A busy three days involving a visit to Glasgow on behalf of the Royal Society of Musicians (RSM), together with a fascinating morning at the Musicians’ Union official archive housed in the University of Stirling Library. I flew from London City Airport on Wednesday in time to join the Society’s CEO Charlotte Penton Smith and Mark Brierley, Head of Membership and Comms, at Glasgow City Halls as we collectively spoke to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra about the work of the RSM.
This talk was followed by a drinks’ reception at the Trumans Bar in Drury Street to which all local musicians had been invited. A pleasure to meet so many interesting characters and to hear of their careers and music-related highlights.
On Thursday I visited Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which opened in 1901 and houses renowned collections of natural history, antiquities, design, architecture, medieval arms and Scottish history. The artworks are one of Europe’s great civic art collections, including Scottish, European, African, Asian and Oceanic fine and decorative arts.
In 2006, Kelvingrove re-opened after a three-year, £27 million refurbishment and restoration, with the collections re-organised into two halves: Life and Expression. The Life galleries represent natural history, human history and prehistory. The Expression galleries include the fine art collections. The galleries display over 8,000 objects. Notable exhibits include Salvador Dalí’s Christ of St John of the Cross, Sir Roger the Asian elephant, the Avant armour, and paintings by the Glasgow Boys and the Scottish Colourists.
Friday saw me making a long-overdue visit to the MU Archive at Stirling University and my thanks to the ever-welcoming Karl Magee who has been Archivist at the University of Stirling since 2003. His career spans over twenty-five years’ professional experience in a range of cultural institutions including the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin; the National Archives of Ireland; and the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. In addition, Karl is a Trustee / Director of the National Library of Scotland Foundation, and has been Chair of the Archives & Records Association, the leading professional body for archivists, records managers and archive conservators in the UK and Ireland.
I had an engaging few hours looking through a range of Musicians’ Union publications, including items published before and during my tenure as an MU Official. Always an informative exercise. Thanks Karl!
The main photo shows the Museum’s organ, which was originally commissioned as part of the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1901. It was then moved to become the central feature at the Kelvingrove Museum. The organ was constructed by Lewis & Co. and contains 2,889 organ pipes.
