MY GLASGOW 2014 JOURNEY - PART 1: How it all began

I will include random pictures of my favourite parts of Glasgow.
This is one of me and the world famous Armadillo.

This is a five part series of blog entries about my own personal journey with regard to the 20th Commonwealth Games which took place in Glasgow this summer. It is merely a reflection of my own experiences and how I felt from first knowing about the prospect of the event taking place to completing my duties as a Clyde-sider volunteer. Please note that the text transcript within my blog entries may not be exactly as the description I provide in the audio, but should be interpreted in the same way nonetheless. Enjoy!

I was intrigued by the whole bidding process and whether Scotland would have the Commonwealth Games taking place within our own country. I actually remember before hand watching the news and finding out that Glasgow beat Edinburgh to become the host city in terms of the bid for Scotland to have the Commonwealth Games. I remember being a bit disappointed because I'm an Edinburgh lad and I was a little bit biased and I wanted Edinburgh to have it. But Glasgow got it and I lived with that.

I remember one of my first memories of my interest in the Commonwealth Games was when I went to a lecture during my time at university in Aberdeen (at Robert Gordon University) and I went to one of the city centre campuses and walked along Blackfriars Street. I remember hearing from a source that Glasgow had just won the bid to host the Commonwealth Games and I remember punching my fist up in the air and giving it this big "YES!" in the middle of the street and half the folk walking along the pavement just looked at me thinking "what the hell is going on here?!" and they realised that I was happy about something and the thing I was happy about was the fact that the Commonwealth Games were coming to Scotland. I was delighted about that and I was quite excited, because  it's not a tiny event. It's quite a big deal and although it's not the Olympics, it's still a worldwide event and it's quite exciting when you hear about something as big as that happening potentially in your own country.

The next memory I had about my journey to the Commonwealth Games was early last year when I woke up on a Monday morning and watched BBC Breakfast on the television and I remember they did a live piece at Glasgow Central train station. There was all these people walking around the station looking for people to show interest or become interested in becoming a potential volunteer for the Commonwealth Games so they were interviewed live on the television and they were saying that they were looking for many thousands of people to become volunteers for the event, to help deliver the event and get involved and I instinctively decided there and then I was going to apply.

So within a couple of hours, I started the application process which was done online and I got my application form done. I wasn't too fussed with what I wanted to do precisely and I just wanted to be involved in the event and play my role at Glasgow 2014 so I submitted my application as quickly and properly as I could.

It took a while until I heard back that I was being invited to get interviewed [for the Clyde-sider role].

RGU students prefer Scotland staying within the United Kingdom

listen to ‘RGU Scottish Independence Opinion Polls’ on Audioboo

Source: RGU:Union

Most Robert Gordon University students, who took part in two opinion polls last night during the Scottish independence debate at the Riverside East campus in Aberdeen, would prefer Scotland to stay within the United Kingdom, according to the results published today on the RGU:Union Facebook page.

An opinion poll was taken before the debate commenced and another opinion poll took place after the debate. The poll was based on the wording of the actual question that is expected to appear on the ballot papers of the actual referendum on Scottish independence: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

Out of the 162 voters in the first poll, 78 of them said 'No'. Only 36 people said 'Yes' whilst 48 didn't know what way to go. In percentage figures, just under 50% of voters preferred Scotland to remain within the UK whilst only just over 22% would back Scotland becoming independent. Just under 30% of voters were unsure about which way to go.

In the aftermath of the debate, 167 people took the second poll. Both sides of the debate gained voters whilst less people were undecided about what stance they preferred to take. 'Yes' went up to 48 but 'No' went up to 98, whilst 21 didn't know. As far as percentages are concerned, the 'Yes' side gained approximately 6% from the last poll. But the 'No' side gained an increase of approximately 10% from the poll before the debate. The number of people who still weren't sure was more than halved, with a figure of approximately 12.5%.

Now a few factors have to come into play here. The student population of Robert Gordon University is over 16,000 (2012/2013) so we are talking a small minority of people who took part in last night's debate. Also, the polls taken last night were not secret ballots. They were simply opinion polls just to measure what the opinion was like amongst those who attended the event.

And the other thing to take into account overall is that the real vote has still not taken place. Many things have already happened during the debate on Scotland's constitutional future and there is no doubt that there will be more twists and turns prior to September 18th 2014. Yet, it is nevertheless interesting to see what people think about this dominant political issue that keeps coming up in news bulletin after news bulletin.

RGU:Union's Paul Greene delighted with success of Scottish independence debate

listen to ‘Interview with rgu:union President for Communications and Democracy, Paul Greene, about RGU's Scottish independence debate.’ on Audioboo

The panellist table prior to the start of last night's debate

The RGU:Union President of Communications and Democracy, Paul Greene, has expressed his elation at the successful turnout of last night's Scottish independence debate at The Robert Gordon University's Riverside East campus in Aberdeen last night.

Approximately 200 students attended the much publicised event which was broadcast on RGU's brand new television and radio stations. Topics of discussion that featured in the debate around the issue of Scotland's constitutional future included currency, education and foreign affairs.

It was a highly energised and engaging debate with many points and questions being made by audience members and other people on social media. Paul, who oversaw the whole organisation of last night's proceedings was delighted about the attendance: "I'm absolutely thrilled about the numbers. I remember when we had our AGM in here, the first time we didn't even have 60 people and couldn't have it. The second time we had about 90..."

Paul is delighted with last night's out turnout and also is happy about the positive reception received about last night's debate: "...we are absolutely thrilled about the result and we got a lot of really great feedback, so we are really pleased."

Panellists who featured in the debate included an eclectic mix of campaigners from both sides of the debate, including Christian Allard MSP from the Scottish National Party and Richard Baker MSP from the Scottish Labour Party. Earlier on in the day, staff of the university took part in a Q & A session with Scottish Education Secretary, Michael Russell MSP.