by Adrian | Oct 11, 2015 | News |
Flag Up Scotland Jamaica has called a press conference for tomorrow, 12th October, at 10.00 am at The Wild Olive Tree Cafe, 163 Buchanan Street, Glasgow, G1 2JX. All are welcome to attend. The press conference will be the official launch of our petition to the Scottish Parliament. The petition calls upon the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to acknowledge that trade with Jamaica contributed significantly to the foundations of economic growth and prosperity in Scotland during the industrial revolution. As a response to this, the petition also wants the Scottish Government to recognise a moral obligation to advance the prosperity of Jamaica and to declare Jamaica as a Priority Country for Scotland in terms of trade and development....
by Adrian | Oct 4, 2015 | News |
Recently Flag Up Scotland Jamaica had the privilege of being invited to the National Portrait Gallery by photographer Stephen McLaren to the preview evening of his latest work, Jamaica – A Sweet Forgetting. The work is part of a larger exhibition called The Ties That Bind by Document Scotland, a collective of Scottish documentary photographers, of which Stephen is a part. In Jamaica – A Sweet Forgetting Stephen visited and photographed many sites in Jamaica where Scottish men ran slave based sugar plantations. Many of the properties now lie abandoned and the surrounding local communities are impoverished. Stephen then returned to Scotland to photograph the country estates, mansions and investments which the Scottish plantation owners bought with the proceeds from their Jamaican estates. During the creation of this work Stephen met many people in Jamaica who claimed to be of Scottish descent and many had Scottish surnames which can be traced to the days of the sugar plantations. The exhibition runs at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh until the 24th April 2016. Admission is...
by Adrian | Oct 3, 2015 | News |
The historical links between Scotland and Jamaica were highlighted during the launch of the recent Festival of Politics at the Scottish Parliament. Flag Up Scotland Jamaica was represented as Sir Tom Devine delivered a lecture entitled Scotland And Slavery, based on his book – Recovering Scotland’s Slavery Past: The Caribbean Connection. The debate was followed by a panel discussion chaired by the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. The lecture and discussion can be viewed...
by Adrian | Aug 5, 2015 | News |
Jamaica was represented for the first time at Glasgow MELA Festival with dub poet Yasus Afari and reggae singer Claudius England performing before an appreciative audience at the bandstand stage. Between them they brought powerful messages about care for the earth and unity. Both artists were sponsored by Flag Up Scotland Jamaica who also had a stall at the festival where posters about the special connections between Scotland and Jamaica could beviewed. 200 people also signed a petition urging the Scottish Government to grant Jamaica prioritystatus for trade and development. Claudius England tours Scotland After the MELA Festival, Claudius was able to stay in Scotland for a number of engagements in schools, prisons and churches. We are grateful to Claudius for doing a great job promoting Flag Up Scotland Jamaica wherever he went. On the Isle of Arran, he paid a visit to Brodick Castle where he viewed items from the famous Beckford collection funded by profits from slave worked sugar plantations in Jamaica. An article in The Arran Banner here records his reactions. On the next day Claudius’s first school visit was at the island’s high school in Lamlash. Other schools Claudius visited included Antonine Primary School in Bonnybridge and Torpichen Primary school. Head teacher Lynne Vint from Antonine Primary School describes the impact of his visit: “There are not enough superlatives to describe the experience – the children loved Claudius. My staff had prepared in the run up to his visit and many pupils had favourite songs. Needless to say Claudius obliged with a request (Daddy) and they were elated. We had a tricky situation regarding a...
by Adrian | May 15, 2015 | News |
We are pleased to announce that Flag Up Scotland Jamaica has been awarded a £10,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund to enable Jamaican artists to participate in the forthcoming Glasgow MELA multicultural festival at Kelvingrove Park on Sunday June 15th. It will also help to fund planning for a ScotJam event which will take place in August 2016. The Jamaican artists who will be coming are Yasus Afari and Claudius ‘Supa’ England. Yasus Afari is well known as a dub poet, reggae artist and ambassador for Rastafarianism. A fine example of his work is ‘My Mother who Fathered me’ For more information visit http://www.yasusafari.com Claudius England’s music is a fusion of reggae, dancehall and R&B with a hip hop flavour. His music can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/claudiusengland and also on his website http://claudiusengland.webs.com Yasus and Claudius will be available for other gigs and for schools workshops before and after the festival and if you would like to find out more please contact Graham Campbell – gcampbellconsulting@gmail.com or on 07855...
by flagup | Jan 8, 2015 | News |
Friday, 21 November 2014 Scottish National Party MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, John Mason, has lodged a motion in Parliament to celebrate the centenary of Shettleston native Reverend William McGhie. Born on November 23rd 1914, Reverend McGhie made an enthusiastic contribution to the establishment of an independent Jamaica and played a part in the design of its famous “Black, Green and Gold” Saltire flag. William, who served in the First World War as an army chaplain, moved to Jamaica with his wife Ailsa McGhie and four children in 1957. He grew to have a great affection for his new home and made many positive contributions to the young country’s development, including the foundation of the co-educational Meadowbank High School in Kingston. Meadowbank High now bears the badge and motto of Reverend William and Ailsa’s own school, Shettleston’s Eastbank Academy. Flag Up Scotland Jamaica is an organisation dedicated to enhancing business, social and cultural links between the two countries. It has used the opportunity of Reverend McGhie’s anniversary to emphasize an international relationship which dates back to the 17th century. David Pott, founder and project leader of Flag Up, said: “Reverend William McGhie has been a major inspiration to me in setting up Flag Up Scotland Jamaica. It was Jamaicans who determined the colours of their flag and then McGhie contributed the saltire which made it such a distinctive flag. McGhie again partnered with Jamaicans to establish Meadowbrook High School which from small beginnings has become a large and flourishing school. These are great examples of fruitful partnership and we are hoping for many more examples through Flag Up in the...
