AS we hurtle head-first into the coldest, most manic party season of the year, it’s heartwarming to see the city’s most popular promoters using their powers to help those less fortunate.

A weekend of charitable parties at the Sub Club kicks off tonight with Refuge, a night pioneered in Berlin by the Italian DJ Mr. Ties.

After the club’s first edition in the German capital, Ties asked to bring it to bring it to Glasgow, in aid of the Scottish Refugee Council, Save the Children and Positive Action in Housing.

The three charities will provide a lifeline this winter for several vulnerable groups.

The SRC campaigns for political change on the issues affecting refugees, and works closely with local communities and organisations to help individuals.

Positive Action in Housing runs an Emergency Hardship Fund for those in greatest need and provide free shelter for destitute refugees and their families, and Save the Children fights to help children affected by poverty – a number that, in Scotland alone, reaches around 220,000.

Tomorrow, Optimo’s second food bank fundraiser takes over the club, raising funds and awareness that will help Glasgow’s food banks help the city’s less fortunate residents.

They’re joined in the booth by the fresh-faced Dutch DJ Job Jobse - a long-time friend of the duo.

A resident of the notoriously gritty Amsterdam club Trouwe, Jobse has generously given up his time to come to Glasgow and play for free.

Guests are asked to make a minimum donation of £10 on the door, but if you’re unemployed, please bring proof and it’ll be £1.

And on Saturday, the first Subculture of December has a pair of Dutchmen going head-to-head, a scenario that usually ends in violent chaos when it’s at any other venue.

This will be a big, deep house love-in though, with Amsterdam’s Tom Trago and Young Marco stepping up to the booth to play all night long.

• Mr. Ties, tonight, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £7

• Optimo Food Bank Fundraiser, tomorrow, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £10 minimum donation

• Tom Trago v Young Marco, Saturday, Sub Club, 11pm – 3am, £10

DEFECTED IN THE HOUSE

Neapolitan house DJ Riva Starr headlines this enormous Defected Records party at SWG3 on Saturday.

The celebrated label is taking over both floors of the newly-expanded venue, with London deep house experts Sam Divine and DJ S.K.T joining the funkier German strains of Purple Disco Machine in the main room.

Room 2 features a selection of local house spinners, including familiar faces like Raeside and upcoming names like Hannah Laing.

• Defected in the House, tomorrow, SWG3, 9pm – 3am, £22.50

MELTING POT

Hot Mess, the wild monthly night at Finnieston’s Poetry Club, teams up with Melting Pot on Saturday for the veteran disco club’s Christmas party. Simonotron joins residents Andrew Pirie and Simon Cordiner for an audiophile-friendly, all-vinyl night of disco, house, techno, soul, and everything in between.

• Melting Pot with Hot Mess, Saturday, The Admiral, 11pm – 4am, £7

MADCHESTER SHED SEVEN AFTERPARTY

Continuing the trend for ‘90s nostalgia, tomorrow evening’s Shed Seven and The Inspiral Carpets reunion gig provides an ideal opportunity for Madchester fanatics to have it large just like old times.

On the off-chance that the gig doesn’t satisfy those Britpop urges, the afterparty at Byres Road’s Record Factory features a guest DJ set from the Carpets’ Clint Boon. Alternatively, Shed Seven’s Rick Witter takes to the decks at Firewater after the gig.

• Madchester Shed Seven Afterparty, tomorrow, The Record Factory, 11pm – 3am, £6

KATIE PRICE LIVE

Good news for the city’s more cultured clubbers: model, thespian, perfumier and Celebrity Big Brother winner Katie Price will make a rare appearance at Sauchiehall Street’s Bar Budda tomorrow.

It’s advertised as a chance to “get up close and personal” with the celebrated novelist in a “live” setting, although whether Ms Price plans to perform her hit duet “A Whole New World” hasn’t been confirmed.

Ms Price has dominated the news agenda this week, with a rumoured sixth pregnancy and claims that she masterminded a recent red carpet wardrobe malfunction making her presence impossible to escape.

This meet and greet, then, is a chance to come face-to-face with one of the country’s eminent thinkers at a high water mark in her career. Miss it, and miss out forever.

• Katie Price Live, tomorrow, Bar Budda, 7pm – late, £5

NIGHT MOVES

ST ANDREW’S DAY AT YES BAR AND STRATHCLYDE STUDENT UNION

At the YesBar, Drury Lane’s monument to the historic 2014 independence movement, St Andrew’s Day passed without incident.

There were no saltires, no kilts, no rousing renditions of Caledonia.

Instead, a handful of punters tackled the pub quiz and sipped their drinks in relative peace, interrupted only by the stop-start-stop of the “name that tune” round.

Amazed at the levels of indifference toward our country’s national day, I tried to find someone who was out in celebration.

There were none.

“I’m not surprised it’s quiet,” said one drinker, who was nursing a Guinness in what could have been seen as a gesture of disrespect to St Andrew.

“It’s a Monday night, it’s freezing, it’s wet. I wouldn’t expect anyone to be out partying – we don’t make a big deal about St Andrew’s here, do we.”

So far, so unpatriotic.

I slinked out and headed to the University of Strathclyde’s student union, which was hosting a ceilidh.

Mercifully it was better attended, and a dancefloor full of groups bumping into each other under the guise of a Dashing White Sergeant greeted me.

“We’re here because we thought we should try to do something Scottish on St Andrew’s Day,” said Fernanda Fuentes, a student from Sweden.

“But the dances are really difficult.”

“And we don’t know anything about St. Andrew, either,” her compatriot Matilda added.

As shameful as it is, neither do I. And as the lack of revellers on the streets testified, neither do many young Scots – and nor do they care, maybe.

I wouldn’t worry too much, though.

The huge turnout at events like last Saturday’s Refugees Welcome march through the city demonstrate that while nationalistic fervour doesn’t get us out bevying on a cold Monday night, plenty of us are giving Scots a good name by turning out to support just causes.

Perhaps the traditional Scottish stereotype is in need of a 2015 update.

Night Moves

St Andrew’s Day at YesBar and Strathclyde Student Union

Q: Who’s your favourite Scotsman or woman?

(From YesBar)

1. Andrew Lyden, 24, Buckie, “Nicola Sturgeon”

Ewan Edward, 22, Fochabers, “Stevie Jackson, from Belle and Sebastian”

2. Leanne Duke, 31, Glasgow, “Midge Ure”

Claire Connolly, 34, Glasgow, “David Tennant”

3. Sharon Tonner, 31, Glasgow, “Paolo Nutini”

Nicola Kelly, 31, Glasgow, “Ewan McGregor”

4. Leanne Fraser, 27, Inverness, “Gerard Butler”

Andy Fraser, 27, Inverness, “Kenny Dalglish”

(From Strathclyde Student Union)

5. Lisa Bazsant, 20, Hungary, “Susan Boyle”

Samuel Stewart, 19, Ayr, “Billy Connolly”

6. Fernanda Fuentes, 24, Sweden, “Gary, our Glasgow tour guide”

Matilda Gleerup, 21, Sweden, “Limmy”

7. Euan Johnstone, 17, Edinburgh, “William Wallace”

Scott West, 18, Aberdeenshire, “Calvin Harris”

8. Melissa Beasley, 23, West End

Favourite Club? The Berkeley Suite

Favourite Bar? Slouch

Favourite DJ? Calvin Harris

Favourite Band? Flight Facilities

What You Drinking? Whisky & Coke

First Club? Bamboo

Describe Your Dancing? Really, really bad