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Galgael: Building Skills and Community in Govan
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My story of hopefulness comes from an incredible organisation that I've known for many years called Galgael. They operate out of this huge warehouse just on the south of the river Clyde in a former shipbuilding community called Govan. They are all about giving people who have just come out of prison or tackling addiction or long-term unemployment not just some skills in boat building but a sense of purpose, a sense of community and they call it a clan, giving them a sense of clanship. They use traditional shipbuilding techniques, so there's woodwork and joinery, the sound of hammers and a smell of wood being cut. It's the most amazing space to go into and what they're doing, I think is probably quite literally a suicide prevention work. They always recognise they're just a sticking plaster, they're very humble and very attentive to the nature of the wider economic system that is driving people to their doors, but I think they're just an extraordinary, very, very precious organisation.
My story of hopefulness comes from an incredible organisation called Galgael. And they operate out of this huge warehouse just on the south of the river Clyde in a place called Govan, a former shipbuilding community. And they are all about giving folks who have just come out of prison or tackling addiction or long term unemployment, giving them not just some skills and a sense of purpose, but a sense of community, and they call it a clan, giving them a sense of clan ship. And what they do in this huge warehouse is use traditional ship building techniques. It visually looks incredible. It smells extraordinary. But what they're doing, I think, is probably quite literally a suicide prevention campaign. They always recognise they're just a sticking plaster. They're very humble and very attentive to the nature of the wider economic system that is driving people to their doors. But I think they're just an extraordinary, very precious organisation.
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