Our walking group certainly got their steps in today with a walk to the Glasgow Southern Necropolis. Along the way, we had a visit to Sogo Arts gallery on Saltmarket to see paintings by Thomas McGoran in his exhibition ‘art by Tommy’.
Tommy is 95 years old and took up painting when he retired in 1988. He is self taught and his paintings are of his memories of life in Glasgow when he was a lad. It was very nice to meet Tommy at the gallery and a delight to see his wonderfully detailed paintings. The exhibition is on until 2nd September and there is information about opening times on the website at Sogo Arts Gallery.
We couldn’t stay looking at Tommy’s paintings for as long as we would’ve liked, as we had quite a way to go and lots to see at the necropolis. We took the route through Glasgow Green, across the suspension bridge and through the Gorbals.
At the entrance to the necropolis there is a notice board and a box that is well stocked with booklets that are full of information about the history of the site and some of the people whose remains were buried there. Perhaps the most famous of these is Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, and his monument is certainly the most distinctive. We met a friendly dog walker who stopped for a chat and took a photograph of a group of us before we set off on our walk back to the city centre.
Text by Celine Mcilmunn
Photographs by Ruth Mutch and Celine Mcilmunn
