Niall Murphy

a cartoon character is holding a sign that says sorry . Alt: This is Stitch, a blue coloured alien cartoon character who is holding a sign that says sorry.

Mea culpa 😢! Yes, I need to start posting here once again. I got frustrated because I couldn’t set up and save posts in advance (which meant waking up earlier at a time I was pretty sleep deprived) and it wouldn’t let me upload videos. I’m sure there’s a way around it though!

This is Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren giving her speech at the start of the unveiling ceremony for the Old Glasgow Club plaque. The plaque is mounted on the south elevation of James Miller’s red sandstone Scottish Baronial entrance to the Glasgow Subway.

This is Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren starting the unveiling of the Old Glasgow Club plaque which is still concealed by a draped cloth. The plaque is mounted on the south elevation of James Miller’s red sandstone Scottish Baronial entrance to the Glasgow Subway.

This is Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren having unveiled the Old Glasgow Club plaque with the draped cloth now removed. The plaque is mounted on the south elevation of James Miller’s red sandstone Scottish Baronial entrance to the Glasgow Subway.

This is the blue plaque commemorating both the final service in the much missed St Enoch’s Church, which was demolished in 1925, and the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Old Glasgow Club.

Just want to express my congratulations to the Old Glasgow Club on the Lord Provost’s unveiling of their blue plaque commemorating both the final service in the much missed St Enoch’s Church, which was demolished in 1925, and the 125th anniversary of the founding of the club 🎉👍!

Vacancy: Finance Manager - Glasgow City Heritage Trust An exciting opportunity has become available for a Trainee Building Inspector to join our team. This new entry-level role will provide training and mentorship to someone starting out in their career w...

So folks, @glasgowheritage.bsky.social is looking for a new Finance Manager, details below👇👀! We’re a small and friendly team working at the heart of #Glasgow’s heritage. So if that appeals to you, please get in touch 😉👍!
www.glasgowheritage.org.uk/vacancy-fina...

This is a photograph of the St Vincent Street elevation of what was the Western Club on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. It is now Glasgow’s Apple Store. Through the two arched windows you can see the cool retro slick International Style interior, which references the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and how it contrasts with the warm blonde sandstone enclosure of Georgian classical elegance by architect David Hamilton.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: The Apple Store on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. Where the cool retro slick International Style interior out of 2001: A Space Odyssey meets architect David Hamilton’s warm blonde sandstone enclosure of Georgian classical elegance 🥰!

Er… oops 🤦‍♂️🤭!

😆! I’ll need to check that out…

Working with sculptor Benno Schotz, architect Graham Henderson created for the Bank of Scotland’s 235 Sauchiehall Street branch, this powerful interwar granite door case with a bronze shield set deep within a larger blonde sandstone arch. Note how all that is left of the columns around the arch are the bases just keeking out of the sandstone stonework above the granite and marble base. The banking hall is now up for sale so hopefully the detritus trapped behind the elegant cast iron gate can be removed.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: Working with sculptor Benno Schotz, architect Graham Henderson created this powerful granite door case with shield for the Bank of Scotland’s 235 Sauchiehall Street. I’m glad the banking hall is now up for sale as the unsightly detritus behind the gate can be removed 🤔!

Niall's fundraiser for NSPCC Help Niall Murphy raise money to support NSPCC

So I also want to thank everyone who has sponsored me to date as it means a lot and is really appreciated. And, if you want to do likewise, especially as it’s for a great cause, you can find my @JustGiving page and progress updates here 👀👇😉👍! 2/2
www.justgiving.com/page/niall-m...

This is an extract from my Strava page with Strava’s AI description of my latest run. The text is in black and red on a white background with a red bar below.

This is an extract from my Strava page showing the route I took for my latest run along with my distance, pace and the time I took.

Here’s a wee update on my progress towards #LondonMarathon2025 to raise funds for the NSPCC. Having been training three nights last week, I did an enjoyable 11.3K run yesterday morning taking in Glasgow Green and the Clyde en route and got a PB in the 10K = go me🏃🎉😆👍! 1/2

This is Glasgow’s Tolbooth Steeple with its open crown spire and blue and gold clock faces was built between 1625-7 by John Boyd, Master of Works. Here it is seen against the backdrop of an early dawn sky with orange clouds against pale blue. The modern residential building behind the steeple was influenced by the Paris based Peruvian architect Henri Ciriani.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: Its amazing that construction on the Tolbooth Steeple with its open crown spire started 400 years ago! It is tragic the remainder of the Tolbooth was demolished but at least this survives and soon it will no longer be stuck on a traffic island 🤔🥰!

The stone tower and domes of Glasgow’s City Chambers seen in the cooling light of a winter sunset with a sky which segues from pale orange to cool blue.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: The tower and domes of Glasgow’s City Chambers have a temple like feel when seen in the cool gloaming of a winter sunset 🌅🥰!

Indeed and also very charming!

This is the Robert Adamesque 52 Charlotte Street is the last surviving villa on what was arguably the most charming residential street in Glasgow. This handsomely proportioned pedimented Georgian sandstone relic is sadly the only trace of that former splendour and now looks over an open gap site in the city’s urban fabric.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: It is strange to think that the Robert Adamesque 52 Charlotte Street is the last surviving villa on what was arguably the most charming residential street in Glasgow. Sadly, this handsome Georgian relic is the only trace of that former splendour 😢!

This is a detail from the vast terracotta Doulton Fountain originally erected for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888 but subsequently moved to Glasgow Green. It shows the ‘India’ sculptural grouping of an Indian couple symbolically representing Indian trades and virtues. In the foreground is St Mungo and the Glasgow Coat of Arms.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: I can see why George Wylie described it as “…an obsolete symbol of Empire” but I’m
totally intrigued by the detail and narrative on the Doulton Fountain on Glasgow Green. What is going on with the wee figures on top of the column behind ‘India’ 🤔?!

This is the corner junction between architect William Leiper’s Venetian Gothic facade of 1889 and architect George Boswell’s 1938 SE range at Templeton Carpet Factory overlooking Glasgow Green in Glasgow’s East End. Though stylistically different, both facades are virtuoso examples of polychromatic brickwork displaying the joy the designers and bricklayers have taken in the different colours and patterns of brickwork. Though predominantly red brick, yellow, blue and green bricks are found throughout the patterns giving it a rainbow like appearance in places.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: I love the junction between architect William Leiper’s Venetian Gothic facade of 1889 and architect George Boswell’s 1938 SE range at Templeton Carpet Factory. Though stylistically different, both are virtuoso examples of polychromatic brickwork 🥰!

😂!

I’m in a much better place now (as is my family) and that’s why I’m doing this. Other people who went through this have not been so fortunate.

I couldn’t agree more. I think Boarding Schools are wrong and are a relic from the 19th century which should be consigned to the dustbin of history. I suspect they damage children especially young children. Certainly my experience was a ‘Lord of the Flies’ one. It destroyed my childhood.

I was sent aged 9 but there was a 6 year old in my boarding house. Who does that to their child? My parents were not from that kind of background but as they were working in Hong Kong and were intending to return to the U.K. thought it was the right thing to do. They bitterly regret it now…

Niall's fundraiser for NSPCC Help Niall Murphy raise money to support NSPCC

I’m doing this to tackle the shame and worthlessness I felt due to Adverse Childhood Experiences #ACEs at my school. So, if you want to sponsor me, and it’s for a great cause, you can find my Just Giving page and progress updates here 👀👇😉👍! 3/3
www.justgiving.com/page/niall-m...

This is a photograph of me, Niall Murphy, having just finished the Park Run which is held Elder Park in Glasgow’s Govan neighbourhood as part of my training for the London Marathon 2025. I’m a middle aged white man with close cropped silver beard and white hair and I’m wearing glasses. I’m dressed in navy blue joggers and a T shirt with grey and lime green trainers and I’m grinning if slightly out of breath having just finished the run. Behind me is the Elder Park pond and the monument to the ship builders. Beyond that is the huge new ship building shed at BAE Systems which is currently under construction.

Over the last 18 months I have testified as a witness about my experience to both @ScottishCAI and at the #Edinburgh Sheriff Court. It wasn’t easy reliving it so now I want to turn it around into something positive and the #LondonMarathon is a great challenge for me! 2/3

As a #BoardingSchoolSurvivor, I’m running the #LondonMarathon2025 to raise funds for @NSPCC as I don’t want any child to experience what I went through. Therefore, in a wee progress update I’ve just done my longest ever run 🏃🎉😊👍! 1/3
strava.app.link/4NXaJDRi6Pb

Georgian meets Modernism in Glasgow = David Hamilton’s Nelson Monument of 1807 on Glasgow Green seen against the backdrop of RMJM’s Hutchesontown B flats of 1961 across the frosty lawns of the green.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: where Georgian meets Modernism = David Hamilton’s Nelson Monument of 1807 on Glasgow Green seen against the backdrop of RMJM’s Hutchesontown B flats of 1961. What a day…🥶🥰!

This is the new Glasgow City Heritage Trust shopfront window display which was done by the Design Practice BA(hons) students at City of Glasgow College. Using colourful thermal imaging and wooden cut outs of Glasgow’s tenements the display explores the theme of "The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built". The window is signed by the students so their work is acknowledged.

This is an oblique view of the new Glasgow City Heritage Trust shopfront window display which was done by the Design Practice BA(hons) students at City of Glasgow College. Using colourful thermal imaging and wooden cut outs of Glasgow’s tenements the display explores the theme of "The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built". The window is signed by the students so their work is acknowledged.

This is a detail of the new Glasgow City Heritage Trust shopfront window display which was done by the Design Practice BA(hons) students at City of Glasgow College. Using colourful thermal imaging and wooden cut outs of Glasgow’s tenements the backlit display explores the theme of "The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built". The window includes QR Codes so passers-by can find out more information about the window display and its subject matter.

This is a detail of the new Glasgow City Heritage Trust shopfront window display which was done by the Design Practice BA(hons) students at City of Glasgow College. Using colourful thermal imaging and wooden cut outs of Glasgow’s tenements the backlit window display explores the theme of "The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built". The window is signed by the students so their work is acknowledged.

I’m really proud of the new @GlasgowHeritage shopfront window which was done by the Design Practice BA(hons) students at City of Glasgow College & explores the theme of "The Greenest Building is the One That is Already Built". Want to know more👇👀 😊👍!
www.glasgowheritage.org.uk/gchts-window...

This delightful set of brass door handles adorn the corner entrance to William Leiper’s Sun Life Building at the corner of West George & Renfield Streets in Glasgow’s city centre. The two putti are just the fantastic hint needed to set people up for the opulent space beyond.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: Spotted this delightful set of door handles at the corner entrance to William Leiper’s Sun Life Building at the corner of West George & Renfield Streets. The two putti are just the fantastic hint needed to set you up for the opulent space beyond 🥰!

This is architect John Baird II’s lavish classical plasterwork ceiling of 1876 glimpsed through the warm red lighting of the High Victorian stained glass set within architect David Hamilton’s earlier pedimented tripartite window to Hutchesons’ Hospital on Glasgow’s John Street.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: Architect John Baird II’s lavish classical plasterwork ceiling of 1876 glimpsed through the warm red lighting of the High Victorian stained glass set within architect David Hamilton’s pedimented tripartite window to Hutchesons’ Hospital on John Street 👇👀🥰!

This is the view down Hope Street looking towards Glasgow Central Station. It’s a sun warmed cliff of red and blonde sandstone crowned by Northern European Renaissance classicism of the huge clock tower above Grand Central Hotel. As it is mid winter the shadows are deep and long.

This is the view along Glasgow’s Gordon Street on a crisp winters day with a pale blue sky. In the distance you can see David Hamilton’s dome over GOMA echoed by the Sydney Mitchell’s dome over his Royal Bank of Scotland extension at the corner of Buchanan Street. You can also see John Honeyman’s Ca D’Oro with its elegant cast iron details. The street is full of pedestrians and taxis.

This is the view up Glasgow’s Renfrew Street from the corner of Gordon Street. The buildings are being washed by the warm winter sunshine. The street is full of buses and cars while a pedestrian with natty shoes is trying to cross the road.

Seen on a beautiful crisp winter’s day, this is view looking to the north up Glasgow’s Buchanan Street. While the street is in shadow the red and blonde sandstone buildings are being warmed by the sunshine. The elegant corner building with the dome is by Edinburgh architect Sydney Mitchell. The street is full of pedestrians looking for Christmas presents.

#MomentsOfBeauty in #Glasgow: Happy 2025 to all! So… I was a little bit naughty in my speech to the Scottish Parliament before Christmas as I described Glasgow as #Scotland’s “only metropolis”. Cue gasps of astonishment! But… ladies & gents, I give you the evidence 👀👇😆😉👍!

Re WFH, you can’t really put that genie back in the bottle + you have to treat people like adults. If you want folk back at their desks we need to figure out how to make the working environment attractive for them and that also includes looking at the city centre’s amenity.

That’s very true!

Funny you should mention it as we are working on something similar for 2025 though while highlighting problems with #GlasgowHeritage and #BuildingsAtRisk in the city I’d also like to focus more on what we need to do to turn the situation around…🤔!