Streets Ahead 2019: Community spirit at the heart of this year's projects

Our community campaign, which brings people together to improve the city for all, rounds off its eighth successful year with a fantastic prizegiving ceremony at the City Chambers on June 18.

Hosted by Glasgow City Council and supported by our other Streets Ahead partners City Charitable Trust and City Building, the event is a joyful celebration of the great groups and inspiring individuals who have transformed communities throughout Glasgow over the last 12 months.

There will be eight trophies presented best garden, best clean-up campaign, best environmental initiative, best community garden, best community initiative and best green business, plus a schools award and an overall champion which will be chosen from the winners of all the other categories.

In the last part of our three-day feature series we reveal who is in contention for the Best Clean Up Campaign and Best Community Initiative awards.

BEST CLEAN UP CAMPAIGN

Scottish Youth Forum

This inspirational group of Pollokshields people organise monthly litter-picks, train local residents to use the My Glasgow app and educate everyone about recycling.

At the end of each clean-up, everyone gets together to relax over tea and biscuits, bringing neighbours and friends closer.

Through the Forum’s efforts, more than 50 local people have signed up to become Neighbourhood Improvement Volunteers.

Friends of Househill Park

This recently formed group has begun an ambitious project in a bid to return Househill Park in Greater Pollok to its former glory.

They have organised community clean-ups and gala days, researched the park’s history and heritage, and as a result, are breathing new life into a fantastic local resource.

Once home to the Cranston family (of Willow Tearooms fame) the park has fallen into disrepair, but thanks to the Friends, it is on the road to becoming a much-loved part of the local landscape once more.

Calton Green Volunteers

The Green Volunteers work hard to keep their little part of the east end clean and tidy, inspiring locals to follow suit and impressing visitors to the area.

As well as creating friendly, safe places for people to enjoy fresh air and relaxation, the group is helping to change perceptions of an area with its fair share of challenges.

FROGGS (Friends of Garnethill Green Spaces)

Monthly litter picks kick-started this fantastic initiative in Garnethill, part of the city loved by tourists and locals alike. Home to the iconic Glasgow School of Art, Tenement House and the GFT, it is a source of great pride for the people who live and work there.

Now, around 20 people take part in regular clean-ups of the area’s streets, gardens, flower beds, parks and lanes, making a difference to the wellbeing of all who live, work, study and play in Garnethill.

BEST COMMUNITY INITIATIVE

Pollokshaws Community Hub

In an area surrounded by regeneration building works and ongoing demolition, the Hub was the first new project to open its doors in the area for some time, giving residents a glimmer of hope that their community would finally be rebuilt.

It is a welcoming hub which brings people of all ages, from all backgrounds, together through a community choir, garden sessions, a Men’s Shed, needle crafts group and drop-in support.

Men Matter Scotland

This Drumchapel project is slowly but surely transforming its surrounding community, with regular litter-picks and clean-ups. The volunteers cleared more than 100 bags of rubbish over three trips, and their efforts are inspiring others to be more mindful when it comes to disposing rubbish.

The group’s members are also feeling the benefit of taking part, boosting their self-esteem and sense of value to their families and their communities.

Friends of Linn Park

This group’s second nomination this year concerns their fantastic efforts on creating a new interactive trail in Linn Park.

Volunteers worked with local schoolchildren on the imaginative project, which combines fairy doors with QR codes, allowing participants to learn more about the woodland and its creatures as they go along.

The Cabin

Still Game’s Isa (Jane McCarry) was first in line when this brilliant community shop opened its doors recently in Cranhill. Set up to give local people the choice of healthy, low cost food - some of it grown in the community garden, it also runs a fruit club for children and provides volunteering opportunities for residents.