Hansard

I join Drew Smith in welcoming Kenny Stewart to the chamber. I have a feeling that Kenny, like many of us, has a Commonwealth games hangover and is here for a wee cure. It is nice to see him and I thank him for his help.

I am in the extremely lucky position of having Hampden Park on my doorstep, which meant that, for the duration of the games, it was buzzing outside my office in Mount Florida with people excited at the first-class sport that they were on their way to witness or had just witnessed in the arena.

No one who was there or who was watching on television will forget the travails of Eilidh Child, Hannah Miley, Ross Murdoch, Lynsey Sharp, Libby Clegg and so many others.

The games’ sporting highlight was the incredible 13-year-old Erraid Davies whom I am sure Tavish Scott will want to speak about in more detail. Her smile after winning the bronze medal was, without a doubt, one of the great moments of the games.

For the 11 days of the games, the area that I represent, like so many others, was transformed not only by the sporting endeavours around it but by the countless local community groups that arranged numerous events to get into the Commonwealth games spirit.

On the Monday prior to the start of the games, I attended a lane party held by the Gateway Residents Association in Battlefield, which was attended by members of the Barbados Commonwealth team after the association had adopted that team as its Commonwealth games team. It was a great day, with a massive turnout from a local community keen to welcome the games to their area. I know that the event was appreciated by the Barbados team, as was their presence by the locals. I thank the athletes who came straight from their training that day to make sure that the games were seen to be a part of the community and not just the arenas

The local Clincarthill parish church hosted a coffee shop over the course of the games, which kept those involved extremely busy, and the visitors to the games well fed with the delicious selection of home baking on offer, and the parents, teachers and pupils of Mount Florida primary school did a magnificent job of decorating the triangle grassed area just outside their school and across the road from Hampden. I was driving past one day and I saw people putting knitted blankets around the trees. I had to stop to see whether anyone was vandalising the trees but it turned out to be the school pupils’ way, along with their parents and their teachers, of welcoming people to the area.

The communities of Croftfoot and Castlemilk decorated the streets on the way to Cathkin Braes with banners and flags, and thousands turned out to watch the mountain biking at the purpose-built mountain biking centre. The local community is rallying round to ensure that one of the lasting legacies of the games is an increase in the facilities at the mountain biking track so that it can become an urban centre of mountain biking excellence.

Castlemilk also turned out in force to see the baton relay reach its community where it was carried for part of the way by Teresa Sadler, who was one of those nominated to carry the baton by members of her community, and who is another excellent example of a local champion in the area who is involved in a number of local groups and campaigns in the community over and above the fantastic work that she does as chair of Cassiltoun Housing Association.

The baton relay was just another example of the community spirit across the Commonwealth that the games fostered. The Queen’s baton travelled more than 198,000km across all parts of the Commonwealth and was warmly welcomed wherever it went.

Another of the local people who carried the baton on its journey to Celtic Park was Carol Paterson, who runs the magnificent Saturday club and Ozzy’s based at Cathcart old parish church. It will come as no surprise to the people in the chamber who know the Rev Neil Galbraith that his church was jam-packed with events as part of his celebration city festival. Glasgow the Caring City has worked in more than 55 of the 71 Commonwealth countries that had teams competing in the games.

I hosted one of those events, which was a night of Celtic rock with Eric Faulkner of Bay City Rollers fame, and an up-and-coming Glasgow band called the Chaplins—named after the comedian and not the Rev Neil—with lead singer Jill Jackson. It was a great evening with more than a few ladies of a certain age a bit excited to meet a Bay City Roller. It is amazing how quickly some can revert to their screaming teenager phase. That was just one of a number of events that took place but undoubtedly the highlight, outwith my night of course, was “Bravehearts the Musical”, starring the kids from the aforementioned Saturday club and Ozzy’s.

For those who do not know, the Saturday club and Ozzy’s are clubs for children who have disabilities of varying kinds, and to see them put in the effort and put on such a performance was extremely touching as well as entertaining. I also have to give a message to all those dedicated ladies—and they were all ladies, which is why I say it—who worked so hard to make sure that the tea rooms were open for everybody who attended during the 11 days.

That is just a small flavour of the more than 120 events that were put on over the course of the celebration city festival. The whole area was a cacophony of sights and sounds and it is clear that there is a want for the games to leave a lasting legacy.

We are here to talk of legacy and for me it will come in many different guises. As a board member of Scottish Women in Sport, I was particularly delighted to see that Scottish women had their best games ever. We need to keep that momentum going and do all we can to ensure that a lasting legacy of the games is getting more women of all ages involved and engaged in sport.

I suspect that the greatest legacy for my great city will be the reawakening of community spirit that took place before and during the games. We talk about part of the legacy being about humanity and I have seen no greater examples of humanity than I saw during the two weeks of the Commonwealth games, when people from all over the world worked together, enjoyed each other’s company and made sure that the games were the friendly games. Of course, they would be, because Glasgow is without a doubt the friendly city.