Last week, we spent quite a lot of time in Bishopbriggs – or ‘bishy’ and ‘the briggs’ as many people commented! Over the course of both events, we spoke to approximately 55 people from a wide range of backgrounds.
What was clear from talking to people, is that Bishopbriggs is an asset rich community with a wide range of resources and assets. Lots of people from surrounding communities visit Bishopbriggs to use their community facilities and resources – more so, than other areas we’ve visited to date.
Community Assets
We managed to capture a lot of information from both sessions in Bishopbriggs. Some of the assets that people said were most useful for their well-being included:
- Hunters Hill village – a little village with a wide variety of shops including an art gallery, pet shop, cafe, and “it’s a really nice community area, whee people can go to meet each other”
- Fort Theatre – a community theatre company offering creative classes, drama groups, film clubs and charity fundraisers.
- The view from the canal across to the fields – described as “one of the best views in East Dunbartonshire, really beautiful and tranquil”
- Bishopbriggs Cycle Co-op – offers cycle lessons, cycle events, cycle maintenance workshops and much more. “they taught my children how to ride without stabilisers”
- Monteith Park – residents noted that there is a big hill at Monteith Park which is a great play area and “a great sledging hill when it snows!”
- The Hub at the Evangelical Church – has a wide range of activities from youth groups, toddlers groups and a cafe which is really popular at lunchtime. Described as “a great cafe, with meringues to die for!”
- Bishopbriggs School of Music – great social events and lessons for children and adults. “There is a fab ceilidh band that runs from the school”
- Curves gym – friendly gym “as well as access to equipment and classes, they also do a walking group for older ladies.”
- Bishopbriggs Memorial Hall – one of the few community halls which runs a range of activities from a swimming club to a dog training club. Local residents can also book the hall for parties and functions.
- Delhi Darbar – a great place to meet and eat which is really relaxing and social. Renowned locally for having great, good quality tasty meals.
- Transport – Bishopbriggs is one of the few areas visited in the duration of this project that has not highlighted public transport as a significant issue. Many people commented that the train line was one of the best local assets, particularly as many people living in the area commute for work.
Opportunities
There were a number of areas highlighted as potential development areas in Bishopbriggs. Many of these were pointed out at both the workshop and the drop-in session:
- there are lots of grandparetns in Bishopbriggs that do childcare for their families, there is potential to devleop a group for these people who may not feel as comfortable going to the same groups as younger people
- there is a lot of congestion in Bishopbriggs. Opening up cycle routes that would connect both sides of Bishopbriggs would be a great opportunity
- there was a lot of talk about the new hypermarket which is proposed for the community. It would be fair to say that discussions around this provoked mixed feelings in residents – many people highlighting that there should be space planned within the development for community activities.
- some residents highlighted that it would be great if some of the green space could be opened up to create a community garden/ allotment.
We were also lucky to have Catherine Exposito along for these workshops. Catherine is working to understand local resources and groups that might be useful for people with long-term conditions. We are keen that the data we collate can be used as far and as wide as possible, so it was fab to have Catherine along to share her experience and to involve her in the work that we are doing. More to come about Catherine’s project soon.
Thanks again to Bishopbriggs Community Church for their hospitality – including encouraging people to come along to the session. We had a lovely morning and hope to be back again soon.