John can have the prize for the furthest gallivanting in February – in what is now an annual event he went to Lanzarote with some of his cycling friends. It was not easy receiving pictures like these every day as I shivered in the dreich Glasgow weather!

Culturally, February was a lot quieter after the mad rush of Celtic Connections – just one concert – but I visited a couple of good exhibitions. The first was Café d’Jaconelli: A Scottish Italian Story at Maryhill Halls where I had my exhibition last year. Founded by a family of Italian immigrants, Jaconelli’s on Maryhill Road recently celebrated its centenary. The exhibition centres on the café while also telling a wider story about Italian migration to Scotland. The most intriguing fact I learned was that temperance campaigners regarded ice cream parlours as dens of iniquity, almost on a level with pubs.

The other exhibition was at Street Level Photoworks: Simon Phipps – Brutal Scotland: Scotland’s Post-War Modernist Architecture.

The focus of this new exhibition is Scotland’s post-war modernist architecture, selected from Phipps’ extensive photographic series which embraced 160 buildings across the country. Brutalist buildings in Scotland, emerging from post-war optimism (1950s–1970s), hold immense historical relevance as tangible, concrete symbols of social ambition, architectural experimentation, urban renewal, and in some cases the outcome of rapid slum clearance. While sometimes divisive, these structures—such as St Peter’s Seminary and Cumbernauld Centre—are increasingly recognised as having significant architectural heritage, representing a bold, functionalist era that aimed to improve lives. These once state-of-the-art structures are at a crossroads where some have fallen into disrepair and neglect, whilst some are being repurposed for contemporary use.

It was interesting, but I find most of these buildings hard to love.

I haven’t yet led any women’s history walks myself this year, but with two of the other Women’s Library guides I went to Paisley for a trial run of an audio-trail created by a women’s group there. Next week, we’ll go back to give our feedback though we have already let them know that we loved it. Paisley is where my parents lived so I know it quite well and pictures have appeared here before, though not, I think, of the sites below. It was raining quite heavily as you can probably see from at least one of the pictures.

And finally, some Glasgow street art to finish. As you can see, the Glasgow Penguins were having fun at their own Winter Olympics! (These definitely look better if you click to scroll through the gallery).

Linking to Natalie’s Monthly Wrap-Up and her Public Art theme.

Happy March!