Press

With the help of the local community, Tricky Hat has designed and created Round Our Place – an immersive guided tour of Partick East and Kelvindale. This free audio walk is available on demand until Thursday 30^th September and can be accessed via the Echoes mobile application. Participants living in Partick East and Kelvindale shaped the route and contributed their favourite tales about the area, and Tricky Hat brought their ideas to life. Round Our Place was created by the community, for the community.

To take part in Round Our Place, all you need is a smart phone and earphones. The route begins at The Alchemy Experiment on Byres Road, which is a bustling creative hub with an internal coffee shop. To begin, simply download the free Echoes application, find Round Our Place on Echoes, collect a map from The Alchemy Experiment and begin your walk. The guided tour will take approximately 3 hours to complete. There are eight locations on this journey and a location-specific sound will play as you move through each of these spaces, so make sure your GPS is enabled in order to trigger the audio. Keep an eye out for the specially-designed waymarkers dotted at each location on the map. As you explore the route, make sure to take your time: think about what you can see, smell and hear as you wander around the area.

Louise McVey, a local ceramicist, made the ceramic waymarkers located at each key point on the map. Reflecting upon the impact Round Our Place has had in Partick East and Kelvindale, McVey says:

“Round Our Place reinforces a sense of community and belonging.”

Maeve Dixon, an artist living in Kelvindale, took part in Round Our Place with her son. They were recorded for “The Sneaky Way” segment. Thinking about the impact that Round Our Place has had on her, Dixon says:

“I really enjoyed taking part in the project as it encouraged me to reflect on my life in Kelvindale especially during lockdown. It made me realise what walks and places brought real joy to myself and my son. It made me look further and closer at local places and stories connected with them. I’m going to read up more about Jock Cunningham. I also found out what was important to my son in our neighbourhood. He was over the moon to see Balgray Row being ‘renamed’ The Sneaky Way, his name for that hidden path.” 

Round Our Place was created as part of Creative Communities: Artists in Residence, where Tricky Hat were Artists in Residence for Partick East and Kelvindale. Creative Communities: Artists in Residence was a citywide project for Glasgow, employing an artist in residence for every community.  This phase of Creative Communities: Artists in Residence was devised and delivered at a time when there were national restrictions in place to combat the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Tricky Hat’s activity followed Scottish Government guidelines at all times. Creative Communities: Artists in Residence was funded by Glasgow City Council and managed by Glasgow Life.