Words by Amanda Eleftheriades
Photos by Caroline Finn
What makes you proud of your hometown?
At the start of the year, we put this question to a group of Bankies and provided a variety of creative opportunities for them to share their thoughts.
Together they remembered the town’s proud shipbuilding past, the ship’s horn sounding as Singer’s clock chimed in a new year.
The group wanted to celebrate the town’s famous folk – Kevin Bridges, Wet Wet Wet, football legend John McGinn to name a few.
But what gave them the greatest pride was the so-called ‘ordinary’ people – those who went the extra mile for their neighbours and community; those who helped survive the dark days of the Blitz and those who brightened up the day with a smile and a song.
Working with Clydesider’s Creative Lead, they tried their hand at creating collages, lino prints and hand lettering and trawled through history books, magazines and archive photos to capture these people and places in a range of art forms.
For some it was the first time they had used these creative techniques.
One participant explained why she got involved: “Now that I’ve retired after having such a serious job, I just want to do things like this that are fun.”
And fellow participant Frances said: “I hadn’t done anything like this before, it was great learning the different crafts and seeing it all come together.”
All the group enjoyed sharing memories and learning about the town’s past together.
“I remember standing outside the baths in your towel because you only got an hour then had to get back in the queue.”
“I remember the horns on the Clyde on Hogmanay.”
“We had a big street party the day of the last tram.”
And as the weeks progressed, their artwork was collated and used to create a final ‘Pride in Clydebank’ mural which is now available for all to enjoy in Dalmuir Barclay Church.
“It looks amazing, I’m really proud of it,” said Tracie, one of the participants.
The project was funded by the Flightpath Fund and West Dunbartonshire’s Community Chest Fund, and the mural forms part of our new ‘In Peace & Revolution’ heritage project which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
And it provided the perfect backdrop to launch our new heritage project at the end of May (read all about this on page 26).
The room was packed with local activists, history enthusiasts and creatives, swapping stories and ideas for us to work on.
So, by the time we host West Dunbartonshire’s first local authority-wide Heritage Festival next May, we expect to have uncovered even more reasons for people to be proud of their hometowns and villages in Clydebank, Dumbarton and the Vale!
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