Pupils at Hollybrook School in Govanhill have created a calendar of Glasgow’s landmarks by night to promote the city’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The pupils at the school, working alongside other schools and youth groups in the Southside, used a digital camera to capture the night-time scenes for the calendar. It has been officially adopted as part of the 2014 bid team’s promotional material to ‘show off’ Glasgow throughout the Commonwealth in 2007.

Hollybrook Head Teacher Mary Farrell told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘It was a huge commitment on behalf of the young people involved. They learned about their city and learned to love Glasgow more. They also built up new skills using technology like digital cameras and scanners, but most importantly, they had great fun.’

Jamie Shields, a Community Learning Worker with Glasgow City Council’s Youth Services department was heavily invloved in the calendar, spending over a year taking photographs with the young people around Glasgow’s lit-up landmarks.

He told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘It’s been a long, long journey but it’s good to see the finished article, and it’s good to see kids from all the different areas coming together.’

The calendar was launched at Kelvingrove Art Gallery, where the pupils were joined by Govanhill Councillor Anne-Marie Millar, Mount Florida Councillor and Executive Member for Culture and Leisure Services John Lynch and gold medal-winning gymnast Steve Frew. Said Councillor Millar, ‘It is good to see young people taking an interest in their city and to see a venture that is inclusive  of all children. It gives them hope for the future because they see something they have created and  been part of, going world wide.’

Hollybrook pupil Christopher Thornton told the LOCAL NEWS, ‘The best bit was photographing Glasgow’s  beautiful buildings and realising that the city has so many beautiful sights.’ Added Lynsay Anderson ‘I enjoyed learning new skills and using really good camera equipment.’ And Justine McFayden commented, ‘It was great fun getting to know new people and learning things about Glasgow that I didn’t know before.’

The pupils now intend to use what they learned to make a European version of the calendar. Working with schools in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, through the ‘Comelius’ project which allows schools to communicate through the internet, they have already started on a new initiative. Photography will be a part of the venture which is entitled ‘Your Surroundings: Yesterday, Today and Tommorrow’.