Village of Glenbuck and it's Footballing History

[Roy Race]

Very interesting article.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-35659252

While I am on does anyone know how to copy and paste while using a tablet? I ended up having to type the link, there must be an easier way of doing it?

Cheers

[Shanner]

Can long lost birthplace of Bill Shankly be revived?

By Martyn McLaughlinBBC Scotland News

• 27 February 2016

From the sectionScotland

Image copyrightEAST AYRSHIRE COUNCILImage captionThe Glenbuck name is still on the map but the place has been depopulated for half a century

It is a long lost mining village that furnished British football with at more than 50 professional players, including six Scotland internationals and four FA Cup winners.

The Ayrshire birthplace of Bill Shankly, the former Liverpool manager, is in line for an unlikely rebirth as part of wide ranging plans to transform it into a unique visitor attraction.

Glenbuck has been depopulated for close to half a century, unable to withstand the collapse of heavy industry. Though its name still features on maps of Scotland, opencast mining has all but eradicated its footprint.

Image copyrightPAImage captionShankly was Liverpool manager for 15 years, until his retirement in 1974

Burnside Park, the football pitch where Shankly and his four brothers first played, is one of the few sites to have survived. It will form the foundation of a regeneration project that will restore Glenbuck's proud footballing pedigree.

Ultimately, the initiative aims to restore the field, establish a museum and reinstate the village's once all-conquering junior team, the Glenbuck Cherrypickers.

The efforts to revive Glenbuck's footballing heritage - revealed in 'The Cradle of Football', a BBC Radio Scotland documentary - dovetail with broader proposals by the Scottish Mines Restoration Trust (SMRT).

Image captionThe two-square mile canyon has been described as world renowned in geological terms

The body was set up by the Scottish government to restore 10,000 acres of opencast land left abandoned after the demise of major coalmining firms in 2013.

In tandem with the British Geological Survey, it wants the area designated as Scotland's first carboniferous research park, thanks to the unprecedented geological features at Spireslack, the opencast mine that has swallowed up the site.

A legacy of the mining work is a two square mile, cliff-like section showing strata dating back hundreds of millions years. To geologists, it is a discovery of major significance.

Image captionAs well as the geopark, Professor Griggs wants to construct a number of cottages on the site

"It's a shop window or a portal into the subsurface," explained Dr Graham Leslie, senior mapping geologist at the British Geological Survey.

"The layout means you can stand inside the geology, as it were. When you're at the bottom of the void, it gives you a much better understanding of what geology is really about - the three dimensional arrangement of rocks, their shape, form and architecture."

Professor Russel Griggs, chairman of the SMRT, said: "We have people who come from all over the world to Spireslack.

"One geologist told me it's as internationally important as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is to the particle physics community."

The footballing element of the scheme is being spearheaded by Robert Gillan, a youth football coach from the nearby village of Douglas.

Image copyrightJohn Devlin/ScotsmanImage captionThe plans to restore the pitch are being spearheaded by youth football coach Robert Gillan

The co-author of Shankly's Village, a book charting the glory days of Glenbuck, he has started a charitable football academy in the village's name, which trains youngsters in Douglas, South Lanarkshire, one of Scotland's most deprived areas.

The 49-year-old said: "There's not a place in the world that's produced more than footballers than Glenbuck, based on its population, which was never bigger than 1,700. It's the equivalent of a minor non-league club in London producing a quarter of a million players."

"Bill Shankly is the most famous and Liverpool fans regard the village as a special place, but what I'm trying to do is bring the game back to a part of Scotland most people forget about or don't even know existed."

Image copyrightPAImage captionShankly described the Liverpool supporters as members of an extended family

In the coming weeks, the SMRT will finalise their plans before compiling a business plan to take to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Other possibilities include utilising it as a location for film and television productions. But it is the bond between industry and football that Prof Griggs believes is the most compelling draw.

"My big aim is to try and restore the Cherrypickers pitch and ideally, build four or five cottages," he said. "One of the interesting things our consultants have said is there might be a real market for Liverpudlians coming up to Glenbuck to play a few games of football."

"I was astounded at the number of people that come to a memorial to Bill Shankly, it's about 2,000 people a year that come to Glenbuck."

The plans are also being supported on Merseyside. A fundraising match is due to take place in May between Mr Gillan's youth team and a side sponsored by the Shankly Family Foundation. The event will also see Liverpool fans embark on a sponsored cycle from Anfield to Glenbuck.

Crucially, Shankly's relatives have also lent their support. Shankly's grandson Chris Carline said: "There's been a lot of support from different agencies. We'll have a lot of sponsorship from local businesses. Liverpool Football Club are going to help us promote it.

"So something that only came to us as an idea about a month ago has come together quite quickly."

Image copyrightSignature LivingImage captionChris Carline (left) holding his granddad's This is Your Life book and the key to the Shankly Gates

Shankly's daughter, Jeanette Carline, used to spend summer holidays in Glenbuck with her father.

"It was the best holidays we've had. He just loved to go back home where he belonged and so many people loved him and were proud that he'd come from Glenbuck," she said.

"It's been too long since something's been done with the village. I think it's just been left to die off."

'The Cradle of Football' will be broadcast at 09:30 on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland on Sunday 28 February. It will be available afterwards on the BBC iPlayer.

[Shanner]

the book mentioned in the article is a good read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shanklys-Village-Extraordinary-Glenbuck-Famous/dp/1785310704/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456585434&sr=1-1&keywords=shankleys+village

[Roy Race]

Thanks mate, that's more like it lol

[Shanner]

Thanks mate, that's more like it lol

no worries, cheers for posting it. I'll give that show a listen on the iplayer tomorrow.

[Roy Race]

the book mentioned in the article is a good read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shanklys-Village-Extraordinary-Glenbuck-Famous/dp/1785310704/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456585434&sr=1-1&keywords=shankleys+village

Looks a good book aswell at a decent price, popped it on my list for ordering

[Roy Race]

no worries, cheers for posting it. I'll give that show a listen on the iplayer tomorrow.

Yeah will do the same, love football hstory stuff, especially if it's got a bit of local interest which this has.

[clash city rocker]

They should have thought of something like this years ago. Last time a was there the foundations of Shankley's dads house/shop were still visable. Two old timers going back to visit their old home were thrilled that we were interested and 'showed us around' to say the ground is still there is pushing things very far. The jcb's in the distance were getting ready to flatten everything in their path.

[Dipple burn]

It seems Bill Shankly didn't play for Glenbuck he played for Cronberry Eglington. His brother Bob played for us.

[clash city rocker]

It seems Bill Shankly didn't play for Glenbuck he played for Cronberry Eglington. His brother Bob played for us.

Aye his brothers said he was too good for Glenbuck and made him play with Cronberry.

[Glenconner]

Where is the village exactly?

It's at the back of the world in the Leadhills.

Btw, i went looking for it once.

It's to the right hand side of the M74 as your traveling south on a back road into East Ayrshire.

There's nothing there.

The village died yonks ago.

[jazzy]

It's at the back of the world in the Leadhills.

Btw, i went looking for it once.

It's to the right hand side of the M74 as your traveling south on a back road into East Ayrshire.

There's nothing there.

The village died yonks ago.

Not quite an accurate description of where the village once stood

[jazzy]

Glenbuck once stood roughly 3 miles East of Muirkirk just off the A70. Next village travelling East on A70 is Glespin then Douglas which lies 2 miles from A74.Some people need to get out more. Glenbuck doesn't physically exist now as it was swallowed up by opencast mining in the area.Now you can only travel 500 yards off the approach to what once was the village. Glenbuck lodge sits there at the bottom side of Glenbuck dam which you can see from the A70.There is an inscripted stone laid there bearing the achievements of Mr Shankly. At this point there is a locked gate preventing further travel towards what once was Glenbuck. It was placed there by the mining companies. As I said there is no physical evidence of any settlement at Glenbuck

[Shanner]

If anyone is still in doubt they could pop it into Google Maps.

[Wishaw Secretary]

There was a fascinating wee book published on the Glenbuck Cherrypickers I think it was done by the old Clydesdale District Council in the early 1970's. I have a copy somewhere. It was a great wee read and full of detail on all the footballers from the village. Perhaps the current Council might like to do a reprint.

[Roy Race]

There was a fascinating wee book published on the Glenbuck Cherrypickers I think it was done by the old Clydesdale District Council in the early 1970's. I have a copy somewhere. It was a great wee read and full of detail on all the footballers from the village. Perhaps the current Council might like to do a reprint.

Sounds a gem and a treasure trove of a book, the local councils used to produce very good publications on various forms of local history. Not so much nowadays.

[Roy Race]

There one of these books on eBay with a buy it now price of £28, it's called "The Cherrypickers -- A football nursery".

Or you could go into your local Ayrshire reference library and photocopy it for a couple of quid.

[th1stleandr0se]

Use this overlay map to see where it was.

Pull the wee blue dot to the left to see the modern map.

[Wishaw Secretary]

There one of these books on eBay with a buy it now price of £28, it's called "The Cherrypickers -- A football nursery". Or you could go into your local Ayrshire reference library and photocopy it for a couple of quid.

That's the one. South Ayrshire Council will have the rights to the book I would think - they should re-publish it - there will be a market for it now.

[Shanner]

Use this overlay map to see where it was.

Pull the wee blue dot to the left to see the modern map.

That's pretty cool, cheers.