Paisley and the Jacobites

The next talk on Thursday, 24 October at 7.30 pm, will be on the above topic. The speaker will be Archie Henderson, from Paisley Museum. this is the first of a series of talks from Museum personnel over the next 3 years.

The meeting will take place in Room  D133, McLean Building, UWS, Paisley .

Guests are welcome with a suggested donation of £3.00.

Meeting 10 October 2019

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 28 March 2019 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 Mandy McIntosh, this is from her website at https://mandymcintosh.com/

Mandy McIntosh is an artist from Glasgow who makes Sculpture, Community Art, Moving Image/Animation, Textiles, Drawing and Painting. In the past few years she has been working predominantly in community settings, namely Ferguslie Park in Paisley , Easterhouse, Castlemilk and Springburn in North Glasgow, where she is from.

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

Meeting 12 September 2019

Our first meeting of 2019/20 will take place at UWS, Paisley on 12 September 2019 at 7.30pm.

Our speaker will be Alison Peebles from Impact Arts .There wbsite can be found at http://www.impactarts.co.uk/. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Annual subscriptions are due for the session (£15.00). We ask those renewing as well as any new members to arrive early, to allow processing.

Visitors are welcome and we ask for a donatio of £3.00.

Meeting 28 March 2019 - The Linwood Line’: Regional policy, deindustrialisation and a working life in a car factory in post-war Scotland

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 28 March 2019 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 speakers will be Dr Valerie Wright, Research Associate in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow and Mr Joe Riley a former worker at Linwood car factory. 

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

Please note the meeting will be proceeded by our AGM @ 7.00pm.

This evening’s meeting will be a collaborative endeavour. In December 2017 Joe kindly agreed to be interviewed on his experience of working in Linwood car factory for the University of Glasgow, Leverhulme Trust funded, project ‘Employment, Politics and Culture in Scotland: 1955-2015’. Valerie will begin the meeting by outlining why Linwood car factory was located in the West of Scotland and how its trajectory was shaped by global forces and economic circumstances. She will draw upon archival research and also on the oral history narratives provided by individuals participating in the project. Joe will then give an account of his experience working at Linwood drawing upon his memoirs entitled ‘The Linwood Line’ published recently in the Scottish Labour History Journal.

 Joe Riley worked at Linwood from 1971 until its closure in 1981. Joe became a shop steward at Linwood initially for the National Union of Vehicle Builders and later the Transport and General Workers Union. He was also a member of the Labour Party and became a councillor for Johnstone town centre and Johnstone Castle ward in 1972. Following the closure at Linwood, Joe became a self-employed gardener, but to improve his book-keeping and administration skills he went to college part-time. Joe also became a part-time youth worker in Ferguslie Park. He later completed full-time HNC and HND courses in leisure services management to improve his prospects in his work in leisure services for Glasgow City Council. Joe ended his career as a Community Facilities Officer in the Gorbals and Govanhill, but had worked in a variety of areas throughout the city managing services and working with the community. Joe retired in 2009.

Valerie Wright is a historian of modern Scotland with particular expertise in gender, social and political history. She is based in Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow. Her current research as Research Associate working on the project ‘Employment, politics and culture in Scotland, 1955–2015’ focuses on the long-term effects of deindustrialisation in post-war Scotland. Previously she was employed as Research Associate on the project ‘Housing, everyday life and well-being over the long Glasgow 1950–1975’.

Meeting 14 March 2019 - Baker Street

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 14 March 2019 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 speaker will be Andy Campbell from Paisley Community Trust, who will be updating us on the Baker Street project.

Meeting 28 February 2019

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 14 February 2019 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 subject will be “Max Weber and Paisley: The case of the Coats Family of Paisley - 1899-1920”.

Our speaker will be Dr Kirsten Kinninmonth, Lecturer in Accounting/BAcc Admissions Officer at Glasgow University.

The Pullingers, Arroll Johnstons and the Paisley Connection

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, 14 February 2019 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 Nina Baker on the above opic.

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

Nina has kindly provided the following information.

Biographical note:

Dr Nina Baker has had a varied career, largely in fields which have traditionally been male-dominated. On leaving school she became a merchant navy deck officer, serving for 7 years in tankers, and cargo ships. After a period abroad she returned to education and gained an engineering design degree and a PhD in concrete durability. Finding herself then in Glasgow with a young family she worked as an engineering research administrator in the various universities in the city. She was a Scottish Green Party Councillor on Glasgow City Council for ten years. Now fully retired, she amuses herself with engineering and construction history and in  particular with the stories of women in the history of engineering.

Summary of talk

This talk will reveal a largely forgotten segment of Paisley's engineering heritage: the early days of the Arrol Johnston automobile company and father and daughter team of Thomas and Dorothee Pullinger who took it from a small old fashioned not very successful factory to the most modern and go-ahead company of its era. Dorothee was the first woman to be inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame and was a founding member of the Women's Engineering Society, whose centenary is this year.