MayDay Festival broadens coverage

This year's festive activity around MayDay is showing a increasing coverage and has been gathered/organised by Glasgow Friends of MayDay (GFoMD) into the programme shown here. It is particularly welcome to see that a number of organisations are beginning to target MayDay (and surrounding dates), for their activity. Everything looks interesting and entertaining, but at the risk of offending some, I'd like to draw your attention to four specific events.

Firstly, the MayDay Concert organised by GFoMD, on Friday 4 May 7.30pm in the Community Central Hall, in Maryhill Road. Comedy, Music and Poetry as Bruce Morton, Eleanor Morton, Arthur Johnstone, Dave Anderson, Marc Livingstone and Tom Leonard, help us celebrate the International Workers' Festival. Tickets £8/£6 from here.

Secondly, the first showing in Scotland of a film made by Ken Loach in 1969! This was a film commissioned by Save the Children, but when the charity saw what Ken had produced they refused to release it! Time mellows even injured charitable feelings and the film was shown in London last year to mark Loach's 75 Birthday. By all accounts it is a remarkable film! It is on at the GFT on Saturday 5 May at 4.40pm. Tickets from the GFT.

Thirdly, the Northern Soul night on the evening (8.00pm) of Saturday 5 May at the STUC Centre. Being organised by the Glasgow Trades Union Council, this is a repeat of the hugely successful night of last year.  The DJs are ready, the venue is primed, get your butts along to dance into Mayday! Tickets on the door (£5).

And, of course, the pinnacle of the celebrations is the Glasgow MayDay March and Rally itself. It starts from George Square at 11.00am, but that is the last thing that is similar to previous years! This year the Rally will take place at the prestigious Royal Concert Hall, and the main speaker is author Owen Jones, whose book Chavs, about the way traditional working class communities have been denigrated, abused and 'demonized' by the UK's ruling elites, has made a significant impact.

Many other events also feature in this year's programme. Everyone should be able to find something to mark the festival in an entertaining way!

Copies of the programme, illustrated here, are available digitally from me. If anyone wants artwork for printing from, I can also supply that. Unfortunately we don't have the resources to print multiple copies ourselves.