Archives: Community

Glasgow Fort has been working in partnership with local charity, FARE Scotland for over 15 years and this year we are excited to  unveil the newly refurbished FARE Skills & Community Hub at the centre.

Located next to Customer Services (near the Body Shop), the FARE Skills & Community Hub offers free of charge community support and employability drop-in sessions including :

• Job, college & apprenticeship applications
• CV creation and updating
• Interview skills
• Training courses
• Community support & Advice

Opening Times:  Mon – Friday 9:30 am – 4 pm (except Thursday’s 9:30 – 5 pm)

Drop-in Training Sessions

1-3 pm (general public)     4 pm – 6 pm   (school pupils)   

Upcoming sessions:

Thursday 22^nd February – CV creating or updating

Thursday 21^st March – Interview skills

Thursday 18^th April – Job applications

Every Thursday from 1:30 pm – 5 pm- Skills Development Scotland careers support

Training courses

FARE delivers numerous training programmes throughout the year for anyone above 16 years old.  Courses include: Hospitality/Customer Service, Childcare/Early years, Sports industry and FARE Futures.

For more information or to sign up, visit our Employability section on our website:

Link: https://www.fare-scotland.org/services/project-two-llrgk-mfar2

Contact Information

To book an appointment or find out more details, contact the FARE team on:

Mobile:07888266256

Email: [email protected]

For more information on Fare’s wider services:https://www.fare-scotland.org

An Exciting Opportunity To Support The Development of Provan Hall – Operations Officer 

Set within Auchinlea Park and in close proximity to us here at Glasgow Fort Retail Park, the hall is closely linked to many events in the history of Glasgow and was at the heart of the Bishop’s Estate that once stretched from Shettleston to Springburn and Bishop Loch. The building is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and managed by Glasgow City Council.  It is a grade A listed site formed of two houses and a courtyard.

It is considered to be one of the best-preserved fortified country houses in Scotland and one of the oldest surviving buildings in Glasgow, with the oldest building dating from the 16th century. 2

With funding secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Glasgow City Council and other funding partners, both buildings will be restored for future generations to visit and learn about the history and heritage of the house.

The Provan Hall Community Management Trust are now eagerly recruiting an Operations Officer.

If you or anyone you know has experience in working within the heritage, cultural or community development, with experience of delivering events and working with volunteers this could be the perfect role.

The Role

To support the development and operation of Provan Hall Community Management Trust by supporting and developing volunteer involvement, an events programme and community engagement.

The Provan Hall Community Management Trust

The Provan Hall Community Management Trust (PHCMT) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) whose charitable objectives are:

• The advancement of education;

• The advancement of arts, heritage and culture;

• The advancement of environmental protection and improvement,

• The provision of recreational facilities and activities with the purpose of improving the community’s conditions of life at Provan Hall House and the surrounding locality

To find out more, including how to apply, visit the Provanhall website.

www.provanhall.org/work-with-us

To help support local families in need during the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve gifted bundles of popular children’s books to Glasgow branch of FARE.

The charity has shared 300 books with local families along with free activity booklets filled with fun and educational worksheets based on familiar fictional characters such as Alex Rider, Judy Moody and Maisy Mouse.

With the school holidays now in full swing, and children missing out on school due to Covid-19, we worked with our long-term partners the National Literacy Trust to provide local families with the brand-new books and educational materials.

This project follows our long-running campaign in all the local communities of our shopping centres across the UK to help encourage children to enjoy reading outside of the classroom and to provide them with the resources to do so.

Free virtual storytelling videos
Working with the National Literacy Trust, we’ve also created a series of virtual storytelling sessions designed to support children’s listening and creative skills and to help spark a love for stories. Visit the National Literacy Trust website to watch.

Our Young Readers Story Club will feature videos from brilliant authors and poets each week, so don’t forget to check back on a regular basis.

Free access to fun educational activities
For more free and fun educational activities for children up to 12-years-old, take a look at the National Literacy Trust’s Family Zone website which has got plenty of exciting tasks to keep kids busy and entertained. There is also a separate section for over 13s to help boost their reading and writing outside of the classroom.

A brand new bus route is launching at Glasgow Fort on Sunday 26th of May 2019.  Whitelaws Coaches 252 service will operate from Stonehouse – Larkhall – Glasgow Fort.  This service is also available on Bank Holidays, which is great news!

Whitelaws Coaches are a local company and currently operate 100% Low Carbon Vehicles.  Full route details are below:

Route details: From Stonehouse  Strathaven Road (A71 at Manse Road), Townhead Street, King Street, The Cross, New Street, Lockhart Street, A71 to Canderside Toll, Carlisle Road, Machan Road, Church Street, Union Street, London Street, Glenview, Hamilton Road, Hamilton Street, Duke Street, Lanark Road (A72), M74, M73, M8 to junction 10, Bartiebeith Road, Westerhouse Road, Auchinlea Way, Glasgow Fort (bus stance). Sunday’s Only

Route details: From Glasgow Fort (bus Stance) Auchinlea Way, M8, M73, M74 to junction 7, Lanark Road (A72), Duke Street, Hamilton Street, Hamilton Road, Glenview, London Street, Union Street, Church Street, Machan Road, Carlisle Road to Canderside Toll, A71 to Stonehouse, Lockhart Street, New Street, The Cross, King Street, Townhead Street, Strathaven Road (A71 at Udstonmill Road), Stonehouse. Sunday’s Only

For a full list of times please visit Traveline Scotland

Seven Lochs want to make 2019 the year we #CleanUpSevenLochs.

They are working with Keep Scotland Beautiful and local community groups to run clean ups as follows:

• 10 May at former St Benedict’s school, Westerhouse Rd, G34 9G 1-4pm
• 19 May at Hogganfield Park, Cumbernauld Rd, G33 1AH 10am-2pm
• 19 May at Bluebell Dell, Hornshill Farm Rd, G33 6DD 10am-2pm
• 24 May at Frankfield Loch, Loch Rd, G33 6EW 10am-2pm
• 25 May at Cardowan Moss, Mossvale Rd, G33 5PS 10am-3pm
• 26 May at Auchinlea Park, Auchinlea Rd, G34 9NJ 10am-3pm
• 27 May at Commonhead Moss, Commonhead Rd, G69 6TZ 10am-3pm
• 31 May at former St Benedict’s school, Westerhouse Rd, G34 9GR 1-4pm

Everyone is welcome to come along and join in at any of these events.

To find out more, or to organise your own local clean up, please get in touch with us at [email protected]

Paula was nominated by her Husband Gerry in our International Women’s Day competition.

Paula’s story showed amazing strength and inspiration and her on going work in the local community will influence and help others.  Paula has chosen the National Deaf Children’s Society Scotland to recieve the £1,000 donation.  We were delighted to choose Paula as our worthy winner.

You can find out more about Paula’s story and her journey by visiting her website.

We invited some special guests for afternoon tea at the M&S Cafe at Glasgow Fort, to say thank you for their amazing hard work and dedication to their community, in honour of International Women’s Day 2019. Guests included Maureen Burke (Labour Councillor), Maureen Ferrie (Director of GESH charity), representatives from the Women’s Centre,  Karen Ciantar from Barnardos, Allison (Manager of M&) and Lorna (Manager of Boots). You can read more about Karen Ciantar and her acheivements below…

What does your job involve?

I have been employed by Barnardo’s for the past eight years and currently occupy the role of Children’s Services Manager for our youth invovlement and family support service in Easterhouse. This service comprises of a range of family support services offering support to families across the whole of the North East of Glasgow.

What motivates you?

The privilege of being able to lead and motivate our staff team to ensure we provide the best possible support packages to our families when they need us the most.

How do you motivate others?

I do my very best to embody our Barnardo’s basis and values which are:

• Encouraging people to fulfill their potential
• Working with Hope
• Respecting the unique worth of every person
• Exercising responsible stewardship

I strive to ensure that whatever we offer to our families embodies these fundamentals in a bid to ensure our support is delivered in the most timely and respectful manner possible.

Who are the inspirational women in your life?

From a wider perspective I really admire the work of Mother Theresa and Maya Angelou. I find their work selfless and truly inspiring.

On a day to day basis I feel very privileged to be supported by our team manager Mary Lynn who has been working at the Service since it became operational in 2003. I am truly inspired by Mary’s tenacity and relentless efforts to support our families. Her commitment to our work is truly motivating.

Tell us about your community involvement 

I feel very privileged to work in the community we serve. A day does not go by where we don’t experience real pride and joy in being able to witness our children and young people inspiring us with their resilience and ability to achieve so much despite all the adversities they face.

Apart from offering tailor made packages of support to our families I have been really keen to ensure that our Service extends it reach to all the communities we serve across the North East and ensure we are as well connected as we possibly can so that we can do our best to mitigate against the impact of poverty and deprivation whilst ensuring that our support is delivered in the most dignified manner possible. This translates into:

Offering our group-based interventions in a range of community venues across the North East of the City to ensure parity of access and build up an asset based approach in the areas we serve,

tapping into the generosity of our charity parents such as Marks and Spencer and other retailers at Glasgow Fort to provide invaluable resources and funding to boost our offers of support. A prime example of this is that the funds we have been able to raise through our charity events our funding our family/relationship counselling service

Focusing our efforts to ensure that we are working tirelessly to break down barriers that might be stopping our children, young people and parents accessing the wide range of fantastic community based initiatives on offer in the North East.

Would you like to add other notes?

Finally I would like to acknowledge the immense contribution of our fantastic staff team who are so dedicated to make a real difference to the lives of our children and young people.

We invited some special guests for afternoon tea at the M&S Cafe at Glasgow Fort, to say thank you for their amazing hard work and dedication to their community, in honour of International Women’s Day 2019. Guests included Maureen Burke (Labour Councillor), Maureen Ferrie (Director of GESH charity), representatives from the Women’s Centre,  Karen Ciantar from Barnardos, Allison (Manager of M&) and Lorna (Manager of Boots). You can read more about Maureen Ferrie and her acheivements below…

What does your job involve?

GESH for the last 15 years has been a self-funded Charity and is open 7 days a week, 8:30am-10pm weekdays, 8:30am-12am Saturdays and 8:30am-4pm Sundays. As manager and founder of the charity I coordinate the programme and activities within the centre ensuring that we initiate funds to cover the heavy running costs as well as providing a wide and varied programme for both our disabled members and group as well as the wider community. I also recruit staff and volunteers, organise training and manage the day to day aspect of running the centre. I attend meetings and liaise with agencies and grant making organisations with regards to funding.

How long has the GESH been active?

The GESH charity was founded in 1979 by my husband and myself. Michael and I worked as youth leaders in Lochend Youth Wing and every Christmas we did a project with the youth to give a party at Christmas for disabled children. It was through this project that we discovered that there was little or no clubs for disabled children. We approached our, then supervisor who agreed to allow us to form a club for disabled children 2 nights per week. We started the club in 1974 with 16 members and by 1978 we had over 70 members and it just kept growing. In 1979 we registered as a charity and began looking for new premises to enable us to extend our nights and programmes. In 1981, we managed to purchase a run-down scout hall which required substantial repairs. However, with my husband’s skills and the hard work of skilled volunteers and applying for funds through grant organisations, we completely renovated the hall. Again the membership grew and when community education decided to close the Community Centre, I managed to convince Glasgow City Council to give me the lease of the building, which was within months of being pulled down on the conditions that we did all urgent repairs required, including a new roof, toilets and a complete kitchen as the centre had been badly vandalised due to being empty for almost a year. Again, we managed to do all the repairs required which is still ongoing to this present day. We now have over 250 disabled members and over 36 different caring agencies that use our services. We also have over 100 senior citizen members and have a wide and varied programme for the community and a first-class function hall.

What motivates you?

I am motivated mainly by knowing I can make a difference in the local community by creating opportunities for vulnerable people and the wider community.  I enjoy giving people the opportunity to volunteer and watching the difference it makes to their confidence when they go on to apply for jobs. I also enjoy building partnerships and creating services within the centre to support the local community.  I was 25 years of age when we first started the disabled club and I will be 72 years old this year so GESH has been a very big part of mines and my husband’s lives and I am proud of what we have achieved as it is known as one of the best social and recreational facilities for disabled adults with over 200 attending our Friday night disco every week. I am also proud of the facility we have managed to give the local community. Sadly, my husband suffers from dementia and is in a care home permanently, however the staff tell me he continues to have the GESH close to his heart and he consistently tries to organise the residents telling them he is planning social events and asks the staff if they would like to volunteer for GESH.

How do you motivate others?

I motivate others by involving as many people as possible in GESH and creating a welcoming environment.  I have a caring personality and  have built trusting relationships with staff, volunteers, members and the community.  I think that the volunteers are motivated as they know they are valued and the centre wouldn’t be here without them. When volunteers see the pleasure and fun our disabled members have, especially at the Friday night disco, I think it really gives them pleasure and makes it all worthwhile.  I always make a point of thanking them and tell them what a great job they are doing and just how much they are appreciated. I encourage fun and laughter with both staff and volunteers an insist that if they are unhappy in any matter, they can come and discuss any problems with me. I also highlight  like to encourage them to share any ideas on how we can improve our service.

Who are the inspirational women in your life?

As well as my own mother who was both kind and caring and worked all her days, helped neighbours or friends who was down in their luck, I admire all mothers of disabled children and adults. The love, care and devotion I have witnessed have been truly inspirational. It also inspires me to hardworking women making a difference in their local communities.

Tell us about your community involvement…

I started working in Lochend School as a dancing teacher at the age of 19 teaching ballroom dancing. At the age of 21, I became a youth leader and have worked in the community ever since. As well a being involved in GESH since the early 70s, I worked full time as an after school care coordinator for 30 years and was based in St Leonards School and later, St Benedict’s in Easterhouse. I have been on numerous committees which include, Area Partnership, Local Grants Area Committee, East End Health Committee and the Licensing Committee. I was also in charge of a contract for Community Service Payback which GESH held for over 7 years and I am part of the local community council in which I used to be the Chairperson. I’ve been in this committee for 6 years now. My community involvement through GESH includes kids activities, clubs for the elderly and disabled, creating services for local people such as employment, access to local councillors, training opportunities, volunteering, seasonal events such as Easter, Gala, Xmas lunches, Santas Grotto and access to services which support people with barriers.

Thank you 

I would like to add that GESH would not be where it is today without the generosity of groups such as, Glasgow Fort, Morrisons and numerous grant funders who supported s over the years. Along with the help of wonderful and dedicated volunteers, many of whom have been with us for 20+ years, it is their dedication and support that make GESH what it is today.

You can read more about the amazing work GESH do and get involved on the GESH website.

We invited some special guests for afternoon tea at the M&S Cafe at Glasgow Fort, to say thank you for their amazing hard work and dedication to their community, in honour of International Women’s Day 2019. Guests included Maureen Burke (Labour Councillor), Maureen Ferrie (Director of GESH charity), representatives from the Women’s Centre,  Karen Ciantar from Barnardos, Allison (Manager of M&) and Lorna (Manager of Boots). You can read more about Maureen Burke and her acheivements below…

What does your job involve?

My job role has various responsibilities which involves attending a number of committees across the council family I also chair the Seven Lochs Board which is across 2 Authorities. I hold surgeries every Monday evening across the Ward which covers several areas in the North East. We as councillors also attend community Councils which I have four and are held every 4 weeks and vary in numbers across the city.

Deal with constituents enquiries which come through in various ways i.e. Surgeries, email, or telephone on some occasions house visits if requested, these enquiries require councillors to contact various council departments and outside bodies to advocate on constituents behalf.

What motivates you?

The main reason that motivated me to become a Councillor is growing up in an area that at the time had very little amenities and was classed as an area of deprivation and seeing families struggle from one week to the next. I had a very happy upbringing living in Easterhouse but financially my parents struggled, and both had long stays in hospital with TB which added to their financial struggle. As I got older I got into politics to try and make a difference in ways that would enhance people’s lives through better housing, better schools for our children, more opportunities for further education and better local health facilities.

How do you motivate others?

As a child going through primary and secondary school my biggest issue was lack of confidence I would never put myself forward or raise my hand in class for fear of looking silly. At the age of 39 I went into further education at John Wheatley college this turned my life around it opened up new opportunities for me and gave me the confidence to make a career move which then led me into my current role as a councillor. This role has given me the platform to encourage and motivate young people to believe in them themselves and have the confidence to be what they want to be.

Tell us about your community involvement 

I have been a parishioner of my local church for over forty years and have held many roles within this time.  My husband and I ran the youth club for a number of years we also helped with the summer play scheme that took place every year and I help out with the Social and fundraising committee. In my role as councillor I attend various community councils.  I am a member of the local Gym and swim at my local swimming pool at the Bridge

 Who are the inspirational women in your life?

There are many women who have inspired me over the years Mary Barbour being one of them. Mary was a housewife and mother of two children who fought for people’s rights and ran a campaign in 1915 to oppose 18 evictions by marching to the Sherriff Court in Glasgow with a reported crowd of 20,000  and had the evictions reversed. She carried on her fight for social Justice after the death of her 10 month old son and helped to increase child clinic provision. Mary died at the age of 85 with a legacy of fighting for social justice to better people’s lives.

We invited some special guests to Glasgow Fort for afternoon tea at the M&S Café to say thank you for their amazing hard work and dedication to their community for International Women’s Day 2019. Guests will include Maureen Burke (Labour Councillor), Maureen Ferrie (Director of GESH charity), representatives from the Women’s Centre,  Karen Ciantar from Barnardos, Allison, Manager of M&S and Lorna, Manager of Boots. You can read more about Lorna’s achievements below…

Lorna Raeis-Hosseini, Manager of Boots

What does your job involve?

Leading a team of 100+ in delivering the “look good feel good” mentality within Community, Healthcare and Beauty sections by developing Pharmacy professionals and Beauty experts ensuring patients and customers receive the care and advice to positively impact their lifes.

What motivates you?

Delivering results through my team and empowering them to become tomorrows leaders.

How do you motivate others?

Leading by example, availability and approachability whilst building trust and support.

Who are the inspirational women in your life?

Maya Angelou and my family members.

Tell us about your community involvement 

We deliver community healthcare daily and reach out to local charities to offer support and advice while supporting our Corporate Charity Macmillan.

Would you like to add other notes?

The support of the Fort Management Team is critical to releasing me to focus on the above as everyday issues are addressed in a timely manner thereby allowing 100% focus on the above.