Cathcart’s first Christmas tree in over forty years was lit up on Wednesday evening outside the Coupar Institute on Clarkston Road.

Councillor Sadie Docherty was joined by members of the community as the lights were turned on at 6.30pm.

Bill Baird, vice chair of Cathcart Community Council, said: “This is the perfect spot for the tree to stand; it is next to the community centre and right beside Cathcart Trinity Church.”

Bill Milner, secretary, said he and chairperson Flora Wardlaw had been trying to get a tree in Cathcart for two years but they had always been slightly late in applying to Glasgow City Council.

He said: “This year we applied early in June, to make sure we got it.

“It’s important to us because Cathcart has not had a Christmas tree in at least 40 odd years!”

Mr Baird said the community council are grateful to Sadie Docherty as without her backing it may not have been possible.

Ms Docherty said: “This is one of the reasons why I got into local politics, because I wanted to help to bring new things into the local area.”

The event was followed by hot drinks and mince pies at the Trinity Church.

Mr Baird said: “We will definitely make sure we have a Christmas tree in Cathcart again next year, and for many years after that.”

Does anybody else think that Florence, of Florence and the Machine, is completely ripping off Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley’s style?

So it happened. The second installment of the Twilight saga was released, and my oh my has it caused a stir. The moment the lights went up in the fully packed screening, a level of enthusiastic chatter filled the room. The audience were just as invloved as they were with the cult books, it’s what everyone has been waiting for. New Moon took over $140.7 million in the US in its first three days.

Without giving anything away (as I know a number of my classmates have yet to see it) all I can say is that it was even better than I’d hoped. Where the first film, Twilight, did not do the book justice, this one completely does. It’s very accurate, and lived up to the expectations. About halfway through I had already decided that I was going to need to see it again.

The third movie – Eclipse – is being filmed right now, and I cannot wait!

Team Jacob!

So Labour won, as everyone expected. SNP were second, but only got just over a third of the votes Labour did.

“The SNP is a novelty that has worn off.”

- Jim Murphy, Scottish Secretary

Looks like he was right! (just to clarify, I’m a ‘floating voter’, which means I’m allowed to slag off anybody I like!)

The poorest turnout to date for a Scottish by-election – 32.97%.

Conservatives and the BNP received almost the same amount of votes, and the Lib Dems are lagging behind with only 494 votes.

What baffles me is that 54 people actually went to the ballot and voted for Big Brother nine contestant Mikey Hughes!

Full results listed on the BBC website

I really need to get this off my chest…!

Today, I was quite excited to see Biffy Clyro on the front cover of the Big Issue. So I counted out my £1.50 and thanked the lady for my copy….

There was a nice three-page-spread with the band discussing their new album (which is amazing by the way) and how they felt about coming back to the Barrowlands for two nights last week, after spending months in LA recording.

I was about halfway through and thinking to myself:  ’this is really quite a good feature’ – then it happened. The worst possible thing you could ever imagine a journalist could do. The writer, Jasper Hamill, referred to frontman Simon NEIL as Simon KING.

There it was, in a block quote – not even hidden within the article with the hope of going unnoticed. It continued throughout the whole story. Mr Hamill should go back to Journalism Lesson One: make sure you have the right names, and spell them right. He clearly does not know anything about the band if this is the kind of error he’s making, I just cannot believe it. I feel like writing to the Big Issue editor and telling him that I could have made a better job of this piece.

Seriously though, what a big mistake to make.

The countdown to the second installment of the Twilight saga is on. My friend Ashley informed me yesterday that it’s only 16 more sleeps until New Moon comes out! In preparation I’ve started reading the book again, and will be watching the first film for the umpteenth time.

If you’re not already hooked, I recommend you get invloved. I can almost guarantee that you’ll have all four of the bulky books finished within about a month. I was never part of the Harry Potter hype, so this is all pretty good fun. Ashley and I have planned a whole evening around the midnight showing (spooky!) on November 20.

The first film, Twilight, was good – but by no means did it live up to the high standard the book had set. I’ve heard there is a different director this time round, and it’s supposed to be much better.

Expect a review of my opinion of the film in about two weeks on Saturday….I cannot wait to be reunited with Bella and Edward, the Cullens, and of course the much improved Jacob. How exciting!

EKTA is a local Sikh group, with the main aim of taking care of their elderly community. It was set up in 1996, but didn’t take off immediately. By February 2008 they had managed to put together a working group of committee members and volunteers. It is the first of its kind in Glasgow, bringing families out of their usual environment.

They now have 25 members who meet fortnightly on a Thursday at the church, with many activities for everyone including yoga and dance classes to keep members fit, table tennis and dominoes. Sometimes they get together and have informal dinners, and films are often shown. Chairman Gurdav Singh-Pall told us that they try to provide anything that members have requested, and they could do more with more funding.

The aim is to bring together Sikhs as Mr. Singh-Pall told how many isolate themselves within their families. He says they are happy just to go to work then go home, and this is completely new to them so they are therefore quite hesitant in coming forward.

There are now around 7,000 Sikhs living in Glasgow, worshipping at four Gurudwaras – Mr. Singh-Pall made a point of telling us that they are no longer called “Temples”, this is the old word – across the city. These are located in Nithsdale Road, St. Andrews Drive, Otago Street and Berkely Street.

Although the group is aiming to provide care for the elderly, it is a mix of all ages – which was well reflected on Saturday night’s turnout.

The day was Diwali – the Festival of Light, which is on the same day for both Sikhs and Hindus and began as a celebration of India. The church had a very light Christmas-time feel to it, with lots of candles and fairy lights hung around and lanterns pinned to the pillars.

The evening began with a speech from Mr. Singh-Pall (spoken in Punjabi so Martin and I sat back and enjoyed our juices for a moment or two). Next was dinner, we were invited to join and take as much as we liked! Brilliant. Then came loads of dancing, by which I was most impressed because of the outfits the ladies were wearing. Their saris were so beautiful, such lovely bright colours and sparkles.

A couple of local police officers also popped their heads in after being asked by Mr. Singh-Pall to come along and see the general gist of what they were doing there.

He ended by thanking everybody for coming along, particularly his volunteers of which there are ten. It really was a great evening, I’m glad I headed along – a bit of an alternative to my usual Saturday night!

I just thought I’d add this as it’s a nice little story!

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A COUPLE aged 78 and 79 are to be married this month after meeting three months ago at Cathcart Bowling Club.

 Jean Waugh, 79, told how her fiancé Jack Ingles, 78, proposed three weeks ago while they were on holiday in Turkey.

 Jean, from Mount Florida, is very excited and says “Jack is a wonderful man. I just didn’t believe something like this would happen at my age.”

 “We were having dinner at the hotel and I was wearing my shorts when he asked!”

 She says they have become the talk of the bowling club, and are constantly being questioned and congratulated by other members whilst on the green.

 The couple are both widows; Jack, from Netherlee, has four children and Jean had two boys, one of whom unfortunately passed away 11 years ago.

 She has decided that her son will walk her down the aisle, and the widow of her other son, Alison Waugh, will be her only bridesmaid to represent him at the wedding.

 The couple will tie the knot on October 31 at Mount Florida Church near Hampden, with 60 of their family and friends attending.

 Jean’s family said the news came as a big surprise, her grandson Alan says his Gran was so excited she woke them all up early the next morning when she phoned home to announce the news.

He says “We are all really happy that she is so happy, but I won’t deny it came as quite a shock!”

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 Last minute tickets are just about one of my favourite things, particularly when they’re for something you’ve been really wishing you could go to! So when my big brother Robert phoned this week and asked me to head along to see Billy Connolly with him on Friday night, I happily accepted.

 Connolly is almost 67 now, and he is still one of the best there is. His show was very typical of what you’d expect – lots of laughs relating to his working class background, everyday life, sex and religion. Coming towards the end of a string of 12 Glasgow tour dates, you may have expected him to recycle some jokes but after comparing notes with my boss who was there last weekend there seemed to be no similarities!

 I was laughing before Billy even started – this could be blamed on the bottle of wine we’d had with dinner – but mostly because of the numerous loudspeaker announcements in the Auditorium reminding gig-goers that Cliff Richard was not playing in this venue but over in the SECC. This was followed by three old dears running up to me and Rob looking very panic stricken and crying: “Where’s Cliff!?”

Arriving in his trademark black and white stripy trousers, Billy took the stage and my eyes were streaming within about 10 seconds. He certainly knows how to deal with hecklers, simply shouting at one rowdy drunk “sit the f*** down and shut the f*** up!” 

The Armadillo is a great venue, and Billy commented on how pleased he was to play so close to where he had grown up in Anderston. The crowd were also brilliant, I think just about everyone loves Billy Connolly.