30/4/2008Garden Festival Revealed Flourishing Glasgow
Twenty years ago today though, it was a different story. You couldn't get the bridge to yourself if you tried.
The reason? The first of a vast army of visitors, each clutching the £5 daily admission charge, were making their way to the Glasgow Garden Festival, the jamboree that, every day for five months, would live up to its ambitious promise to deliver 'a day out of this world.'
It was more than just the biggest spectacular in Britain that year. It was the largest event Scotland had seen in 50 years.
With its thrill rides, enchanted forest, walled garden, 220ft viewing tower, 200ft floodlit fountain, pavilions, tropicarium, vintage trams, daily parade and surreal outsized exhibits, it was as if Disneyland had temporarily set up home in Govan.Backing them up was an endless list of daily shows and attractions, and, of course, one of the finest horticultural displays anywhere.
The festival, several years in the planning, declared to the world that Glasgow's renaissance of the 1980s really meant something.
The Glasgow's Miles Better campaign had made headlines and drawn tourists to the city, 2.4million in 1987 alone. The garden festival aimed to spread the message further via four million visitors.
In 1988, the city could boast of the annual Mayfest, a fast-growing conference sector, international festivals, the Burrell Collection, the SECC, 17 museums, 25 art galleries and six major orchestras. A new concert hall was being built at the top of Buchanan Street. All of this, plus, in two years' time, the Year of Culture.
The total cost of putting the garden festival together was close to £50million, with £35m coming from Margaret Thatcher's Tory government.
Little expense was spared. Bell's Bridge, its 124 metres sponsored by Perth distillers Arthur Bell to the tune of £250,000, became the first footbridge to be built over the Clyde in 120 years.
Advance interest in the festival was huge, with no fewer than 100,000 season tickets being shifted before any of the exhibits had even been glimpsed.
And when free 'thank you' tickets were offered to Govan residents for a sneak preview, 50,000 of them eagerly turned up. Everyone had high hopes for the festival.
Alan Devereux, chairman of the Scottish Tourist Board, declared: "It is the major tourist opportunity this century... this festival will give people a good taste of Scotland. It is nothing like the old image of a staid and dreary place, but something really exciting."
James Jennings, convener of Strathclyde Regional Council, predicted that it would come to be seen as a "major national achievement."
And Glasgow's Lord Provost Bob Gray, president of the garden festival, said it was happening when the city's current renaissance was in "full swing."
The show opened on April 28 to acclaim. Just 24 hours later, it received the Royal seal of approval when Charles and Diana arrived.
That morning, the 29th, the Evening Times summed up the mood when it described the festival as a new symbol of the city's "eternal optimism... a living, breathing testament to this city's willingness to change."
The skies burst into glorious sunshine just as they drew up at the bridge.
The couple strolled over the Clyde, with the sound of a military band, the singing voices of thousands of schoolkids and the cheers of spectators all ringing in their ears.
Over the next three hours, they watched a fireworks display (Diana seemed a little startled by it, according to some observers), boarded a tram, enjoyed a fashion show and shook hands with dignitaries and ordinary people. They met politicians, including Glasgow's Lord Provost Bob Gray and Scottish Secretary of State Malcolm Rifkind.
In his speech to the crowds Charles adopted a Glasgow accent to read lines from an Adam McNaughtan folk-song.
He said: "This garden festival has to be applauded, but I hope that its spirit and aspiration will live on to some extent in the buildings and environment which follow it."
Diana was presented with gifts, including Thomas the Tank Engine books for her young sons, by nine-year-old Lesley-Anne Thomson.
Today, two decades on, Lesley-Anne remembers that day as if it was yesterday.
"I was in Falkirk Children's Theatre at the time and it was down to me and another girl to present Diana with flowers and T-shirts and gifts for her son, and I was chosen," she said.
She wasn't too put off by the thought of approaching one of the most famous women in the world, in front of thousands of people.
"When you're that age, you don't really think about it , you just get on with it. If somebody asked me to do it now, I'd be a nervous wreck."
Lesley-Anne, who runs a dance school in London and is getting married this summer, added: "Charles didn't say too much, he was a man of few words, if I remember correctly. It was more Diana.
"You didn't think you were meeting royalty. She was just a lovely person.
"I'll always remember that day because it was special. It was an honour to do it. You don't get that chance every lifetime, so it was lovely to be able to say I've done it."
The royal visit set the tone for the rest of the festival. It was a dazzling success. Not even the worst July for a century, weather-wise, could daunt its prospects.
Some four and a half million visits were recorded, many of them repeat visits by people who were entranced by what they saw and realised that they couldn't possibly get round it all in one go.
It was an army that marched on its stomach, consuming, over the five months, more than a 100 tonnes of chips, 20 miles of hot-dogs, 350,000 hamburgers, 400,000 ice-creams, 130,000 doughnuts and 300,000 pints of beer.
Said the Evening Times: "Grannies took helicopter rides as if they were on the Maryhill bus. And schoolkids spent the summer on a voyage of adventure they'll never forget. Mums and dads broke the bank to make sure the kids made the most of a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
Lots of people did not want the festival to end and experienced twinges of sorrow as the site was gradually cleared, the exhibits and buildings broken up, auctioned off or re-located. The 220ft Clydesdale Bank Tower was sold for £400,000 to the Welsh seaside resort of Rhyl, where today it is known as the Sky Tower.
Scottish politicians, meanwhile, said the possible spin-offs in tourism, exports and inward investment were "incalculable."
It was a long time before the now-vacant site would be filled, by the Science Centre and tower, and the new BBC Scotland and Scottish TV headquarters.
