Hansard

We have all mentioned various projects in our areas. If the cabinet secretary had to put them all in a motion, she would probably need a digital archive of her own to hold them all.

The preservation of heritage is extremely important. In Paisley, we have the historic “Arbuthnott Missal”, which is a Catholic prayer service book that survived the reformation. It is the only one of its kind in existence. Many people have not been able to get access to it or see it because it is so precious and so old, but it is now available online. If the Presiding Officer will indulge me, I will read some information about it.

“The Missal, which is locked in a vault at Paisley Library, has only been seen by a handful of people in the past century because of the damage it could suffer through being handled and being exposed to artificial light. Now everyone can flick through its pages”.

However, the next part is a comment on the technology.

“Not quite everyone ... the Missal can only be seen in Internet Explorer using an additional ponderous Microsoft plug-in.”

There are clearly some problems with making things available digitally.

I attended last night’s event; the Scottish ten project brings many things alive again because it enables us to see history. One of the things I found fascinating is that a teacher can walk his or her class through the construction of Stirling castle, demonstrate how it was built and the materials that were used, then dismantle it again, all using the computer technology. In the long term, it could be a wonderful resource.

Fountain Gardens in Paisley has also been used in the project. It is one of the oldest parts of the town and it is named after a fountain in the gardens, ironically. It was used as the template to check the equipment. The old statue that has been there for some time was created by John Love, after whom, incidentally, Love Street is named. That is a place close to my heart because I used to go and see St Mirren play there. I do not think that the gentleman would have thought that, for years to come, people would be saying, “I’ll not be going to that Love Street in two weeks’ time, after that.” However, the friends of Fountain Gardens are looking at investment to improve the statue in the gardens.

For too long, our greatest landmarks have been left in disrepair. Another perfect example—I make no apologies for being parochial—is that we used to have a jail in the county buildings in Paisley, where there is now a 1960s and 1970s modernistic shopping centre. We are the only people with a river running through our town who actually built over it. That was the vision in the past. Alexander Stoddart, the great Paisley sculptor, told me that if we had the vision and the money he could take down that modernist piece of nonsense and rebuild the jail brick by brick. People always talk about these old buildings and the heritage of which they are an important part. With the right technology, we can go into Paisley schools and show pupils what was there in the past. The project is a wonderful step forward.

The ScotlandsPeople family history thing is quite good. I remember when Councillor Jim Mitchell way back in the 1990s decided that Elvis’s family had come from Paisley, and he and I had to go all the way to Edinburgh to research the project. I will not tell members what happened. It was quite a tenuous link. I do not think that he did come from Paisley, but Jim managed to bring the council meeting to a standstill as he serenaded the provost with some Elvis numbers in the five or 10 minutes he was given to speak for.

Willie Coffey is right. So many people are interested in shows such as “Who Do You Think You Are?” It is about tourism and bringing people into industrial towns, or post-industrial towns such as Paisley. Although those towns are not top of the list for people to visit, people want to see the mill that their great-great-granny worked in and hear about the mill lassies and their heritage. These things are important.

Paisley recently had the dubious honour of featuring in “Who Do You Think You Are?” because the Bee Gees come from the town. I apologise for that. It cannot all be good. We have Paolo Nutini and Gerry Rafferty to balance that. I also remember an episode with David Tennant. Like Clare Adamson, I am a bit of a sci-fi geek. I always found it strange that Doctor Who needed to use a TV show to investigate his past when he has a time machine, but nevertheless it was an interesting show. People want to go and see things from their past.

It is interesting that we can show people all over the world Paisley abbey and Paisley’s history. We can sell the town to people who are abroad, to encourage them to come back and see what is available. That goes for other places in Scotland, too; everyone can do it.

As with any nation, if we are to move forward it is important to understand who we are and where we came from—the good and the bad. It is our duty to ensure that we record everything that I talked about for future generations and encourage the hundreds of thousands of Scots who are scattered across the globe to investigate their heritage and come back to Scotland.

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