joins in unity, we go back into town as a community.

https://ponderingsfrompaisley.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-hills-were-alive-with-the-sound-of-music/

 

 

 

 

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The hills were alive with the sound of music.

Happy Burns Day from Paisley – Oor Wee Toon

https://www.facebook.com/paisleyoorweetoon

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796)

Paisley – Oor Wee Toon

 

119 years ago, in 1896, a magnificent statue was erected in Paisley to mark the centenary of the death of Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Bard.

The statue is well worthy of note: like its brother statue of the Paisley poet Robert Tannahill it had been funded mainly by open air concerts given by the public-spirited members of the Tannahill Choir. These concerts, which took place in beautiful countryside in the Glenfield Estate at the foot of the Paisley’s scenic Gleniffer Braes, were the social event of the year in the town. In their heyday a huge choir of around 700 voices would sing Scots songs to an enormous audience of around 30,000 concert goers, and the audiences were scarcely less at the Burns statue series, where around 400 choristers would sing to an audience of around 20,000. The statue is today considered by many to be the finest memorial to Robert Burns in existence. This is as much due to the taste, efforts and attention to detail of the original Burns Statue Committee as it is to the substantial sum of money made available to them.

Paisley’s attachment to Burns goes back a very long way indeed, and many Burns’s many connections to the town are well known. Jean Armour, Burns’s eventual wife was sent to stay there with her uncle, Andrew Purdie, during her first confinement. Some of Burns’s closest friends and supporters lived in the area, including the Earl of Glencairn, subject of the famous “Lament”, who lived nearby at Finlaystone House in Langbank; there was also Alexander Pattison, whom Burns dubbed “The Bookseller” after he disposed of 92 copies of his 1787 Edinburgh edition to local enthusiasts, and Wilhelmina Alexander, “ The Bonnie Lass O’ Ballochmyle”, who was born and lived for over thirty years just over the town boundary at Newton House, Elderslie. Burns himself visited the town in 1787 and 1788.

Paisley was always a town in the forefront of the appreciation of the Bard’s works, and in 1805 a group of local poets, including Paisley’s own bard Robert Tannahill formed one of the world’s first Burns Clubs, meeting for the first time in January 1805 at the Starr Inn, 29 High Street, to celebrate the anniversary of the poet’s birth. In 1933 the Tannahills Cottage was given over to the custody of Paisley Burns Club, fitting indeed as Tannahill was appointed Secretary of the Paisley Burns Club when it was formed in 1805.

View the original post here:-

Text adapted from http://www.alamoburnsclub.org.uk/

Paisley Burns Club http://www.paisleyburnsclub.org.uk/

 

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