Just heard that Patterson’s the auctioneers are moveing from their glasgow base to the Heritage Building at the West End of Paisley. We have a message board post on the Paisley Forum asking what this building was used for “we know it was a funeral home previously” and would like to ask for your help in finding out its past and who designed and built the building which sits half way along Walker street, Paisley

add your comments below or join our message board topic and answer our question in there..

The Glasgow comedy festival kicks off tomorrow the 11th March 2010 and lasts until 28th March, with venues to suit all comers with events for all the family and of course comedy that is a bit close to the line..

To find out a list of events and shows please visit http://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com one of my favourites and a very funny woman indeed is Janey Godley who is one of many local comediennes available.

http://www.tron.co.uk/event/janey_godley/

Macmillan Cancer Support in the West of Scotland is seeking help from local organisations this Easter as it tries to get chocoholics involved in its egg-cellent Guess the Name competition.

The charity is asking local businesses, schools and public service organisations to pick up one of its Easter Bunny Baskets which is choc-a-block with enough Easter Eggs to satisfy any sweet tooth as well as a cuddly Easter bunny, name sheet with 100 names on it and an envelope containing the bunny’s real name to reveal the lucky prize winner.

For a donation of just £1 local people can guess the bunny’s name with the egg-static winner receiving the basket and all the mouth watering Easter goodies inside – and that’s no yolk!

Macmillan Fundraising Manager Susan Selkirk is hoping local organisations will get involved and help encourage people to shell out a little bit more this Easter to help local families affected by cancer.

She said: “We’re looking for shops, hotels, community centres and schools to take one of our fantastic Easter Bunny Baskets.

“This competition is fun for all ages and is a great way for you to engage with your customers or visitors and raise money for people affected by cancer.

“This event helps Macmillan to raise thousands of pounds each year and with your support we will continue to provide medical, financial and emotional support services to those who need it most.”

If you are interested in getting involved then hop over to the phone and call Susan at the Macmillan West of Scotland team on 0141 952 0085 or email westscotlandfundraising@macmillan.org.uk

The Y Don’t U? Youth activity group has been awarded £11,000 to take local youngsters on a residential activity weekend to Aviemore, and Paisley West and Central Community Council has been given £9,000 to hold their first gala day.

The grants were agreed by Paisley North Local Area Committee, which is made up of councillors, council officers, and representatives of local groups such as community councils and tenants and residents groups.

Councillor Brian Lawson, convener of the Paisley North LAC, said: “The local area committees were set up with the purpose of bringing local residents into the process of making decisions which affect their communities. The LACs are able to award grants of up to £20,000 to projects which will provide benefits to the members of those communities. These are two great projects which have clear benefits for local people and the communities they live in.”

Y Don’t U? Group is run by Ferguslie Park Sports Recreation and Leisure Trust and was set up after outreach work showed that local young people wanted to participate in more activities and set up a constituted group to develop, coordinate and manage these activities.

The £11,000 grant will be used to fund a residential weekend at Glenmore Lodge National Training Centre, Aviemore, for young people aged between 14 and 18 from the Paisley North area.
Gerard Carr, Chair of Y Don’t U?, said: “The overall aim of Y Don’t U? is to provide sports, leisure and educational activities to the young people in the Paisley North area without having any barriers of cost. Previous activity weeks held at Ferguslie Sports Centre have been extremely well attended with over 150 young people per day. The aim of the residential weekends at Glenmore Lodge are to provide additional activities and training to young people to boost their self esteem and confidence and help them volunteer for future activities.

“Since the start of the group Y Don’t U? has seen 12 young people gaining ASDAN qualifications, 8 young people gaining SHOKK Assistant Coach qualification, a further 12 young people working towards their ASDAN Bronze & short course qualification, as well as Child Protection training and First Aid training, 2 young people gaining employment with the Renfrewshire Diversionary Project and 4 young people gaining employment at Ferguslie Sports Centre. None of this would have been possible without the help and support of the Paisley North Local Area Committee.”

Sherie Gilchrist, 16, a member of Y Don’t U? Said: “It’s been great getting involved with the Y Don’t U? The school holiday activities have been great and the residential weekends at Aviemore were really good. We climbed Meall a Bhuachaille (2,657ft) and went kayaking on Loch Morlich which was exhausting but really good.”

Paisley West and Central Community Council will use their £9,000 grant to fund the first Paisley West End Fair.

John Wilby of Paisley West and Central Community Council said: “We are delighted that the Local Area Committee is supporting our efforts to promote and develop a community spirit in the West End. The Fair’s theme, Unity in Diversity, reflects the aim to highlight the positive aspects of cultural diversity and build on the Council’s plans for regeneration”

For more information on Local Area Committees email local-area-committees.cs@renfrewshire.gov.uk or call 0141 840 3399

www.renfrewshire.gov.uk

This award winning film is a must-see. A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

Do you know someone who might like this? Forward it on!

“Mission X” feature film by local filmmaker screens at the Paisley Arts Centre. For more information please click here.

Video Trailer:

For more information on the Paisley Film Society please click here.

Mission X Blog here

Renfrewshire residents looking to find out more about Fairtrade and how to get involved in local campaigns are invited to a special event this weekend.

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight (Feb 22 – March 7) a special Fairtrade Tea Party is being held on Saturday 27 February in Paisley Town Hall.

The event will include a talk by Haitham Hasasneh, a livelihood development officer in the occupied Palestinian Territory working for Oxfam.

Haitham is a Palestinian agronomist with 20 years experience. His role is focused on increasing the quantity and quality of olive oil produced for markets and developing good cooperative governance and management by and for the farmers. He also focuses on promoting access of small scale farmers to international fair trade markets and producers like those in Scotland.

The Tea Party is also an opportunity for people to find out more about Fairtrade in their town or village and how to set up a local Fairtrade group. Members of Lochwinnoch, Bishopton and Erskine’s local Fairtrade groups will be on hand to give information and advice.

There will also be representatives of the Renfrewshire Fairtrade Steering Group, who have lead the campaign to make Renfrewshire a Fairtrade zone.

Councillor Brian Lawson, chair of the Renfrewshire Fairtrade Steering Group, said: “This event is open to everyone and is a good way to encourage people to hear about Fairtrade. However we are also specifically appealing to people who may have thought about getting involved in supporting Fairtrade in Renfrewshire but are not sure how to do this. We are really pleased to welcome Haitham to Renfrewshire and I am really interested to hear more about his Fairtrade work.

“On the day we will also be encouraging people to sign up to Renfrewshire’s I Swap Campaign running throughout Fairtrade Fortnight. We are aiming to get as many people as possible to sign a pledge to swap one of their regular shopping items for a Fairtrade version.”
The Fairtrade Tea Party starts at 10am in the Alexander Wilson Suite in Paisley Town Hall.

here is some text which is on the www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk page.

Page \ Park has recently completed a pre-feasibility study for Renfrewshire Council. The practice has drawn up plans for a new cultural centre in the town following a brief from the Public-Private Partnership ‘Paisley Vision’. The proposals entail refurbishing the existing Town Hall, Library and refurbishing and extending the Museum to provide improved cultural facilities, with the designs forming part of the wider regeneration strategy for Paisley Town Centre.

The first Phase of the £30m proposals will be the £7m refurbishment and enhancement of the existing town hall. The designs include plans to relocate the central lending library into a wing of the town hall, this would allow the existing library space to be incorporated into a new cultural centre. The Cultural Centre will comprise gallery facilities as well as providing a new 175 seat auditorium with cafe and bar.

read more on this link here.

We always try to promote the town centre and the town itself, as it really does not deserve all the bad press it generally gets, but when you see the Paisley Shopping centre in such a mess it begs me to ask the question, do they really care about the business’s inside the centre who are trying their best to compete in this time of recession?

Now inside the centre, its always very clean, and its a pleasant and modern looking shopping centre, I am only trying to get the owners to do something about the appearance and this is not a campaign against the centre itself.. Paisley should be the place to do business and it should be thriving….

(here are pictures of the Paisley Shopping centre of how it used to look)

picture taken by Brian McGuire

(Here is a picture of how it looks today with the doors boarded up)

picture taken by www.paisleysucks.com

Here are the emails that I have written and received …

Feb 17th 2010: Hi there I had been told weeks ago that the Paisley Centres main doors on the high street had been boarded up and the person thought the centre was closed for business, they then told me the centre was open for business as usual, I didnt think anything off it until I passed today and seen they were still boarded up and looked as though the entrance was closed apart from the side doors..

I am just wondering why our main shopping centre is allowed to be like this? Is there a reason why the doors are boarded up and are they to remain boarded up?

I run the local Paisley website www.paisley.org.uk and have near on 2million visitors from all over the world interested in Paisley, I promote the town and hate to see any part of it being abused or in this case not being showcased.

I look forward to your reply..

—-

and the reply

—-

Feb 21st 2010: The doors are boarded up for health & safety reasons whilst we await delivery of new doors. I believe there is a notice apologising for any inconvenience in having to use the side entrance doors.

Please be assured we take a lot of pride in our Shopping Centre and Paisley. The new doors will be a welcome addition and will put a stop to doors being out of order and not providing the service we strive to give our shoppers.

Thank you for taking an interest.

www.paisleycentre.co.uk

–

Update 21st Feb 2010: Paisley Shopping Centre said that the doors shall be replaced within the next few weeks…

Please add your comments below, or use the message board to give your opinion.

Thanks to www.paisleysucks.com for the use of their image.

I am currently helping organise an online auction in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.
This appeal is on behalf of a friend of the Paisley website.

I am trying to raise as much as I can for this very worthwhile charity, following their help with an immediate family member in her final stages of life.
I obtained permission from Marie Curie to do the fund raising, and received both a written letter & email letter of authorisation. I have approached various “Celebs” via Twitter, asking if they would be willing to donate something to be auctioned.

Angela says, I have received quite a number of replies with promises of help, so far I have managed to secure 10 signed books, music goodies, a signed limited edition print from an artist, & a one off piece of handmade costume jewellery, along with other bit and pieces being sent to me, (such as signed pics etc) A friend of mine has helped out by enlisting the help of 2 other very well known “Celebs” and I have secured items from them. And may also have secured the rugby ball from the forthcoming Scotland v England 6 nations game.
The online auction is planned for the end of March, once I have gathered everything up to auction, as I want to do one big auction.

I am looking for items that the public might not ordinarily be able to obtain, and as a huge Robbie Williams fan have recently purchased a limited edition of a Robbie Williams Commemorative 2010 Brit award plaque that is limited to 250 copies, which I plan to auction in aid of Marie Curie in my auction.
Any help would be very gratefully received.

If you can help please email Angela Heaney angiebabes999@sky.com

If you cant donate something yourself then please pass this on to someone that can help…
Remember all proceeds will go to a very worthwhile charity, The Marie Curie Cancer Care charity.