Valentine's Heart Giveaway

A table with knitted hearts and fundraising boxes for the British Heart Foundation

Sharing kindness, joy and a little sweetness on Valentine's Day. We had delicious home baking, staff, students, Hub users and people passing by joined to pick a hand-crafted heart, talked together and raised £200 for the British Heart Foundation. A huge thanks to Lorraine for leading this event and with the help of the Hub knitters and quilters making all the lovely hearts.

Restart a Heart

Two Scottish Ambulance Service staff members with a defibrillator. People and a dog are standing behind them.

We were joined at our Valentine's event by Sharon and Frank of the Scottish Ambulance Service in the Hub that day for a Young Minds Save Lives meeting. Here they are photographed with our new automatic external defibrillator (AED) which can be found at reception on level 1 (ground floor) of Clarice Pears. After calling an ambulance, using an AED on someone whose heart has stopped can significantly increase chance of survival. Defibrillators are very safe, tell you what to do and you don’t need specific training to use one. Here is some more guidance from the British Heart Foundation.

Healthy Hearts

Susan Grant is getting her blood pressure checked by a nurse

Nurse Gillian from Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland’s Health Defence Hub has been kept busy with blood pressure checks during her monthly drop-ins. Please come along to the next one on Monday 24th March between 1-2pm. Checks will be offered at this session on a first come, first serve basis. No booking needed. If you would like to get in touch with Gillian prior to visiting, you can contact her via email Gillian.MacLeod@chss.org.uk or call her on 07827 094891.

Love for Zine Making

What does Queer History Mean to You? We had a display in our temporary exhibition space in February for LGBTQ+ History Month showcasing zines created during a student-led workshop in the Hub on 6th February in partnership with Queers Make Glasgow. You can view some photos from the workshop on Instagram.

Two people are looking at the Eyes Wide Open adolescent sleep exhibition. There are posters on the wall and on display stands.

Eyes Wide Open exhibition is an opportunity to learn about sleep from an adolescent-led perspective and share ideas about strategies for healthy sleep for people of all ages based on the research of Catriona Ewart. Due to its popularity, we have extended the exhibition through March and Cat is going to run a zine making workshop on World Sleep Day, Friday 14th March from 3pm. 

People are the Heart of Research

Healthy Working Lives Group hosted the Empowering Voices, Driving Change PPIE conference at University of Glasgow Student Union on 20th February with speakers and participants from across Scotland. Byres Hub presented with Jane Cowie from The Annexe and Dr Nic Dickson from General Practice & Primary Care (GPPC) on Communiversity to a really welcoming audience and enjoyed some great conversations and networking on the day.

Self-Care, Self-Love, Self-Confidence

7 days of self-care scorecard with a white circle for a sticker and the Byres Hub logo

Please share some feedback if you picked up or were given a Seven Days of Self-Care Card and resuable stickers from Byres Community Hub to help inform how we go forward with this visual reminder tool to prioritise self-care.

We have a follow-up self-confidence workshop, Becoming a Confidence Architect with COPE Scotland on Monday 10th March starting with lunch and networking in the Hub from 12.30pm and moving into room 146 from 1pm until 2pm where Hilda will launch their new resources developed through her National Lottery funded self-confidence workshops including those in the Hub last year. Register for a space here. 

New Evaluation Surgery in the Hub

Three researchers sitting behind a table smiling to the camera.

Researchers Olivia Hamilton, Nai Rui Chng and Andy Baxter from our Social and Public Health Sciences Unit kicked off their new monthly evaluation surgeries in February. Their monthly clinics are now fully booked until June with a variety of non-profit organisations from across Glasgow showing just how much this support is welcomed. As always, engagement is two-way and researchers involved and the School will gain so much from these interactions. The workshops have also proven to be a good way to bring new organisations into the Hub.

Celebrating Connections

A reminder that our Byres Hub Community Day 2025: Celebrating Connections will take place on Saturday 7th June, 12noon – 4pm. This fits in with Glasgow Science Festival’s 2025 theme of Celebrating Glasgow. Like our previous events, we plan to have a mix of activities and something for all ages and of course it will all be free. Please confirm to Susan Grant by Friday 14th March if you would like to be part of this. 

There are several ways you can get involved:

  • We will be bringing back the Byres Hub Subway escape room style challenge where visitors can solve timed mini challenges at each of the subway stations. It was brilliant last year to have Hub groups, community partners and research groups delivering this event so please get in touch if you would like to run a ‘connections’ themed challenge. We can support you to develop it and with materials.
  • We are looking for organisations to have a pop-up stall in our marketplace to share information about how your organisation is helping to make connections in Glasgow – social connections, digital connections, connection with nature, connections to culture, connections to health and wellbeing etc! 
  • We will have digital and print flyers and an Eventbrite link to register, so we will be looking for help to spread the word. We will also have a call out to our staff and students for volunteers.
  • Most importantly, save the date and please come along and join in the fun!

We are partnering with Every Stage on this year’s Community Day and they are going to be running free Event Management Training in the Hub on Tuesday 18th March for non-profit organisations. Please share the link with any organisations you think would be interested. 

Lives on Paper Thanks to some of the Writing Wrongs creative writing group for joining us at the Hub Monday on 24th February to share some of their work and promote their upcoming free Memoir Writing workshops on Friday 14th March, Friday 11th April and Friday 9th May from 11am-1pm. These workshops will encourage and help people to write about their lives and experiences. All are welcome.  

Please see a full list of events coming up in the Hub in March on our website. 

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First published: 4 March 2025

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