Mindfullnes in Kelvingrove Park July 2021

Your Makar was invited to do a number of "Mindfulness" walks in Kelvingrove Park using poetry and photography as media. These are two of my passions and the Park isn't far from my home.

Some walks have been better attended than others, but taking any excuse to be out photoshooting and talking poetry, I'd happily do it if just one person turned up.

Anyway, here were are, three auld guys out for a pleasant walk in the park.

 

Walking the Tannahill Way

This is me following in the footsteps of Robert Tannahill who spent a lot of his free time walking the pathways of The Glennifer Braes to collect his thoughts and to experience some serenity.

I was given a guided tour by the Paisley Provost, Lorraine Cameron, who used to live in a house nearby the Braes and played in there when she was a little girl.

I can be seen here standing at the Birkin Tree which was planted in 1974 to commemorate Tannahill's birth in 1774.

Paisley Book Festival 2020

I was proud to be reading the first ever poem to be read at the first ever Paisley Book Festival in 2020 at the opening event in the Paisley Arts Centre.

I was also proud to be invited to be one of the judges of the Janet Coates Memorial Prize Poetry Competition along with Jackie Kay and Dave Hook.

I also hosted a night of readings at Paisley Library along with Sheila Templeton, Ross Wilson, Steve Crone, Tracy Patrick, Graham Fulton & Linda Jackson.

Pure Poetry

Pupils from two Paisley schools will have their own written words turned into a poem by Renfrewshire Poet Laureate, Brian Whittingham.

The poet, who has been appointed Tannahill Makar, met with Primary 5 pupils from St Fergus and Glencoats Primary Schools in Ferguslie Library