Battleship painter; work-in cartoonist; villa caretaker; film set artist - and now author!

This is the text of a press release that I planned to send out yesterday. Unfortunately, due to BT's decision that this process was 'suspicious activity' on my email account, the day was spent being passed from call centre to call centre, rather than productive work! It also means I'm shut out of emailing anything out for 48 hours. I'm putting this on the blog, rather than it going to waste. Thanks BT!

It’s a long way from Yarrow’s shipyard on the Clyde, to Hollywood. It’s even longer from painting battleship hulls to starring at a author event at this weekend’s Aye Write! festival, but both of these have been done by Bob Starrett.

Bob's Book!

Now 74, Bob - who first came to prominence as the official cartoonist to the 1971-2 UCS work-in - is about to launch his first book of stories and essays, as well as some new cartoons, on Sunday at the Glasgow festival.

The book covers much of his working life, both in the shipyards where he features many larger than life characters, and as a set painter in the London and Hollywood film industry where the film workers - for all the fame of their industry - come across as slightly less than their own estimation!

Bob says “The book is about and for all the guys and gals I worked alongside, who kept baying foremen off my back so I could think creatively! It’s a celebration of all that’s good from my working life.”

Bob himself is quick to point out that none of the stars and directors he has worked with, can hold a candle to UCS leaders like Jimmy Reid and Jimmy Airlie. “Reid and Airlie in full flight were superb.” Bob says now. “I could listen to Airlie over and over again, and Reid never let you down in his analysis. I’ve yet to meet a director or producer to stand alongside them.”

After the successful work-in stopped the mass closure of shipbuilding on the Upper Clyde, Bob left the yards in 1979.

Bob worked on this film in 1985

Following a journey, during which he spent two years ‘minding a palace’ in Italy, he went to art school and eventually ended up working as a painter on films - working with stars like Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman and Jim Broadbent. 

Following his involvement providing much of the artwork for the 40^th Anniversary of the UCS Work-in in 2011, he started to show some of the organisers some of his stories. Stephen Wright from FairPley said that everyone who saw them was impressed. “Indeed we thought they were so good, we asked David Hayman to read some as part of the 40^th Anniversary Concert at Celtic Connections.” said Stephen. “And we put another in the concert programme. Talking to others made it clear that we should put these together in a book.”

The book will be launched on Sunday. It has been recommended by writer James Kelman, UCS supporter and politician Tony Benn, and actor Bill Paterson. a foreword has been written by Sir Alex Ferguson - himself a shipyard worker who has gone on to other work! David Hayman will read some extracts and Arthur Johnstone will be singing!

Bob’s Aye Write! event is at 1.30pm on Sunday in Glasgow’s Mitchell Library. Tickets are available from the Mitchell, or from the AyeWrite! website - www.ayewrite.com. 

Festival brings screen joy to benighted masses

From today film lovers of Glasgow's South Side have an all-too-infrequent opportunity to indulge their cinematic hankerings without having to venture up to and across the River Clyde.

This evening starts a weekend-long silver-screen treat – the South Side Film Festival – set up, at least in part, to compensate for the fact that Glasgow's once legendary passion for the cinema has long-since died in the far South of the Clyde, and there are no longer any operating cinemas in that part of the city – South-siders having to rely on Pacific Quay and the I-Max on the very banks of the river itself.

The Festival, although it is largely run by volunteers and housed in all sorts of buildings from scout huts to Govan's august Pearce Institute, shows a remarkable breadth and variety, with feature films rubbing shoulders with animation workshops, cinema talks and exhibitions and, of course the obligatory pub quiz (tonight in the Bungo from 8.00pm), where self-styled 'experts' will no doubt indulge in some verbal debate over obscure details!

To single out highlights would be invidious, so I will. You have an opportunity to see again the unique film Class Struggle – film from the Clyde shot by Cinema Action – the only film crew allowed into the Clyde shipbuilding yards during the UCS Work-In forty years ago. Fittingly enough, this is being shown on Saturday at 3.00pm in the Pearce Institute in Govan. There will be a Q&A after the film with veterans from the work-in.

Elsewhere in the political scene, two films about the Northern Irish troubles look to be worth seeing. Leila Doolan's biographical documentary of fiery republican, Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is on in the Shed (Langside Ave) on Saturday and will be followed by A Million Bricks on the building of Belfast's biggest 'peace line'.

Buster Keaton features in the closing film, The General is in Pollockshaws Burgh Hall on Sunday with live Wurlitzer Organ accompaniment, and the launch film at 8.00pm Friday in The Shed is a much more up-to-date item – South-side resident, Peter Mullan's NEDS.

If you want to your way round the sites of all the long-lost cinemas on Glasgow's South Side, I suggest an afternoon visit to Tusk on Sunday (2,00pm) where Gary Painter of the website scottishcinemas.org will give an illustrated talk on their sites or if they still exist in another guise (as does the Waverley cinema in which you will be sitting!

The programme for the weekend is here and tickets available from tickets scotland, on the door or at Youngs Interesting Books.

Unique Filmshow latest to mark Clyde Work-in Anniversary

Cinema Action film one of the mass meetings

Campaigning against the closure of a service? Looking to highlight what your job means to your local community? Why not come and have a look at how a successful campaign was waged forty years ago?

A unique opportunity is coming up for people in and around Glasgow to see contemporary accounts of the legendary UCS work-in. A radical film collective - Cinema Action - were the only film crew allowed into the yards during the work-in. They produced two unique films of the work-in. One - UCS 1 -is a short account of the  campaign to build the campaign in the community, while in Class Struggle - Film from the Clyde, the whole work-in is filmed from the point of view of the workers.

Both of these films, along with a short film produced by the STUC to mark the 40th Anniversary. are being shown at Glasgow's Mitchell Theatre over three days, from Wednesday March 21 - Friday March 23. An added attraction is the presence at each of the showings of Ann Guedes, one of the film collective who made these films. She is over from Lisbon to take part in panel discussions after every showing. Other panelists will include historian, Dr Chik Collins, STUC president, Mike Kirby and Actor and Director David Hayman.

The programme is as follows: Weds 21, 1.00pm - UCS 1 and STUC film. Tickets £5; Thurs 22, 7.30pm - UCS1 and STUC film. Tickets £6; Fri 23, 7.30pm Class Struggle - Film from the Clyde. Tickets £7.50.
The suggestion is that Wednesday will be aimed primarily at schools and colleges, Thursday at TU and labour movement activists,  and Friday at the public, but no-one will be corralled into any particular showing. Tickets are available from www.glasgowconcerthalls.com, and more details of all the events taking place as part of the 40th Anniversary are on the website at http://ucsat40.blogspot.com.

UCS@40 - the reason for silence here!

Just a short blog at the Captain's site to apologise to all followers for the silence here for a few months.
The reason - which might be suspected by many - is that I have been working on the celebrations for the 40th Anniversary of the UCS work-in. I was asked by FairPley to assist them with the communications and have been enjoying the work immensely. 
Working with the UCS Work-In veterans has been a revelation, and their willingness to be interviewed on the topic almost anywhere, at any time has made the media work a joy (and is indicative of one of the reasons why the work-in got such a sympathetic press at the time). Also the input of the 'stars' especially the great Tony Benn, was key to the stories we were successful in getting into the media.
We produced some excellent material to sell at the gig (programme, badge, polo shirt) all featuring the 'UCS Work-In' logo drawn by the legendary Bobby Starrett - the Work-In cartoonist. These will all shortly be available to buy, for people who couldn't make the concert.
The releases and some of the media stories are listed on the other blog - UCS@40 . Despite the main event being over, a few key celebrations remain. One, announced today, is a second anniversary concert - this time run as part of Celtic Connections. Robert Dawson Scott has a nice piece on the launch on STV. Another - planned for March 2012 - is a screening of the Cinema Action films. Watch the UCS@40 blog for details.