Glasgow's Riverside: 10 years of trains, planes and Roller Conga....

IT IS ten years since Glasgow’s stunning Riverside Museum opened on the banks of the Clyde.

Designed by Zaha Hadid, it is home to more than 3000 exhibits including full size trains and trams and a recreation of an entire city street.

Councillor David McDonald, chairman of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, explains: “Riverside opened 10 years ago to much critical and public acclaim. In the first year it welcomed an astounding 650,000 visitors. More and more have come every year, and pre-Covid more than 1.3 million people came to Riverside. It has been a huge success story for the city, even winning European Museum of the Year in 2013.

“Visitors to Riverside delight in discovering what made Glasgow the industrial powerhouse of the past and the creative and cultural powerhouse it is today. Having access to culture enhances our wellbeing and world-class venues like Riverside are a powerful draw for new and returning visitors. I wish it a very happy birthday.”

Here, staff closely involved in planning and running Riverside over the years share their favourite moments.

Annie Millar, Assistant Programming Officer: “One of my favourite exhibits is the ‘Tram Dancing’ – it reminds me of my mum and dad, reminiscing about a wee hurl on the city trams, all dressed up in their best finery, from their wee village out in Lennoxtown to the bright city lights at the Locarno,” she says. “It makes me feel close to my parents and makes me smile.”

John Messner, Curator of Transport and Technology with Glasgow Museums: “Riverside brings the history of Glasgow and its people alive. My highlight was the installation of the South African Railways locomotive - finding it in South Africa, bringing it to Glasgow and then conserving it was a mammoth task. It’s the largest object in the Museum and from the day we opened it has generated lots of comments from our visitors.”

Ruth Forsyth, Riverside’s Assistant Manager: “My favourite objects at Riverside are the menu cards from RMS Queen Mary. The food on offer is ridiculously decadent, and you can see why guests would pile on the pounds while at sea. I think I’d have given most things a try but would probably draw the line at “clear turtle soup with sherry.”

Stewart Thompson, Riverside Museum Manager: “Seeing the character cars, like the Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lightning McQueen and my favourite, James Bond’s DB5 which I was given a rare opportunity to drive, has been great. I’ve also enjoyed watching the Blue Light Festival, which started at the Kelvin Hall with six vintage fire engines and a few hundred people, become one of the city’s biggest events. It attracted more than 40,000 people across the weekend in September.

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The buzz you get when you see the excitement on the faces of the children as they climb into a fire engine or sit on a police motorbike never dulls. I hope in future years we can bring this event back to Riverside.”

Andi Howe, Transport and Technology Conservator with Glasgow Museums: “The VW Camper will always have a special place in my heart because it was the reason I made the final decision to buy my own. Opening day was special. I worked on the project from the very early days and I spent a lot of time helping designers understand what could be done on stories, conserving objects and installing the objects into the new museum.”

Michelle Woods, Programming Manager with Glasgow Life, said: “I love that Riverside is more than a museum. It hosts several popular festivals and indoor and outside events across the year, which bring a really varied mix of people to the museum. Bringing the Electric Frog, which is now known as the Riverside Festival, to Glasgow was something unknown to museums, we tried it and it was a big success.

"We even had the DJs inside the museum with thousands of people dancing - next to trams, trains and cars.”