WORLD WISDOM ON WELLBEING

Below are some quotes from notable people across the world. Below each person, see if you can write their country of their birth. Which thought resonates with you the most?

“A healthy attitude is contagious but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” - Tom Stoppard

Library

The impact of a book-based sanctuary on community wellbeing

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What can we do about the state of our lanes?

A community conversation exploring what can be done to improve our local environment.

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¡Viva la Musica!

Have you heard the Govanhill Voices community choir?

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Alternative Medicines

Why people are turning to psychedelics to treat medical conditions

How Govanhill’s cafes are tackling loneliness

To Close

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”

- Khalil Gibran

“Not all storms come to disrupt your life. Some come to clear your path.” - Paulo Coelho

“The drop grows happy by losing itself in the river.”

- Mirza Ghalib

“Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”

- Maya Angelou

“When you do things from the soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” - Rumi

“Our bodies are our gardensour wills are our gardeners.”

- William Shakespeare

The articles where you see the Mind the Health Gap logo are part of a yearlong collaboration with investigative journalism co-op The Ferret exploring solutions to health inequalities. The project is funded by the European Journalism Centre, through the Solutions Journalism Accelerator. This fund is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Exercise is a key not only to physical health but to peace of mind.” - Nelson Mandela

£1000 Raised in Community Newsroom for People in Türkiye and Syria

Greater Govanhill were pleased to team up with local volunteer-run community food project Kin Kitchen, for a food-based fundraiser in the Community Newsroom. The idea came from Turkish and Syrian volunteers in the group who wanted to do something for those affected by the catastrophic earthquakes. It was a real community affair, with baked goods donated by Locavore and Milk Cafe and recipes ingredients provided by Shawlands Continental. The leftovers were passed to Food Not Bombs Glasgow who distributed it from their free food stall the following day.

Volunteers who helped out included Abd, Esra, Jaafar, Rowan, Alice, T, Sarah, Yas, Sadia, Andrea, Euan, Myrtle, Jack and Spyro. On sale was maqluba, falafel, borek, and fatayer, as well as lots of cookies, cakes, pastries and other treats. The £1000 raised was split between organisations helping out in both countries.

Big Noise Govanhill Members Travel to India for ‘Concert For Friendship’

Twelve young musicians from Big Noise, a music education and social change programme with a base in Govanhill, will travel to Chennai, India this March to perform with other Scottish and Indian musicians in a night that celebrates the two countries’ musical heritages. The concert will feature over 100 young musicians who will perform works of classical composers, as well as Scottish melodies, Naga and Tamil folk songs, and Carnatic melodies.

Posties with the Mosties Calendar Raises over £7000

Last year, the tongue-in-cheek calendar featuring posties with their kit off was created and launched by striking postal workers, along with the Glasgow Southside Strike Solidarity group.

The sell-out calendar raised over £7000 for the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, Living Rent Glasgow tenants’ union and Milk Cafe – which supports migrant women and those navigating the asylum system. On 5 March, the money will handed over to the respective organisations.

Glasgow Zine Library Fundraising

Glasgow Zine Library has been a part of the Cathcart Road thoroughfare since 2018 and in that time have hosted many workshops and built a community archive and zine library of over 1000 zines. Now, they have found a new and bigger home on Albert Road that will allow them to host larger projects and stock even more zines. While they have funding to cover things like rent, they have launched a Crowdfunder in order to make their space wheelchair accessible. For more information visit: glasgowzinelibrary.com

Agnew Lane Plans for a Community Garden

Agnew Lane is disused, privately owned land just off Albert Road. Since 2007, there have been multiple attempts to turn the space into a community garden, only to be thwarted by private developers. Now, the intention is to facilitate development of the land by the community, for the benefit of the community.

What is envisaged is a garden capable of not only supplying the community with free veg and fruit, but also providing grounds for native species of plants, insects, and animals to coexist. Keep up to date with what’s happening via agnewlane.co.uk and, if you fancy getting your hands dirty, there are community gardening days most Sundays from 1pm.

Scottish Child Law Centre Six Week Pilot

In October last year, the Scottish Child Law Centre, a charity that offers free and confidential legal advice to children and young people, set up a pilot clinic in the Samaritan House on Coplaw Street. The initiative saw staff from the SCLC offer free, in-person, legal advice to individuals referred from other local services or self-referred through the centre. The pilot was a success with SCLC helping, among many others, a family who were being refused emergency accommodation even though they were legally entitled to it. The SCLC are hoping that the pilot’s success will mean they can secure funding to return to the area on a more permanent basis

Get Involved with Innovative Journalism-Theatre project, It’s Criminal

A new storytelling collaboration between Greater Govanhill, The Ferret and Contemporary Narrative Labs, and supported by City University of London’s Higher Education Innovation Funding Knowledge Exchange, will work with a group of people with direct experience of the criminal justice system and with people from communities often scapegoated or blamed for crime. In the summer, participants will put on a live collaborative journalism show. To find out more and sign up for updates, visit: greatergovanhill.com/latest/its-criminal

‘Our Rights, Our Communities’ Publish Report

‘Our Rights, Our Communities’ was a partnership project between Govanhill Baths Community Trust, Unity Sisters and Milk Café funded by the New Scots Refugee Integration Delivery Project to further equality and human rights of New Scots Women among other aims. They have now published a report of their project with several key recommendations highlighted:

1. Partnership and collaboration with other organisations is important as it means you can achieve much more and reach more people.

2. Rather than taking a provisioning approach, organisations should take an enabling approach that empowers communities and encourages self-help.

3. To engage refugee communities, events must be accessible, including accessible language, transport costs and childcare.

4. It is paramount to include refugees in the shaping and delivery of the project as well as monitoring and evaluation, in a way that is meaningful and not tokenistic.

5. Peer-led community groups are best placed to deliver integration work as it is not a matter of reaching these communities but already being part of them.

Low Emissions Zones in Glasgow City Centre

From 1 June 2023, the Glasgow Low Emission Zone (LEZ) will come into force. This means that all vehicles entering the city centre zone area will need to meet the less-polluting emission standards or face a penalty charge. This is to reduce levels of harmful vehicle emissions in the city centre

Diesel engine vehicles registered before September 2015, and petrol vehicles registered before 2006 onwards will not meet the required LEZ standards. The initial charge for non-compliant vehicles entering a LEZ in Scotland will be £60, reduced by 50 percent if paid within 14 days. This penalty will double with each subsequent breach of the rules detected in the same LEZ.

New Home for Pollokshields Iron Railway Bridge

Network Rail is currently carrying out major renovations of the railway line that runs under Nithsdale Street. The line is being fully electrified and this has sadly meant that the 146 year-old castiron footbridge has been removed from Darnley Road and Moray Place. But it hasn’t been destroyed. Instead this bridge has found a new home in Angus, where it will be re-used in Brechin station.