I have worked with Glasgow Women’s Library now for more than five years, and in that time the organisation has grown so much. As we look towards our next stage and the move to Bridgeton we have all been thinking about what the future might hold and this has also made me think about all that has been achieved.
Our most recent programme of events is coming to an end and had 50 events in; from exhibition launches to women make history workshops, heritage walks and outdoor storytelling. At the end of each programme we like to look back and reflect over what worked well and we should do more of, and plan our next programmes based on this and feedback from the library users and partners.
So I have been reflecting on the past 5 years and decided to pull together my top ten events, a difficult task to say the least.
West End Women’s Heritage Walk was launched just when I started working with the library back in June 2007 and was the first of our heritage walks (there are now 5!) this selection includes all the walks and working with the fantastic guides and women’s history detectives.
In June 2008 our popular Stitch and Bitch group came to an end, was sad to say sew long (sorry!) but what a great group this had been.
On 25th September 2008 Jackie Kay and Suzanne Bonnar visited the library to launch The Lamplighter, a fantastic event with around 100 people.
In 2009 we ran a range of events partnering new women writers with published writers. The series was called Women Writers Unite and saw writers such as Kirsty Logan, Margaret Elphinstone, Kokumo Rocks, Chiew Siah Tei and more read inspirational and uplifting works.
In 2010 we had the Making Space project with two great artists in residence, Shauna McMullan and Nicky Bird. The project culminated in two events, Nicky’s work focussing on the archive and Shauna’s on the library. This picture was taken at the Blue Spine exhibition in June 2010.
In September 2010 the library started its twentieth year, and to mark this occasion and raise some much needed funds we held the Auction of Pleasures at St Andrew’s in the Square.
One of the last events to be held at our Parnie Street space was the launch of Jackie Kay’s, Red Dust Road. We welcomed back Jackie and Suzanne to the library and it was standing room only. The reason this event couldn’t be missed out was the truly moving moments that the audience shared with Jackie and her family on this night, holds a special place in my memories.
In October 2011 we launched our She Settles in the Shields publication with the wonderful women who were involved reading their stories of travelling to Pollokshields from around the world.
In August 2012 at the CCA we held a mini festival around all things Margaret Tait. This included the premiere of GWL documentary Margaret Tait, Film Poet. A project that started as an oral history recording of the elusive film maker and poet and ended with a wonderful film about Tait and her work from the perspective of her friends, family and peers.
Finally, in September 2012 we celebrated our 21st Birthday with the fantastic 21 Revolutions exhibitions. The artworks at the CCA and the written pieces at the library were exhibited for 21 days and saw over 650 visitors (not including the 700 who came to the launch events).
There were just so many fantastic events to choose from it was really hard to select ten, and during the past five years there has been the introduction of a National Learning Programme, and if I had included events from this too then it would have had to be a top twenty at least! If that’s the highlights from the last five years, can you image what we have planned for the next five!
Feel free to leave a comment about your favourite event at the library, whether it’s from the last five years or the last twenty.
2 replies on “Five Years, Ten Events”
Congratulations to Glasgow Women’s Library – a breath of fresh air as always. How much has been achieved! A testimony to hard graft, commitment, innovation and ambitious visioning. Glasgow is SO lucky to have this unique resource!!! All the best for the next years.
[…] from the Glasgow women’s library history article here […]
2 replies on “Five Years, Ten Events”
Congratulations to Glasgow Women’s Library – a breath of fresh air as always. How much has been achieved! A testimony to hard graft, commitment, innovation and ambitious visioning. Glasgow is SO lucky to have this unique resource!!! All the best for the next years.
[…] from the Glasgow women’s library history article here […]