How has it been five years since we launched?! This year has been as full-on as ever with the team working hard to make so many amazing things happen. If you’ve enjoyed our work this year, the best thing you can do to help us keep going is to become a member today and support us with a regular monthly contribution – for the cost of a drink at your favourite local establishment.

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It’s been another bumper year for our independent community media organisation, which has included:

Producing another four incredible issues of the magazine on Hidden Lives, All Things Digital, Digging into Data and a 20th Special Issue.
Publishing the work of a whopping 52 writers, 31 photographers and 15 illustrators.
Winning first prize and runner up in the features category of the Scottish Refugee Festival Media Awards!
Receiving funding from Research Data Scotland to run data journalism training programme for community reporters culminating in a special data journalism issue of the magazine.
Holding an event on how to address the issue of gambling harms, in conjunction with Fast Forward and The Simon Community.
Producing an exhibition at Tramway on Stories From Our Streets which included our One Day in Govanhill project, local history films and an interactive story map.
Hosting a one day event at Tramway as part of the Glasgow 850 celebrations which included workshops, talks, spoken word, and more.
Holding the Storybooth event at the Govanhill International Festival which saw over 40 people come off the street to sit for a portrait and share a story.
Repeating the Storybooth concept in collaboration with Romano Lav at the Roma Cultural Centre.
Hosting a stall at the Govanhill Community Carnival, the youth Guy Fawkes night event and the Deep End Christmas Market.
Being invited to share the approach of Greater Govanhill community magazine at events in London, Lisbon, Catania, Bonn, Belgrade and Prague.
Running the Citizens Agenda project for the local council by-elections, putting your questions to standing candidates and publishing their answers.
Hosting events at The Community Newsroom on topics including polarisation and how to respond to news from Palestine.
Producing radio shows for Radio Buena Vida showcasing local music and the stories from our magazine
Receiving funding from the Scottish Book Trust to produce a special issue of the magazine in Scots – and launching a Scots writing group.
Continuing to support the Greater Govanhill Photography Group with regular meetings, show-and-tells and visits for over 60 members.
Launched new merch including a recipe book, t-shirts and totes as well as the first ever fundraiser raffle (tickets available here!).
Continued to grow as a small-but-mighty staff team of five, as well as hundreds more volunteers and freelancers.
We even published what we think might be the first ever Govanhill board game! Have you played it yet over the Christmas holidays?

*The Govanhill Game of Life was published in Issue 19 and created by Laura Hurst*

*Some of the Greater Govanhill Photography Group – taken at the opening of our Stories From Our Streets exhibition at Tramway*

Most read on our website

Local Politics

Proving the value of our locally focused coverage at the time when it matters the most, some of our most read articles this year all came from our political coverage, specifically our Citizens Agend project for the Southside Central by-election. We asked you – our readers – what you wanted candidates to be talking about as they competed for your votes. The aim is to move the agenda away from the control of the parties and to enable votes to understand the candidates views on the matters they really care about.

Your Recipes

The recipes shared by our community members from our Like My Grandmother Used To Make series continue to be some of the most read articles online. Some of most popular this year were:

Jewish Chicken Soup by Naomi Magnus
Vegetable Pakora by Usma Ashraf
Kurdish Biryani by Tara
Afghan Bolani and Chutney by Mursal Noori

In fact, the recipes have been so popular that they inpsired us to release our first cook book containing all the recipes we’ve shared in the magazine! If you haven’t got one yet, they are flying off the shelves like hot cakes. And they’re helping us with out much needed fundraising effort.

Get your recipe book here!

*Photo taken at pot-banging protest by Sadia Sikandar*

Action for Palestine

Our coverage of local actions in support of Palestine have also been some of the most read articles on the website. These include:

Locals respond to GB News coverage of Palestine-Saltire flags

Some Team Highlights

Samar Jamal, journalist/editor

This year at Greater Govanhill has been full in a way that’s hard to summarise – a sense of newness and depth I've really treasured.

I look fondly at the photography project we did: One Day in Govanhill. While it was simple in its concept there was so much richness in the results. It captured generations of heritage, from shimmery clothes in shop fronts, fluttering Palestine flags, parks and everything in between. It also helped strip away some of the mystery of Govanhill, encouraging us to venture on streets we don’t normally find ourselves, back lanes we might overlook, to really take in the people, buildings, signs and details that shape Govanhill. It felt like a snapshot of this dear place through the eyes of people deeply connected to it.

The gambling harms project was another highlight. To witness the women being given space to tell their stories, be supported and understood felt really important. Not only to me, as someone that witnessed their journey on the sidelines, but I believe for them too. They described how impactful the project was for them – creating a safe space and meeting others with lived experience, took away some of the stigma and shame around the topic.

There’s so many other projects and stories we worked on that were so important to me. To name just a few, Glasgow’s first ever Apartheid Free Zone, putting together the Citizen’s Agenda for the election. To work alongside community organisations like Romano Lav, supporting young people on work experience, taking on the role of editor for issue 18. This year has felt impactful, supportive and nurturing. I’m grateful to continue contributing to a publication that centres the community's voice. And always, it’s been a continual process of learning that feels essential to working meaningfully alongside the community and continuing the work.

Laura Vroomen, deputy picture editor

In the second year of the Greater Govanhill Photography Group, it's been great to see the work of many of our members published both inprint and online. Their images have graced regular features such as the style icon, the celebration of 10 years of Milk and coverage of Govanhill Festival and the International Women's Day fashion show at Romano Lav, to name but a few.

After the group's inaugural exhibition at Tramway, preparations are now underway for Storybooth, which showcases the people of Govanhill and their stories. Some of the portraits are previewed in issue 20. Away from the picture desk, I've really appreciated the repeat coverage of the pot banging for Gaza, and I've loved playing the Govanhill Game of Life, designed by Laura Hurst and published in issue 19. Back lanes, litter picks and community gardens, it’s all in there!

Rhiannon Davies, founder/editor

I can’t believe that it’s now been five years since we published the first ever Greater Govanhill magazine. With no signs of slowing down, this year has been as busy as ever.

I think one of my personal highlight though has been watching the team grow and take on more responsibilities and leadership roles – managing the magazine production process entirely with little input required from me.

It has also been incredible to hear from different people about the impact the magazine has had on them. Speaking at the event gambling harms event, one of the participants of our course said that doing this work with us enable them to let go of shame they had been holding and move on with their life. Another spoke about how the opportunities it had opened up for them had changed their life.

At our end of year party, one person said that the magazine makes them feel proud of where they live, and makes them want to get involved in making it better. And that ultimately has always been the aim.

Iain McLellan, picture editor

The highlights of the year from a picture desk point of view – we took down One Day in Govanhill from Tramway after an excellent run.

Lots of people saw our pictures and were impressed. Not to forget the filmmakers who were part of the experience. A lot to be proud of and we made a lot of positive contacts for the magazine.

You don't mind taking down a show if it's to make way for the next one.

The other highlight of the year was taking the Storybooth from idea to a working model – it continues to grow and it will be an impressive replacement in an impressive space for the picture group photographers.

Catherine Weir, newsroom facilities officer

Catherine may be brilliant at handling all the goings on at The Community Newsroom but she also happens to be a talented illustrator, so we were delighted when she agreed to create us a cartoon for Issue 18.