Just a wee bit about the ferry tokens...

In some ways our whole event on Saturday was an attempt to blur the boundary of the River Clyde, to connect up the two sides of the river for a few hours. So we chartered the Clyde Clippers Ferry for 3 hours, and if you were brave or gallus enough to whisper through Kate V. Robertson's string-and-cup telephone, shout out a message in Urdu with Northlight's 'River Patter', or help retrieve the 'charm's from the Trebuchet--you earned your free ferry token for the day!

The grey tokens were made for us by our neighbours at Glasgow Press, who specialise in creating beautiful printed material using traditional printing presses.  There's a wee bit about how they made them on their blog. (Many thanks to Glasgow Press for making these so beautifully and so quickly for us!)

Then, some of the smaller, prettier pieces of flotsam collected by Martin Campbell and crew for the Govan Armada boatbuilding workshops were thoroughly cleaned, chopped into even smaller fragments and glued into the centre of the tokens by volunteers, to create ferry tokens for use on the day.  We strung these onto cords so they could be worn as necklaces and hopefully saved as keepsakes after the event... we think they're mighty fine! 

Phoebe, one of our token-making volunteers, hoping for a lot of free rides on the ferry

A Very Fine Day

'LadyFish' made by Glasgow Artists Studio - one of the winners in the 'People's Choice' category...displayed by tsBeall during the judging of The Govan Armada (photo Colin Tennant)

The sun shone, the river glistened, the trebuchet fired, the choir sang, the flags fluttered, the human megaphone announced, the cups were strung, the stories were telt, the languages were heard.......but most of people came, smiled and enjoyed being by the Clyde in Govan. Thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who has been involved in creating NothingAboutUs.....it has been immense!

A new public space by the river has been brought to life and many new working relationships and friendships have begun....Glorious Govan indeed!

Some photos are already coming in and we'd love to see yours and hear any thoughts that NothingAboutUs sparked in you:

Please email us at: aboutuswithoutus@gmail.com

Posting photos:

FB: GloriousGovan

Twitter: @GovanBeacon #GovanGI

Flickr: tag 'GovanGI'

We'll post some photos on the blog when we get our breath back....in the meantime Lizzie Freer from Fablevision has posted a set of photos on Facebook - here

Meanwhile in other local news....

NothingAboutUs' Ed Whitley wondering how this might fare as part of the Govan Armada

The '1000 mph Car' is on view at the Riverside Museum over this weekend. The Riverside museum can easily be reached via public transport if you go Govan Subway and take the Govan Ferry. The ferry will be free between 1pm and 4pm this Saturday (if you get involved in NothingAboutUs)

Many hands make light work...

A big thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who showed up to help us make ferry token/flotsam necklaces today... we did so well (fuelled by tea and biscuits) that we finished them in half the time we thought we would!  Great job everyone, can't wait till Saturday to give them out to folk...

Govan Garlands - Ferry token & Flotsam Necklaces

Lei image by Cat Edens (catheroo) via Flickr

Today and tomorrow volunteers will be gathering in the lobby of the Pearce Institute in Govan to decorate cardboard tokens (inspired by the ferry tokens used on the old Clyde ferries and made for us by our neighbours Glasgow Press) with tiny, jewel-like bits of flotsam collected from the river. These will be strung into necklaces, to be distributed among visitors to the "Nothing about us...' Main Event on Saturday 28th April (in the same way as they give you a lei made of flowers or shells when you step off the boat in Hawaii) to welcome them to the event and to Govan.



If anyone's passing through and fancies lending a hand there's plenty of sticking and stringing to go around...