Who we are

“I am Richard Weddle and I am a biodiversity enthusiast with a particular interest in insects.

When I’m not setting up moth traps in the claypits and beyond I am a database manager for the Glasgow Museums Biological Record Centre.”

“I am Colin Thomson. Having had a great interest in the natural world from an early age hearing about the planned Claypits Nature Reserve project was really fantastic. I remember going birdwatching around the countryside in and around Glasgow and beyond when I was a kid and loving it! Since then I’ve cared about and kept an interest in wild spaces and am excited about how people, young and old, can feel it’s for them too and take a greater interest in how the natural word lives and thrives! The Claypits is right on our doorstep, so from nature trails to fun events it’s a place I hope to see grow in popularity and simply give people the “feel good factor” we are all nourished by.”

“I am Bob Alston and I fill my retirement with lots of different projects including the Woodside Community Council Chair, Queens Cross Housing Association Community Involvement Group Chair and on the Residents Task Force.

I set up the Eiger Music charity Project Board of Woodside Health Centre , Hillhead Area Partnership, North West Area Planning Partnership and I Volunteer with Scottish Canals.”

“I am Reiko Goto Collins an environmental artist working in the Collins + Goto Studio in the Glasgow Sculpture studios in the Whisky Bond building. Our studio has been working on the sound of trees and deep mapping of native woodlands in Scotland for the last ten years. I am interested in how we engage with nature through creative acts?

Hamiltonhill Claypits is important because it is an open green space, a public space that provides freedom, a sense of natural vitality and tranquility. It provides opportunity and experience that is more than city streets. It brings a diverse community into a relationship with natural biodiversity. Most important is this place is a home for recovering nature, it then connects to other green spaces. It needs care (we all need care) and support from communities.

My current interest is making the place greener and more diverse by collecting native trees and listening to the new stories that emerge as people gather to plant them at the Claypits together.”

“I am Tim Collins another environmental artist working at the Whisky Bond and living in North Kelvinside. I grew up in a town dominated by a polluted river and an old empty textile mills in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Reiko and I lived and worked on the abandoned steel mills of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for ten years.

When we came to Scotland, we were drawn to the claypits as well as the shale bings around Winchburgh and Livingston. We also spent time visiting the six largest Caledonian pine forests in Scotland. We explore, read and write, conduct research and produce a range of artworks with a focus on nature, and its recovery. I believe that these new public spaces have a natural body, a community body and a narrative body.

What do we do? It is probably more than what you expect. look here collinsandgoto.com, listen here collinsgotostudio1.bandcamp.com/album/plein-air-sylva-datum-musica.”

“I am Reuben Aspden and I love getting having the Claypits on my doorstep. I love being outdoors and it’s amazing being able to walk round the Claypits and feel like I’m escaping from the city even though I’m still in the middle of it. I love organising events and getting as many folks as possible involved whether at the Claypits or when I volunteer down at the Grove on Saracen St and with Clay Community Church.

Having had a great interest in the natural world from an early age hearing about the planned Claypits Nature Reserve project was really fantastic. I remember going birdwatching around the countryside in and around Glasgow and beyond when I was a kid and loving it!

Since then I’ve cared about and kept an interest in wild spaces and am excited about how people, young and old, can feel it’s for them too and take a greater interest in how the natural word lives and thrives! The Claypits is right on our doorstep, so from nature trails to fun events it’s a place I hope to see grow in popularity and simply give people the “feel good factor” we are all nourished by.”