A 'Big Yin' Billy Connolly bridge for Glasgow ‘cop yer whack’ for that

The bridge, linking Partick and Govan, they say, should be called the Big Yin Bridge after Billy Connolly.

Now, I don’t know what the man himself would say about it. He might say ‘thanks very much’ or tell us to behave and not to be stupid eejits, but I think it’s a super idea. Tickedy boo as someone might say.

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Because it links where the comedian, actor and banjo maestro grew up on the north side of the river and where he attended school and also worked in a shipyard on the south of it.

He might well say’ but thousands of people made those journeys and we’re not calling it the Sadie McGhee bridge or Jimmy Smith Bridge’.

But, by calling it after Billy Connolly, in a way we would be. It would be recognising the connection between two historic Glasgow communities of everyday people, once linked by a ferry taking children to school and men and women to work.

By being the most westerly bridge over the river, in the city, it also makes it easier for walking across to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where you might be visiting somebody who has a dose of the flu or even pleurisy, because they didnae huv their feet in their wellies.

And it is about time we started naming landmarks in the city after people who are from here or lived and worked here.

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Between the Millennium Bridge and the Dalmarnock Bridge there are 15 road or foot crossings over the River Clyde and five railway bridges.

Some are named after the area on one side or the other. Those named after people are named after Royalty.

One of the most beautiful bridges is from Saltmarket over to Crown Street. It is the Albert Bridge, named after Queen Victoria’s husband.

With its lamps, its green painted ironwork and Glasgow’s crest, it is a piece of engineering artwork.

There is the Victoria Bridge, the oldest in the city crossing from Stockwell Street to Gorbals Street, the Sheriff Court and the Central Mosque.

There is the George V Bridge at the bottom of Oswald Street and King’s Bridge near Glasgow Green, although I am not certain this is after an actual King.

Most of our hospitals are named after a Royal, the aforementioned Queen Elizabeth, The Victoria, The Princes Royal, the Royal, the now gone Queen Mother’s. Even our parks, like Queen’s, Alexandra and Victoria.

We can do better.

It’s high time we stopped the forelock tugging, bowing and scraping at the feet of these people who don’t have a clue about life in Glasgow.

There are many of our own men and women, past and present, we can recognise and celebrate.

There are people who came from our communities and had remarkable achievements.

There are men and women who fought for their people and championed their communities.

In sport, Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish and Jim Watt reached the very top.

In music, Lulu, Jim Kerr and Simple Minds, in arts and literature, Alasdair Gray, Jim Kelman, Liz Lochead.

In health, there is Ian Donald, who pioneered ultrasound for use in pregnancy, while working  in Glasgow.

Winnie Drinkwater, the youngest aircraft pilot in the world and youngest commercial pilot in Britain.

There is Helen Crawfurd, who led rent strikes with Mary Barbour and set up the Glasgow Women’s Housing Association or Jimmy Reid, from Govan who, who with Jimmy Airlie and others, organised the shipyard work-in.

There are many more, men and women, who made a contribution to the city or who went on to become famous in their field.

Let’s have a statue of Jim Watt at Saracen Cross, close to where he grew up and attended school, or playing fields named after Kenny Dalglish.

We could have a social housing development named after Helen Crawfurd or a public square after Glasgow suffragettes, like Eunice Murray.

It doesn’t even need to be someone who the rest of the world, country, or even city knows about. We can celebrate local people in our own communities who have made a difference, or tried to make a difference.

I always think that things like hospitals are named after the Queen because the bosses who get to decide want her to come and open it, so they can get a picture with her for their mantelpiece as though they’ve been best pals for years.

Does the Queen do selfies? I don’t know.

So, when the new Billy Connolly bridge is opened, we must get the Big Yin himself to cut the ribbon.

Knowing his sense of mischief, even at his age and health, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d mark the occasion by trying to run naked across it.

And that’s exactly the sort of behaviour why we absolutely should name it in his honour.

And remember, as it is to be a walking and cycling bridge, ‘you’ll need somewhere to park your bike’.