School of Health & Wellbeing

Byres Hub Community Day 2024

Thanks to our volunteers and to everyone who came along to our annual community day on Saturday 8^th June as part of Glasgow Science Festival. We think we had about 200 people in total there on the day including members of the public, community and research groups and we were pleased to get positive feedback from attendees such as these comments below:

Very well organised and thought-provoking – great fun to do."

An incredible event – loved every bit of it."

And from one of our research teams involved in the day:

The wide range of visitors on the day was really great and helped us to share aspects of our research and get lots of people involved in the project."

 

Transforming Glasgow's Health Escape Rooms 

 

 

‘Passengers’ were invited on the ‘inner circle’ to our Escape Rooms Challenge were invited by our conductors from Halo Arts to board the Byres Hub underground.

 

 

In teams, people had to visit rooms named after some of Glasgow’s Subway stations with stark health inequalities data displayed as there was at least one subway stop from 9 of the Scottish Multiple Index of Deprivation quintiles.

At each station teams had to solve a timed challenge covering local and globabl issues from our community groups (Weekday WOW Factor, Topple The King, Sight Scotland, Deaf Services Lanarkshire), community research partners for the Young Minds Save Lives project, The Scottish Ambulance Service, School research groups (Health Economics and Health Assessment Technology, General Practice and Primary Care, Social and Public Health Sciences Unit) and Masters Students from Public Health and Global Mental Health.

 

When the subway conductor sounded the whistle to signal the end of the escape room, teams headed over to the final station to unlock the overall answer to Transforming Glasgow’s Health which was ‘Everything is Connected. All correct entries received prizes of Byres Hub and School of Health and Wellbeing tote bags, metal puzzles and a discount voucher for Eeek Escape Rooms in Finneston who also provided vouchers for four people in our overall prize draw and the winner was delighted.

To complete the experience, our event partner, The Ideas Club had a workshop for people to design the front-page headline they want to read about Glasgow’s health in ten years. We are going to exhibit these in Byres Hub at the start of July so come and see what issues really matter to people.

 

At the Community Day, people could also drop in to the ‘outer circle’ exhibition area to take part in art workshops with 'Art Outside The Box' and 'Monuments For The Present' who have been in the Hub during June as part of Glasgow International Contemporary Arts Festival.

 

There was also the chance to try some poetry in our room with a view on the 5th floor of Clarice Pears for with Pene from The Scribblers like these below:

Breezy Summer’s Day

Glasgow has it’s say

University students down Kelvin Way

Time for Festival’s are here

Maybe invite along someone near and dear

Enjoy those special moments and ponder,

A walk down memory lane to wander

 

Warming knowledge

Calming smiles

Community embrace

 

 

We had refreshments, chess, a new Wellness room set up with Mental Health and Wellbeing, volunteers from Differabled to offer support and advice, and our current Hub exhibitions for people to enjoy. To top a full program, we had some great music outside with WestFest and inside with young people from The Castlemilk Youth Complex.

 

We think we had about 200 people in total there on the day. Thanks to everyone who helped develop, promote and deliver this event as part of Glasgow Science Festival including the College of MVLS Design Team and University Print Room.

 

 

Glasgow International Exhibitions

Thanks to the teams behind the Glasgow International Exhibitions who have brightened up our Hub with workshops and ever-growing artworks and our windows with art.

 

Image ‘Monuments for the Present’, Paria Goodarzi, Mia Gubbay & Francesca Zappia with The Maryhill Integration Network Museum of Things art group.

Image ‘Art Outside of the Box’, Project Ability, Leverndale Recreational Therapy, University of Glasgow and Open Museum from Glasgow Museums.

It (Byres Hub) was such a wonderful space to hold the event and all of our participants loved and felt welcomed in the building. The fully accessible spaces, particularly the bathrooms, were noted to be so appreciated. Dr Cheryl McGeachan, Lecturer in Human Geography, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences."

 

 

Movement for Health Conference

Byres Hub and the ARC were hosts to a huge conference with around 150 delegates from The Movement for Health Coalition in June and some of our Hub Volunteers assisted. We hosted workshops, lunch and exhibition stands in Clarice Pears. This connection came through Shona and Scott at The Ideas Club (previously SW&Co) and on LinkedIn Shona posted about this being such a proud full circle moment for them having designed the artwork for Clarice Pears School of Health and Wellbeing to their client hosting their conference there and seeing the building with the conference materials around it with the branding and designs they created.

 (Photo credit: Scott Watson) 

 

 

Engagement Annual Gatherings

I had the opportunity to go to Aberdeen and then Inverness as a member of the Scottish Public Engagement Network steering group. ScotPEN is a a great way to bring our HE Engagement community together and Chair Faye Watson announced a new partnership with The National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement. The Highlands and Islands Mental Health Community Matters network was a new experience for me and I was pleased to finally experience a ‘Science Ceilidh’ after the conference with people sharing prose and song and presentations and film. This was such an inspiring evening.

Image – Community Knowledge Matters. Image featuring Lewis Holt of Science Ceilidh. Image credit Alexander Williamson

Through this network, prior to the Gathering I heard the story of the Gairloch Station Trust veterans mental health peer research project funded by The Ideas Club and I am delighted that they have accepted my invitation to join us in Byres Hub on Monday 29th July for a Hub Monday on Peer Research. Please do come along.

 

Thank you to Karen Wood from General Practice and Primary Care for coming along to Hub Monday earlier this month to talk about Technology in Healthcare.  We are currently confirming our Hub Monday programme from August until December so get in touch if you want to be part of this.

 

 

ALISS in Wowland Community Drop-Ins

Volunteers and attendees to our June community drop-in loved the new Community Spotlight with Pat and Jim Byrne who shared the story of Pat’s Glasgow West End Guide 25 years ago. They were pioneering in web accessibility, blogging and podcasting. We enjoyed hearing stories of people featured on the website such as Scottish writer and artist, the late Alasdair Gray and writers who have published on the website such as Wullie Davidson in his feature 'Blooging about Bus Pass Jaunts in Scotland'. One of our volunteers said ‘Your free bus pass is worth turning 60 for’.

Image: Pat and Jim Byrne from Glasgow West End Guide

At the end of the session, inspired by our community day poems, Janette one of the members wrote a poem called Today:

Today has been an inspiration

Today has filled me with positivity

Today has given me motivation

Today is my day.

 

Our next drop-in is Friday 19th July and as always everyone is welcome.

 

ALISS in Wowland were also at WestFest’s Mansfield Square Street Festival in Partick on Saturday 22nd June meeting some familiar faces and some new neighbours with other community groups in Partick.

 

 

Solutions for Change

The Researcher Development team have a summer programme with Post Graduate Research students working with partners on real life challenges including for the first time, some community partners – The Annexe Healthy Living Centre and Friends of The Winter Gardens. The Food Waste project 'Save our Sandwiches' is looking at solutions to address food poverty and environment concerns and includes myslef representing The Clarice Pears Building, Hannah Campbell representing The Advanced Research Centre and Jane Cowie representing The Annexe in partnership with their Cost of Living Group. Funding for this community participation, some of which goes directly to the community partners, has come from CIVIS as part of the University's Glasgow Open Lab. To launch the project, Zara Gladman and I delivered some training to the students on 'Developing Meaningful Partnerships'. Please find our top tips that we shared.

 

 

Chronicles of St Mungo's Square

Please enjoy the fifth instalment of The Chronicles of St Mungo’s Square by Aileen Paterson of The Scribble Creative Writers.

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First published: 24 June 2024