HERE’S a sight that is likely to cause apoplexy among health and safety inspectors.
The man with the shotgun is Bill McCracken and he was performing a vital service 
from the balcony of the City Chambers ... keeping the building clear from roosting starlings.
His duty, seen here in October 1957, saw him fire blanks from the gun at regular intervals to scare the birds from their perches because of the considerable damage they were causing to the property.
The birds had been discussed during council meetings, with councillors being told they had first started to flock to the Chambers in 1951.
It meant a worker had to be there for two hours every night firing the gun. Traffic and pedestrians in the area heard the gun going off and saw the birds taking flight.
By the 1970s more hi-tech methods were in use.A specially-equipped van with powerful twin spotlights and high-frequency sound effects that were audible only to the feathered squatters was being used. After the van did a few circuits round the Square the birds flew off... but of course they always returned.

Glasgow Times:

These men are hard at work in the occupational workshop, making baskets and cutting material to 
make rugs. They were being cared for in Barnhill Poorhouse, Springburn, and had to ‘earn their keep’. 
The poorhouse later became Forresthall Hospital, which was demolished in 1988