NORTH KELVIN MEADOW CAMPAIGN

Most people living in the city will have experienced seeing a fox at some point, but the other night really was quite unusual. I was walking through the Meadow late one night last week and took a short cut to see if the bin needed emptying. At first I thought it was a cat, but only about 7 feet away was a Fox. I immediately thought I must have been close to his (or her) cubs, but no sound came from Mr Fox, he just watched me. So I moved off slowly and he followed. I then took a wide walk round the Meadow and all the time the Fox was with me, sometimes 20 feet away , sometimes just 10 feet away. It was as if he was quite glad to see me and wanted to play. No doubt though looking for food. I had just seen the week before The Fantastic Mr Fox in the cinema and so believe me the similarity wasn’t wasted!

On the first anniversary of its formation, the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign  has been awarded a Certificate of Merit as part of Beautiful Scotland’s Neighbourhood Awards. Karen Chung, Treasurer of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign, collected the award today at a ceremony in Motherwell Concert Hall.

The certificate was awarded as recognition for the environmental and community improvements the Campaign has made to a previously derelict site. The group won particular praise for tackling problems such as litter, graffiti and vandalism, and for positive efforts to communicate and engage with a wide cross-section of the local community.

Over recent months the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign has been threatened with eviction by Glasgow City Council, which wants to sell the land to a developer for flats. The land has never been built on and has always been a community resource. The campaign to retain the land as a community green space has attracted support from a wide cross-section of people, including MSPs Patrick Harvie (Green), Bob Doris (SNP) and Robert Brown (Lib Dem), as well as a petition of over 800 signatures.

Beautiful Scotland Assessor Brian Chennell praised the group’s work, saying:

“The project is at a very early stage but does have great potential, given the number of people involved and the size and location of the site. If they had the cooperation of Glasgow City Council, the group could develop the meadow into an alternative community area for the benefit of residents.”

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“There can’t be many community groups being threatened with eviction one day and winning awards the next. I am immensely proud of the work the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign have done over the last year, work which I know is inspiring people across Glasgow and more widely.

“This award is yet another clear message to Glasgow City Council – it must now be time to abandon your efforts to undermine the good work the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign is doing and instead get behind their efforts to improve their neighbourhood. The administration appear to have forgotten who they were elected to serve, but hopeully this award will refresh their memory.”

Click here to read the BBC article regarding the installing of bat boxes

Click here to read the Sunday Herald article regarding the installing of bat boxes