The Ladies A, B & C

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 22 November 2018 at 7.30, in room D133, McLean Building, UWS. Paisley Campus. This room is accessed via the main entrance in High Street and will be signposted.

The speaker will be Lil Brookes on the subject of The Ladies A, B & C. 

Guests are welcome, and we ask that they make a donation, suggested amount £3.00.

Lil has kindly provided the following information.

My background:

For past couple of years I have run my own small business called Gatekeeper Art.  I came to this after a sudden chronic illness which changed the way I see things and I decided to take a chance and follow my lifelong dream of being my own boss and trying to sell my work as an artist…both of which I am glad to say I have successfully done so far…!  I am a Social Sciences graduate of UWS or rather Paisley College of Technology when I was a student and also followed studies post graduate in Social History.  I worked for many years in vocational education as a training officer including some time as Education & Outreach Officer for West Dunbartonshire Museums based at Clydebank Museum.  For the past several years I have worked in community outreach with adults with mental health issues, older adults, adults with physical and learning disabilities.  I use heritage as the means to interact with these “hard to reach” groups and working in partnership with museums, libraries and a variety of community/ charity groups to build ways of using resources with the outcome of developing ways of learning from our shared heritage or enhancing wellbeing.  So in my small business I wear many “hats” as a business person; project manager; artist and social historian with a community practice…my motto…” keep calm and carry on”

Talk content:

The talk will cover the story of the research, development and delivery of this community heritage project called “The Ladies A, B & C” including the exploration of using sensory participation - what I call “sensing history” - as an integral part of the participatory project workshops.  At the end of the talk the short film made to record the project will be screened.  The talk will also expand on the projects aim to raise the profile of some of the “forgotten” women in Paisley and Renfrewshire’s Victorian/ Edwardian past and shine a light on their contribution to the shaping of our shared local heritage.  In the year of the centenary of women getting the right to vote this women’s heritage project was a celebration for a group of today’s women in Paisley and Renfrewshire of Jane Arthur, Mary Barbour, Margaret Glen Coats, Elisabeth Hodge Coats and Bertha Kerr Coats…the Ladies A, B & C

Social media for Gatekeeper Art:

Facebook:

Facebook/Gatekeeper Art

Twitter:

@gatekeeper_art

Scottish songwriters' identity

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 8 November 2018 at 7.30, in room D133, McLean Building, UWS. Paisley Campus. This room is accessed via the main entrance in High Street and will be signposted.

The speaker will be David Scott on the subject of Scottish songwriters' identity.

Guests are welcome, and we ask that they make a donation, suggested amount £3.00.

David Scott is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Media, Culture & Society at UWS delivering programmes on Commercial Music and Songwriting. The MA Songwriting programme is the only one of its kind in Scotland and recently developed a Scholarship in conjunction with Paolo Nutini. David is a well regarded and widely published composer and performer, about to release his 9th album with the group The Pearlfishers. His programmes for BBC Radio Scotland have spanned documentary series on film music, lyric writing and, most prolifically, Classic Scottish Albums. The related epic 30-episode podcast series will form the basis of David's talk for the PFS. He will look at the identity of the Scottish songwriter, particularly the ways in which Scottish musicians have filtered American forms, with a focus on Bert Jansch, Gerry Rafferty and Glasvegas.

Doon Valley History - Donald Reid

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 25 October 2018 at 7.30, in room D133, McLean Building, UWS. Paisley Campus. This room is accessed via the main entrance in High Street and will be signposted.

The speaker will be Donald Reid on the subject of Doon Valley History.

Guests are welcome, and we ask that they make a donation, suggested amount £3.00.

The talk will focus on aspects of the industrial history of the Doon Valley area, a rural land of rolling hills and valleys which changed dramatically with the development of coal and ironstone mining which dominated the area particularly after the arrival of the Dalmellington Iron Company in the 1840s when they opened Dalmellington Iron Works at Waterside. This mini-industrial revolution meant that coal mining was the dominant industry until the end of deep mining with the closure of Pennyvenie Colliery in 1978. The talk will be illustrated with many slides and anecdotes.

Donald L Reid is a proud son of the Doon Valley; a Dalmellington man, currently living in Beith; a family man with a lovely wife, children, and grandchildren; a former policeman, retiring from Strathclyde Police in the rank of superintendent; and currently the very energetic councillor for North Ayrshire’s Kilbirnie and Beith constituency; and someone with meaningful connections, past and present, with numerous voluntary groups and organisations. His father was a coal miner for 42 years. 

Donald 's 21st book, More Doon Valley Tales - A Keek into our Past, (£13.99) from the author - Donald L Reid at 7 Manuel Avenue, Beith, KA15 1BJ Cheque or PO only) has already sold over 200 of a 1,000 print run before receipt of the book.  Royalties arising will be donated to voluntary organisations in the Doon and Garnock Valleys as with all his other publications. 

An Artist's War

On 2nd November we will be co-hosting this event with Paisley Townscape Heritage and Regeneration Scheme.

The talk will be given by Phyllida Shaw about the art and letters of Morris and Alice Meredith Williams.

The work includes the Spirit of the Crusaders monument at Paisley Cenotaph.

This is a free event starting at 2 pm in the Paisley Methodist Central Hall.

More information and booking details can be found here.

An Artist's War

Cultural Regeneration: Made in Paisley - Caroline Gormley & Sandy Guy

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 11 October 2018 at 7.30, in room D133, McLean Building, UWS. Paisley Campus. This room is accessed via the main entrance in High Street and will be signposted.

Guests are welcome, and we ask that they make a donation, suggested amount £3.00.

Our speakers on the evening will be Caroline Gormley and Sandy Guy.

Caroline and Sandy painted the murals in Storie Street, on the side of Allan's  Snack Bar, and in Gilmour Street station,

More recently they have opened a studio in Paisley, where as well as showing art, they run classes for all ages.

Caroline is on Twitter @trinkie69 and Made in Paisley can be found on Facebook.

The Battle for a Children’s Hospital for Glasgow - Iain Hutchison 27 September 20018

Our next meeting will be held on 27 September 2018 at 7.30, in room D133, McLean Building, UWS. Paisley Campus. This room is accessed via the main entrance in High Street and will be signposted.

Guests are welcome, and we ask that they make a donation, suggested amount £3.00.

The speakers details are below:

Iain Hutchison is a research associate in the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

He is a board member of the worldwide Disability History Association and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. 

He is the author of A History of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Scotland, and of Seeing Our History which explored the lives of people with sight loss in Edwardian Edinburgh and Borders.

He is currently working on an historical research project, investigating the Scottish National Institution at Larbert, a training asylum for mentally-impaired children. He recently completed research that evaluates the clearance and emigration to New Brunswick of 139 people from Fair Isle in 1862.

He was the researcher and lead author on a project to trace the social history of Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, now published as Child Health in Scotland. This project is the subject of his talk today.

An abstract of the speech follows:

In 1861, a proposal was made for the creation of a children’s hospital for Glasgow. However, this was opposed by the directors of Glasgow Royal Infirmary. They argued that The Royal made all the provision needed to care for children. Underlying its objections, however, were the concerns of the Royal Infirmary that a children’s hospital would be a strong competitor for the charitable support on which both hospitals would depend. It was therefore more than twenty years before the children’s hospital opened in a converted townhouse. In 1914, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children moved to a new, purpose-built facility at Yorkhill, and from this location it served the whole of the west of Scotland for the next one hundred years.

This presentation explains the struggle to provide a children’s hospital for the industrial west. It describes the measures taken in its early years to confront the conditions of poor housing and deprivation that were a barrier to returning ill children to good health. This included a street dispensary where, among other procedures, tonsils were removed with minimal formality, and a country branch where children were nourished on rice pudding to re-equip them for tenement life. While many historical studies of hospitals often focus on great physicians and surgeons and their contributions to the advancement of medical knowledge, this paper considers the healthcare provided to return sick children through the experiences of its hard-pressed nurses.

The presentation arises from a study of the social history of the hospital, Child Health in Scotland. Published by Scottish History Press at £24.95, the book is available for £20 to members and supporters of Paisley Philosophical Institution.  www.keapublishing.com; keapublishing.scotland@gmail.com

Technology in an Anxious Age: Thursday 13 September 2018, 7.15

The first meeting of the new season will take place in the Atrium, University of the West of Scotland, High Street, Paisley.on Thursday 13 September 2018.

Please note there will be a short introduction by Professor Craig Mahoney, Principal & Vice Chancellor of UWS at 7.15, with the panel discussion commencing at 7.30.

Technology in an Anxious Age

A Paisley Philosophical Institution event hosted by UWS

The contemporary moment is shaped by a curious paradox. At no other time in human history has technology played such an integral role in the ways in which we work, play and understand ourselves. However, there is a papabile cultural anxiety at the ways in which technology now dominates our life worlds. From cryptocurrencies, genomics, artificial intelligence, and social media, to name but a few our life worlds are increasingly shaped by growing concerns about the role technology plays in framing and even determining modern life.

Is this a unique moment in human history? Has the way we use technology become decoupled from ethics and morality? Is tour anxiety groundless or do SMART technologies make for dumb subjects?

Panellist Include:

Dr Matt Frew, Senior Lecturer in School of Business & Enterprise, UWS

Dr Luc Rolland, Lecturer, School of Engineering and Computing, UWS

Panel chair: Dr Carlton Brick, Lecturer in Sociology, School of Media Culture & Society, UWS

Please note doors will be open from 7.00pm for membership renewals/new members

We invite guests to come along to individual meetings,, and request that a donation be made - suggested amount £3.00.

Scottish History: The Making of a Discipline

Our final talk of the session will be on Thursday, 8 March at 7.30, in the Lecture Room of Paisley Museum and Art Gallery. The speaker will be Dr Catriona M.M. Macdonald, Reader in Late Modern Scottish History and Director of the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow. Visitors are welcome, at a cost of £3.00,

Please note this meeting will be proceeded by the AGM at 7.15.

Dr MacDonald has given the following information about her talk:

Tonight Dr Macdonald will address the Paisley Philosophical Institution on ‘Scottish History: the making of a discipline’. She will examine the way in which Scottish history emerged in the universities in the nineteenth century but also explore its cultivation in associations and civic institutions across Scotland. She will address the thorny question of the extent to which a genuinely British history emerged in the nineteenth century and the role of literary approaches to Scotland’s past. She raises what for an academic is a troubling prospect – namely, that generations of  historians were in part to blame for the Scottish public’s lack of awareness of their own past.

Prehistoric Pots to Modern Mansions: Archaeology in the National Trust for Scotland

Our next speaker on Thursday 22 November will be Derek Alexander, Head of Archaeology, NTS. It will be held in the Lecture Room of the Paisley Museum and Art Galleries. The talk will commence at 7.30 pm. Visitors are welcome at a cost of £3.00.

We thank Derek for providing the following information:

Biog. Derek Alexander grew up in Paisley and Neilston. He studied prehistoric archaeology at Edinburgh University from 1986-1990. He then worked for the University's commercial field unit CFA. He joined the NTS in 2000 as the West Region Archaeologist and was made Head of Archaeological Services in 2011. He manages a small team of in house archaeologists who provide advice on the protection and promotion of the properties in the Trust's care. He has always had an interest in the archaeology of Renfrewshire and in 2011 published a book on the history and archaeology of the county.

In his talk he will focus on recent examples of archaeological work from across the Trust from Culzean Castle to Culloden battlefield from Fingals Cave to Glencoe.

Tam O'Shanter

Our next talk is on 8 February 2018 at 7.30 in the Lecture Room of Paisley museum. The speaker is Jim Thomson on Tam O'Shanter. The talk will explain the origins of the poem, how the poem fits in terms of social history, who the characters were and a light hearted exploration with the audience of the lost language the poem contains.

Non-members welcome at a cost of £3.00

The speaker has provided the following biography.

A native of East Ayrshire he joined the Police in 1973.  He served in a variety of roles in uniform and CID rising through the ranks to Superintendent where he held the posts of Head of Operational Policing at South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire.  He has obtained several professional qualifications and is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.  He retired from the police in February 2004.

On retirement he started a management and HR consultancy company.

Away from work his main pastime relates to the life and works of Robert Burns.  He is Past President of New Cumnock Burns Club, Past President of Kilmarnock Howff Burns Club and an Honorary President of Greenock Burns Club.   He is also Past President of the Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs, a member of the Robert Burns Guild of Speakers and is a Past President of the Robert Burns World Federation.  In 2010 he published the book In and Out of Tam o’ Shanter, The Story of a Tale which examines and explains that great epic poem.

the non-medical use of drugs, a vicious indulgence, or common human behaviour?

Our next talk will take place on 25 January 2018 at 7.30 pm in the lecture hall at Paisley Museum. non-members welcome, entrance fee £3.00.

The speaker will be Dr Iain McPhee from the UWS, Paisley.

Summary of the talk

Iain introduces the subject of the use of drugs from a historical position.  He presents data about the consequences of drug taking, and the consequences of criminalising and medicalising human behaviour.

Iain provides an often humorous and irreverent position on how medicine, the police, academics and the public stereotype drugs and drugs users.

In this discussion Iain provides evidence to answer the question is taking drugs a normal part of human experience or a vicious indulgence that results in degradation and death?

Iain provides some answers to the use of drug in ceremonial religious practice, giving an alternative view of drug use in history.  In the presentation Iain will reveal:

¡  The true story of father Christmas

¡  Why reindeers with red noses are important in the story of Rudolph

¡  Why people actually do eat ‘yellow snow’…

The following is a brief extract from his biography:

Iain has worked within the addiction field since 1991, working in a variety of drug services and therapeutic institutions and with a range of drug users.

He completed an honours degree in Psychology and sociology in 1995.

A Master’s degree in 2003 and in 2012 Iain completed his PhD at University of Stirling.

Iain is currently working as a full time Senior Lecturer at UWS in the School of media culture and society. 

Since 2000 he taught on the postgraduate Alcohol and Drugs Studies.

His research interests include exploring the experiences of non-treatment seeking drug takers.  Iain currently supervises 5 PhD students.  2 to completion most recently.

He has written 2 books and 25 peer reviewed academic papers.  He has delivered over 40 peer reviewed conference papers in Europe on his specialist subjects of drug and alcohol addiction.

Chinese Imperial Court Costume: A Journey through the Imperial Wardrobe

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 11 January 2018 in the Lecture Theatre at Paisley Museum. Our speaker will be David Rosier. Please note that this meeting will commence at 2 pm.

Non-members welcome entrance fee £3.00

A synopsis of the talk is  below with a brief biography of the speaker:

Chinese Imperial Court Costume and Accessories (1644-1911)

‘A Journey through the Imperial Wardrobe’

This lecture provides an insight into mandated  Court Costume, plus dress accessories, that would have been worn  by men and women on formal and semi-formal occasions (Regulated Court Costume) whilst at Court or positioned within Central or Provincial Government during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Initial consideration will be given to the history, nature, structure and iconography of formal, mandated, Court Costume, plus Insignia of Rank, worn by the Imperial Clan plus Civil and Military Officials.

The focus will then move to a review of the full scope of the Emperor’s Wardrobe from State Robes, and regalia, through to informal wear

In contrast, consideration will be given to robes, and dress accessories, worn on an informal basis, or for special family occasions, by members of the Court either in their official capacity or in their private lives.

The lecture will include an insight into the highly decorative costume worn by high ranking Chinese Ladies

David Rosier is a Chartered Insurer, and Fellow of the Assurance Medical             Society, by profession with a specialization in medical risk assessment.

He has spent in excess of 25 years focusing on business in Asia, and China in particular, and for 14 years he and his family lived in Hong Kong.

During the years in Hong Kong David, and his wife Wendy, created a collection of in excess of 500 Imperial Qing Dynasty, and related items, of costume and dress accessories.

He is a past committee member of the Hong Kong Textile Society.

Since returning to UK David has lectured extensively on Chinese Court Costume of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) plus the history, culture and arts of this period.  Groups visited have been as diverse as The National Trust, Textile Guilds, Confucius Institutes, Art Fund and Oriental focused societies, university departments and museums.

David is an Accredited Lecturer for The Arts Society (formerly NADFAS) and lectures regularly around the UK and in Europe. In addition, David has undertaken lecture tours to New Zealand and Australia and leads tours to China that focus on Imperial Art and Culture.