'Glasgow's conference needs to take action' - COP26 volunteers gear up for climate change event

Leading them will be the ‘faces’ of the campaign, a small group of men and women passionate about the city, the environment and fighting the climate crisis.

Over the next few months, the Glasgow Times Streets Ahead campaign will be telling their stories.

Streets Ahead, run in partnership with Glasgow City Council, People Make Glasgow Greener. City Building and City Charitable Trust, encourages and supports people across the city to improve and take care of their local environment. This year marks the 10th anniversary of our awardwinning initiative.

Woodside grandfather Bob Alston is one of the COP26 volunteer programme ambassadors..

“COP 26 is a great thing, good for Glasgow, and good to see all those countries coming together to address what is happening,” he explains. “Hopefully they will do more than just talk – hopefully, they will finally do what needs to be done to make a difference.”

Bob is originally from New Jersey in the US but he has lived in Glasgow for 50 years. Along with fellow members of the now-defunct Friends of Possil Greenspace volunteer group, he was instrumental in transforming a piece of derelict land in the north of the city into the Claypits Local Nature Reserve.

“I came here originally in 1971, when I was stationed at the Holy Loch,” he explains. “I went away – but I came back.

“I got involved with the Claypits project almost by accident.

“I was part of the community council, and back in 2015, they wanted someone to go along to a meeting about what could be done with this huge slice of land that had been lying empty for years, but that no-one knew what to do with.

“I volunteered, and when I got there, it sounded really interesting, and that was that….”

The Claypits was an old clay quarry, used when the Forth and Clyde Canal was first built in the 1700s.

It was also the site of a foundry, glassworks and boat-building yard – all now long gone, although the historic canal buildings, the oldest in Scotland, are still visible along the banks.

“Everyone in Maryhill and Possil and Hamiltonhill and Firhill knows the Claypits,” nods Bob. “It was always just there, part of the landscape.

“But Friends of Possil Greenspace, which is no longer in existence, realised that if everyone worked together - including Glasgow City Council, who owned most of the land, and Scottish Canals, who owned the sections by the canal – something really special could be done with it.”

It was a hard slog finding funding, and they group had all but given up until its £11m funding application to the EU’s Social Fund was approved, just in the nick of time.

“After so many doors having been shut in our faces, this was a massive relief, we couldn’t really believe we finally had the money,” smiles Bob. “If it had been just a few months later, we would have missed the opportunity because Britain left the EU.”

It was exciting, but also daunting for the volunteers, says Bob.

“This was all new to me, and I spent many a long night reading up on how you design a nature reserve,” he laughs. “Most nature reserves are outside cities, in the countryside, but the great thing about the Claypits is it is right in the heart of the city. Getting the LNR designation was hugely important, because it means the area is protected.

“All 845 acres, just about a mile from the city centre – it’s amazing.”

The Claypits - which has its official opening on Saturday (July 31, from 10am until 2pm) - is now home to roe deer and peregrine falcons, whitethroat warblers and elusive waterfowl. In 2018, the project took home a Living Waterways Award for the community engagement work involved in creating an oasis of greenspace in the heart of north Glasgow. Around 75,000 people live within a 20-minute walk (or just a few minutes’ cycle) of The Claypits, although many do not know it exists.

“It is a hidden gem,” admits Bob. “It’s very special to all of us who live nearby. Now we – the Claypits Local Nature Reserve Management Group - look after the site, helping to keep it clean and organising events.

“Last year we opened the Garscube Bridge, a footbridge that connects Maryhill and Woodside on one side of the canal, and Possil and Hamiltonhill on the other – communities that historically have never been this closely linked before."

READ MORE: Glasgow's best clean-up campaign celebrated in Streets Ahead awards

He pauses.

“That’s the real joy of a project like this, it brings people together,” he explains. “Having the first school in to plant trees, seeing those kids get excited about planting something they can watch grow and take care of, that’s what it’s all about. I think that’s one of the most exciting things about COP 26 in Glasgow, the volunteer programme is involving people of all ages, from all communities, who understand the importance of looking after their own environments.”

Bob, 73, adds, with a laugh: “I never expected to be chosen – suddenly my face was on the back of a bus. But it is exciting to be part of it. This needs to happen. The flooding we’re seeing here in the UK, the heatwaves, these are just the beginning and it will only get worse if nothing is done. Glasgow’s conference has to be the one where action is finally taken.”