Go Greener in East Renfrewshire

The Go Greener Family Festival at Barrhead was a great succes..

The weather forecasters fortunately got it wrong for Saturday 11 July 2009 when Barrhead basked in sunlight instead of the torrential rain that was supposed to sweep over the west of Scotland.

Go Greener chair and East Renfrewshire Council’s environment convener Councillor Eddie Phillips & event organiser Shona Lewendon had even gone as far as to cancel all of the outdoor activities when they saw the forecast on Thursday and plans were made to have everything under cover in the Barrhead Sports Centre.

But when they woke up to clear blue skies and sunshine on Friday morning & a much more favourable forecast from the Met Office, the race was on to revert back to Plan A and the Go Greener Family Day moved back out into the fresh air & sunshine.

And that meant Barrhead would have a beach for the day! So four tons of sand was dumped close to the entrance of the sports centre, thanks to the staff of Loo King in Nielston who swiftly came to the rescue, after the original sand & materials had been cancelled.

This gave the kids, mums and dads and even the Secretary of State Jim Murphy and MSP Ken Macintosh a chance to build sand castles.

The day started off with a car boot sale before local actor Dougie Henshall, better known for his portrayal of Professor Nick Cutter in the TV drama Primeval, officially declared the event open.

Dougie spent the rest of the day happily signing hundreds of photographs of himself and posing for countless photos with fans. (After the event he said “I had a great time & it was a real treat to come home & be welcolmed so warmly. Thank you for asking me to be part of it & if there is anything I can do for Go Greener in the future, I will be happy to help.”)

The sunshine ensured the outside events were popular with the youngsters who enjoyed playing on the bouncy castle, slide, surf rider, laser quest, bungee run, paintballing, gladiators challenge & even our local fire brigade welcomed the kids (& adults) to see inside a real fire engine.

Out in the car park, compere Graham Mackie introduced live music from local singer/songwriter Mary Kathleen Burke and band entertained the crowd. Local cheer leading group Wildfire also performed a 'Go Greener' chant and the council’s football development team helped youngsters to have a kick about on the mobile football pitch, while attempting to beat the 6'7” goalie..!

Inside the main games hall there were interactive displays of Thai boxing, Boxercise, an eco puppet show, Amazonia's snakes & spiders handling sessions, caricature artist, as well as dozens of craft stalls and others offering  advice on energy, seed planting, cycling, recycling, food waste and health.

And if the heat and the stress of keeping the kids amused proved too much there were qualified therapists providing Indian head massage, reiki & even angel card readings.

Eddie Philips said: “We were delighted the rain stayed away and it brought the people out in their hundreds. It's hard to estimate how many people came along but it was certainly in the region of 1100 if not more. From the feedback we received it appears to have been a great success and there were many happy faces on the day.

“The aim of the event apart from letting the families have a lot of fun, was to promote good health and the environment. Shona & I would like to thank all who helped make it a great success and to the people who turned up to support the Go Greener Family Festival.”

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