Re: Glasgow Garden Festival 1988
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:24 pm
Have just come across this thread about the Glasgow Garden Festival. I was 10 years old and lived just across the road in Kinning Park. We had the luxury of watching the Coca Cola coaster being built from our living room window (we were witness to the numerous lightning strikes it sustained, and saw the poor people who were stuck in it upside down for about half an hour being rescued). We had the option to get our season tickets half price since we were in the G51 postcode so my dad bought them for us all. My friends and I used to go as often as we could, and although my memory isn't that brilliant I can still remember a few bits an bobs from the site.....
I loved all the science exhibits but some of my favourite things were the holographic Irn Bru can, and the photographic wall that took a picture of your shadow.... there was the giant tap fountain, the pyramids of grass (one of which had a flower display to mark the 100th aniversary of Celtic Football Club), the wee railway, the multi-coloured 'tower block' sculptures, the naked lying lady sculpture that we all had our photo's taken sitting on her side, the Clydesdale Bank tower with the revolving viewing room, the peat digging sculpture near the stream/waterfall part..... It's all coming back to me now.... we had a brilliant time.
It was such a lovely thing, such a shame it had to go and such a horrible waste to let the ground lie rotting for so many years......
however.....
Had it not lain unused for so long i may never have experienced some of the best days of my life.... the days of 'sneaking in'......
What was to others a wasteland became our playground.... We loved looking in the peat pit for frogs (from the tadpoles in the pond)... climbing the pyramids, we explored under the tunnels which led through to Seaward St. end of the site, exploring the grounds, sneaking into the Four Winds which had been used as the tram shed (it was empty and derelict by this point)... we even made a 'den' on a 30 foot high platform in there.... oh if only our parents knew.....
I still have some family photos of our visits to the festival and if i can figure out how, I'll post some too.
I loved all the science exhibits but some of my favourite things were the holographic Irn Bru can, and the photographic wall that took a picture of your shadow.... there was the giant tap fountain, the pyramids of grass (one of which had a flower display to mark the 100th aniversary of Celtic Football Club), the wee railway, the multi-coloured 'tower block' sculptures, the naked lying lady sculpture that we all had our photo's taken sitting on her side, the Clydesdale Bank tower with the revolving viewing room, the peat digging sculpture near the stream/waterfall part..... It's all coming back to me now.... we had a brilliant time.
It was such a lovely thing, such a shame it had to go and such a horrible waste to let the ground lie rotting for so many years......
however.....
Had it not lain unused for so long i may never have experienced some of the best days of my life.... the days of 'sneaking in'......
What was to others a wasteland became our playground.... We loved looking in the peat pit for frogs (from the tadpoles in the pond)... climbing the pyramids, we explored under the tunnels which led through to Seaward St. end of the site, exploring the grounds, sneaking into the Four Winds which had been used as the tram shed (it was empty and derelict by this point)... we even made a 'den' on a 30 foot high platform in there.... oh if only our parents knew.....
I still have some family photos of our visits to the festival and if i can figure out how, I'll post some too.