Guacho wrote:Interestingly, on the same day as a letter appeared in the Herald, urging action to be taken to save the hall
And a follow up letter today:
"Paul Sweeney's erudite plea on behalf of Springburn Burgh Halls clearly fell on deaf ears (Letters, December 27). The newly razed site is testament to a cavalier disregard for communities and for our Victorian forefathers' legacy of flamboyant architecture, swashbuckling civil engineering, splendid public parks and libraries; often donated to the villages which now constitute Glasgow.
I note and applaud ex-Provost Bob Winter's endeavours for the sensitive refurbishment of Maryhill Burgh Halls, John Prescott's revitalised environs of Hull and so on. Interestingly, during the Springburn Halls' decline the constituency was represented by the Speaker of the Commons.
As a pupil of Albert Senior Secondary School (now also disappeared) our prizegivings and school operas formed part of the programme of events at Springburn Burgh Halls, supported by a warm and proud community of world-class engineers and their families. I later witnessed the impact of Margaret Thatcher's negation of the community concept and the parallel transfer of railway workshops to Derby. Meanwhile our planners championed housing us in concrete filing cabinets notable for their minimalist ground plan, maximum density and abject sterility. The Red Road Flats, built on less than a square mile, housed more souls than Perth but without a commensurate increase in transport or other obvious services.
In this context it is more than a public hall that has been dismantled but a society, by its own elected leaders obsessed with the price of everything and the value of nothing.
George Devlin,
Rosebank, 6 Falcon Terrace Lane, Glasgow."