News

Our Community

Throughout the Covid-19 months, we’ve have been working alongside our local community, hand in hand with our parent company British Land plc. We thought you might like to know what we’re up to.  Throughout lockdown, the dedicated British Land Communities team has been working with our network of local partners to identify how together we can best support them. 

Shelter

 British Land has also doubled its annual donation to Shelter to £50,000 to support its helpline, which has seen a sharp rise in calls from people worried about their jobs and homes as a result of the virus.

Partnering With Shelter Scotland – Community store opening 31 August 2020

Shelter Scotland helps over half a million people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through our advice, support and legal services.

With almost 100 Shelter shops on high streets across the UK, each one sells a fantastic variety of items to raise funds to help fight homelessness. All Shelter charity shops have a great range of second-hand clothing for men, women and children, including one-off vintage items, as well as books, CDs, DVDs and bric-a-brac. Got unwanted items? We accept donations of good quality goods and clothes to all our Shelter shops. And if you can spare some time we always welcome volunteers.

Community Investment Fund

British Land has been able to re-deploy £250,000 from within British Land’s Corporate Investment Fund, to directly help communities across the country respond to the impact of Covid-19.  This grant has allowed us to make cash donations to three fabulous local charities

Sunshine Wishes Children’s Charity £1,000

Sunshine Wishes Children’s Charity is a Scottish charity whose aim is to fulfill dreams for sick & terminally ill children, children with learning disabilities, and kids who are underprivileged. SWCC grants wishes to children of any age, believing that every child should experience happiness and put their illness/situation on hold – even if it is for just one day.

Beltel Uk (Motherwell) £1,000

Betel UK is an independent Christian charity for men, women, and families affected by drug and alcohol addiction and homelessness. Through work, well-being, and worship, the charity works to restore previously broken lives.

Visual Statement £,1000

Established in 1979 from a grassroots community group in Glasgow’s Easterhouse, Visual Statement empowers people through art, in particular, dance to deliver well-evaluated and measurable arts, and non-arts – primarily in promoting health, wellness, and employability.  Visual Statement is a fully inclusive work with society’s most disadvantaged and disengaged.  By using arts as the catalyst, they work with the most disengaged members of society and use those arts to tackle difficult issues blighting local and wider communities.

Their international, classical dance and performance expertise makes them unique. Behind the scenes, decades of in-house production, stagecraft, set design, and costume making expertise has provided craft skills, life skills and employability training over two generations. Through Visual Statement, many individuals have discovered their talent for prop making or costume making, or stage set construction. These lifelong learning skills (sewing, painting, carpentry & joinery etc.) can provide a gateway to education, training, and employment.

British Land Pride Alliance 

Here at Glasgow Fort, we are also proud to work with our parent company British Land in advocating equality, opportunity, and support for LGBT+ inclusion, through their Pride Alliance.  This year we’re supporting School Diversity Week 2020 from June 22nd, with our charity partner Just Like Us. It’s a week designed commencing 22nd June 2020,  to support young people, by celebrating LGBTQ+ diversity and equality in education. While many students are still at home (or even in the school holidays)  there are still lots of ways to get involved. Parents, carers, and educators can find out more on the Just Like Us website.

National Literacy Trust 

Something especially for all the parents, carers, and homeschoolers. Take a look at the new Family Zone which has been created by our long-term partner, the National Literacy Trust. It’s an inspirational resource if you’re in need of some new ideas to keep the kids entertained while learning. It’s packed full of fun activities for children up to 12, supporting their reading and writing development. https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/

We are also delighted to be working with the National Literacy Trust on the donation of book bundles for local community groups, as hopefully later in the year we’ll also be able to bring you a range of virtual storytelling events. 

Young Readers Story Club
Just in time for the start of the school holidays, we’re excited to bring you further partnership with the National Literacy Trust in the shape of the Young Readers Story Club.  Settle down and watch the first video together and enjoy two stories about mysterious mythical creatures

Glasgow Fort Community – Retail Partners

• M&S Foodhall  – Supporting NHS and Emergency Service Workers

The first hour of trading on Mondays and Thursdays is dedicated to the older and vulnerable customers. For NHS and Emergency Service workers this will be Tuesdays and Fridays.  M&S ask their other customers to respect this request, as it’s the kindness and support we show each other that will get us through this.

• Specsavers – Providing essential emergency optical care

Meet Catriona, BSc (Hons) MCOptom Dip TP (IP), manager at our Specsavers store 

Catriona and her team remain open for emergencies and essential eyecare in support of community pharmacy, GP and NHS services which aims to alleviate and prevent unnecessary phone calls or attendance to the GP or Hospital at this time.   Catriona explains:

“What that means is that Specsavers is unable to provide routine eye examinations until further notice, but are able to triage patients over the phone and advise them appropriately. So far some have required advice, some have needed a prescription of eye drops to be done over the phone, and some have needed a referral for emergency eye treatment at the hospital.”

Catriona also wants to advise that they can provide emergency glasses remotely too.  But, if you have any concerns regarding emergency treatment give them a call on 0141 771 0871

In Our Community

Earlier this year we were due to welcome Glasgow Science Centre to Glasgow Fort, on their outreach science education tour.  Of course, this couldn’t happen but we love their work and thought you might like a taste of science at home.  They offer some fantastic Facebook live science session every morning, so why not tune in with the family for a daily dose of Science Technology Engineering & Maths. 

Last updated Wednesday 16 August, 2023