'Crisis point': Glasgow charity could close after 40 years

Glasgow Play-Resource Association’s scrapstore and craft activities are used by schools, nurseries and hundreds of city art school students, and help to save tonnes of material from going to landfill each year.

Project co-ordinator Sarah Paterson said: “We have tried everything to keep going, we have had to move twice in the last five years, we have had our funding cut and now our landlord has advised we have to move out on March 31.

“We are at crisis point.”

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Sarah added pleas to Glasgow City Council for help have been unsuccessful.

“We have asked and asked for help to secure premises but the council simply say there is nothing available,” she explained.

“We don’t need anything fancy – and we can clean and paint and even have some tradespeople who are happy to donate their time to help us make it our forever home.

“All we want is a watertight building, around 9000 square feet, on the ground floor with street access and somewhere secure we can park our van. I cannot believe there is nowhere in the whole city that would work.”

Customers browse at Glasgow Play-Resource Association (Image: Gordon Terris/Newsquest)

In addition to its recycling and scrapstore services, GPA has recently opened a community room which has been a “godsend” for the area, says Sarah.

“We provide pre-loved household items, clothes, shoes, toys at cheaper prices, and run a trolley with CDs, books and DVDs that people can help themselves too,” she explains.

“One woman told me her wee grandson had been really struggling with reading at school, but he loved picking books off the trolley every day, and it’s made a huge difference to his literacy skills. The cost of living crisis has meant more and more people coming to the community room to source the things they need.

“Our community is struggling and we are helping them. We are supporting the most vulnerable in our society, no questions asked.”

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Sarah added: “Our current home on Muslin Street in Bridgeton is ideal, and our landlords Spectrum have been really good to us, but this was always a temporary agreement because the building is being turned into flats. 

“If we don't find something permanent, we will have to dissolve the charity.”

On a recent visit to the charity’s Bridgeton home, Green MSP Patrick Harvie said he was “hugely impressed with the breadth of work being done” by GPA “in what have been very difficult circumstances.”

Sarah Paterson with Green MSP Patrick Harvie (Image: Glasgow Play-Resource Association)

He added: “They have a positive impact on people's lives, as well as on the environment. Having been forced to leave one location due to unreasonable rent increases, they have adapted in temporary premises and managed to continue their work.

“But they now need somewhere they can move into for the long term, so they can settle in and continue their work. I know that they are actively looking at possible solutions right now, and I hope that the city council will also explore every possible option to support them.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “Officers have been supporting the organisation but currently we have been unable to identify anything in the GCC estate that meets their requirements.”

The charity has more than 200 members, including students from Glasgow School of Art and colleges across Scotland, professional artists, community groups and care homes.

Many of its volunteers have been out of work for years to raise a family, care for a loved one, or to recover from mental ill health.

Sarah, who started as a volunteer more than 25 years ago, said: “Volunteering is their first step back into society, and we try to make this as easy, welcoming and comfortable as possible for them. 

During Covid, the charity supported the recovery community by finding items of furniture, crockery and cutlery to help them move into their own homes, and ran ‘craft in a bag’ activities, supplying around 250 bags of art and crafts materials to families stuck at home.

After COP26, GPA was approached to help redistribute left-over items from the United Nations Climate Change Conference, including paper, easels, cleaning materials and cushions.

Sarah and her team are “totally devastated” at the thought of closure, she explained.

“I am so lucky to be a part of this amazing organisation,” she says. “The whole GPA community is heartbroken that Glasgow could lose such a vitally important voluntary service.”

Tada Aitken, of Hilltop Nursery, said: “The service and resources will be a great loss to the city and it’s really disgraceful that GPS is having no support to help its outstanding approach to recycling and sustainability.”

Kathleen Stevenson of the Which Craft Group, said: “It’s just crazy that with all the empty buildings in and around Glasgow, suitable accommodation cannot be found. With all the media and government reporting on the importance of recycling, it’s a poor show when the local authority cannot give more support.”

John Thorne, Sustainability Coordinator at Glasgow School of Art, said: “I’m truly sorry to hear this. Such a lot of work has been done to keep it going, and it’s been a great resource for our students and a lot of others over the years - something to be proud of.”

Rachael Smith, from the Kinning Park Complex, said: “GPA have been green champions since before that was even a phrase. The resource will be missed by many.”