“The award gave the group a sense of pride and achievement. It was an honour to accept it on behalf of the community of Greater Easterhouse” – Brian McDonald (Member of Trondra Group)

The Trondra History group were among the nominees for the national Heritage Award which they went on to win. The Group received the award on behalf of the Greater Easterhouse Community. It was a great achievement for the group, and for all the people connected in the research and development of the project.

HIDDEN HISTORY GREATER EASTERHOUSE MORE THAN JUST A SCHEME

The Trondra Local History Group came together in 2000, where they began a local investigations module at John Wheatley College. They approached the Open Museum, and suggested working on an exhibition about their local community. The resulting exhibition Hidden History, “Greater Easterhouse More Than Just a Scheme” tells the story of Greater Easterhouse from its earliest origins, 9000 years ago, to the rapidly changing face of the area and features local history of the area, the history of Provanhall, its royal connections and ghostly residents.
Bobby Williamson, ex rangers player and now manager of Hibernian Football Club, and Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd have contributed their memories of growing up in the area.

Hidden History was launched at John Wheatley College by celebrity Elaine C Smith on the 28th May 2002. A key section in the exhibition is Local Heroes. Greater Easterhouse has long had a bad press and the group wanted to highlight the positive aspects of the area. Viewers can read all about singer Frankie Vaughan’s involvement in encouraging local youths to hand over their weapons and stop fighting. Members of the local gangs of the 1960s relate tales of their street brawls.

“The group was quite nervous for most of the day. We met at John Wheatley College late afternoon to plan our evening’s activities. We stayed for an hour before going home to get ready as we had to be back at the College for 5.3Opm. Our guest of honour for the evening, Elaine C Smith, was opening the exhibition.

We went upstairs for a formal chat before the opening. It was really busy with local press and national television and radio attending. The evening was a huge success and gave us good recognition for the hard work that we had put into the project. The exhibition will tour local schools and community venues.”
Ian McLaughlin (Chairman)

“It was good to see the exhibition of the work in Provanhall and the Mitchell Library. Allowing a bigger audience to see it made it all the more worthwhile.”
– Davie Skelton (Member of Trondra Group)

THE THISTLE AND THE ROSE

The Trondra History Group were asked to do a project for the Thistle and the Rose by the Provanhall Heritage group. The Thistle and the Rose was to commemorate the marriage of James IV of Scotland to Margaret Tudor in the year 1503.

The marriage brought together the crowns of Scotland and England and our contribution to the project was to do a large artwork of the Bishop’s Estate in the Gartloch area of Greater Easterhouse. The painting shows life on the estate in 1503, the kind of houses they would have lived in and their working environment. We also added the Bishop’s Palace which was destroyed years later. We also added a Crannog which is a large dwelling that was built in the waters of the loch.
Our exhibit was shown at the Mitchell Theatre, and is now housed in Provanhall House. We are about to undertake two projects this year, to publish a local history book, and take part in this year’s heritage project which will be happening in the summer.