Councillor Natasha McGuire, depute leader of Inverclyde Council, with volunteers and attendees at the Greenock South West Community Hub session at St Margaret's Church to promote the start of Inverclyde's Warm Hand of Friendship 2026.
Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Liam Eunson
Community organisations across Inverclyde can now apply for a share of a £140,000 fund to help provide warm spaces and practical advice to residents during winter.
Applications are being accepted for one-off grants of up to £3,000 from the council’s Warm Hand of Friendship.
The fund has opened for the 2026/27 period during Challenge Poverty Week, which is an annual awareness event to highlight inequality and action being taken to address it.
Launched in 2022, the council has distributed close to £375k to dozens of community organisations through the Warm Hand of Friendship fund and supported thousands of local residents during winter.
The initiative is open to the likes of community centres, churches, sports clubs, and other groups, to apply for funding towards events and activities that provide people with access to warm spaces and practical advice as temperatures plummet and bills increase.
The initiative also helps tackle social isolation and provides financial assistance to a variety of organisations during the winter months.
Councillor Natasha McGuire, depute leader of Inverclyde Council, said: “Winter can be incredibly tough for families and individuals whether that’s because of increasing heating costs, social isolation or both.
“There are a lot of community groups and organisations who want to provide events and support in the cold, dark months but they can find this financially challenging.
“These are just some of the reasons Inverclyde’s Warm Hand of Friendship is so important and has been so successful.
“Warm Hand of Friendship provides opportunities for people to access warm spaces where they can find community together whether that includes getting emotional or physical support , take part in activities or just have a chat over a cuppa we hope that people find an event that is right for them.
“It’s great to know this find also provides a financial boost to groups that host the various events.
“It’s fitting that we are opening the 2026/27 Warm Hand of Friendship during Challenge Poverty Week and with the temperatures really starting to dip over the last few days and I encourage groups to submit an application.”
Among the groups to have benefitted from funding in the past is the Greenock South West Community Hub, which is temporarily based at St Margaret’s Church in Greenock while their usual home at Grieve Road Community Centre is closed for extension and refurbishment works.
The group, which brings together the centre management committee, community council, and local churches, has used Warm Hand of Friendship grants to extend their Thursday sessions where people of all ages can visit for a hot meal or snack in a warm and welcoming environment between 2-4pm.
They average around 60 people each week, from babies and school children to adults and older people, and have had as many as 100 visitors in the past at the community centre.
Inverclyde’s Warm Hand of Friendship was first established four years ago and in September 2024, the council committed £560,000 from its anti-poverty fund to extend the initiative for another three years until 2027.
Grants were initially provided to support community organisations to run activities during winter and through until the end of March each year but they now have until June 2027 to deliver events following feedback from groups that have previously participated in the scheme.
The closing date for applications is Monday 26 October 2026 with funds expected to be distributed in late December.
Thereafter, applications will be considered as and when they are submitted and funding provided to successful applicants as soon as possible until the available funding is used up.
For more information about Inverclyde’s Warm Hand of Friendship, including eligibility criteria, and to find out how to apply for funding, visit www.inverclyde.gov.uk/warmhand.
John-Luke Roberts (photo by Natasha Pszenicki)
Written by Glasgow View Reporter, Liam Eunson
John-Luke Roberts has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with his first brand new show in four years, ‘What I Talk About When I Run About Talking‘, diving into his health scares and his fear of facing mortality head on.
Despite the bizarre show name, John-Luke Roberts provides a refreshing down to earth comedy style that feels more like a meaningful conversation with the audience rather than an on stage performance. Bouncing off the crowd and allowing himself to be vulnerable, the clown turned comedian creates a genuine performance that creatively discusses serious topics in a hilarious manner.
Circling these serious topics, such as mortality, illness and mental health issues, with a happy go-lucky attitude, John-Luke brings light to life’s darkest realities, centring his show around his therapist’s advice ‘to face mortality’.
Described as his ‘purest stand-up hour to date’, his new show strips back his usual clown theatrics and creates a simply entertaining comedy hour, seamlessly blending traditional stand-up and storytelling with his absurdist sensibilities and poetry.
Well decorated in the Fringe community and receiving much recognition throughout his career, the UK-based comedian, writer and director is displaying his multi-verse talent at this year’s festival, playing a show that simply shows his comedy talent and humour but with a theatrical twist that allows him to command the stage whilst making the audience feel involved.
Playing in a small room in Monkey Barrel Comedy Club, John-Luke makes everyone feel involved without being up in your face and demanding participation like many other stand-ups.
Discussing his OCD then blaming it on goblins controlling his mind, then talking nicely about his parents then partially blaming them for mental health issues, his back and forth and slightly manic nature only adds to his comedy style, creatively jumping back to previous jokes throughout the whole performance.
Without giving too much of his comedy magic away, he doesn’t hit too many punchline jokes but has the ability to make storytelling funny with a returning segment throughout his performance being his poetry. Explaining that he used poetry as an outlet when life got at its lowest, he uses his poetry talent in his show to both add context and further laughs, reciting meaningful yet unhinged poems throughout the show.
Despite being a new show, John-Luke Roberts ‘What I Talk About When I Run About Talking’, shows exactly what Fringe comedy is about, creating simple laughs with a twist of pure artistic talent and using comedy to sugar coat serious life issues that we all face.
John-Luke Roberts is a 5/5 performance with his 2026 Fringe performance showing no signs of rust or being unprepared. Must see at this year’s festival.
Cruden Homes have received permission to build 75 homes on a site in Drumchapel (image from plans by Cruden Homes)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Drew Sandelands
A developer has been given the green light to build 75 homes on the edge of Drumchapel.
Glasgow City Council has approved Cruden Homes’ bid to develop an empty site at Achamore Road.
Previously home to tenements and a tower block, the buildings were demolished around 2007, according to the application.
Plans, which were originally submitted in 2018, state the scheme will provide “attractive accommodation on the edge of an existing settlement”.
There will be a mix of two-bedroom terraced houses, three-bedroom end terraced houses and three-bed semi-detached houses, each with a private garden and parking. A children’s play area is also planned.
The plans add: “Accommodation is predominantly terraced or semi-detached houses with frontage onto the street, all with front and back doors, generous front and rear gardens appropriate for family housing.”
Vehicles will enter the development from Achamore Road to the west and Monymusk Place to the east. Around 115 parking spaces will be provided.
A culvert of the Cleddans Burn is set to be removed and a “two-stage channel” constructed to “remove the flood risks to the proposed development”.
The Antonine Wall world heritage site buffer zone neighbours the land but plans state the site boundary “does not encroach into this buffer zone and the proposed development will not have any adverse impacts” on the wall, which was built by the Romans.
The application adds: “This residential development will improve the urban form of this part of Drumchapel with buildings of high-quality design, incorporating features such as private gardens, shared open space and a children’s play area.
“Further, the development of this site will bring forward the delivery of this under-utilised land on the edge of the settlement.”
Photo by Justin Setterfield
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Drew Sandelands
Owners of properties in Glasgow won’t be granted a temporary exemption from short-term let licensing rules during this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Glasgow City Council held a public consultation to gauge views on whether homes should be allowed to be let without a licence during the event, as it was thought the move could help deal with a “significant increase” in demand for accommodation.
It found 48% of the 69 respondents were opposed to temporary exemptions, with 43% supporting the plan. At a meeting today (Wednesday), councillors on the city’s licensing committee decided against amending its short-term let temporary exemption policy.
Those that disagreed with the proposal suggested it could allow unchecked properties to be rented out and said rules shouldn’t be relaxed when it “suits the council”.
Some short-term let licence holders argued they work hard to provide high quality places to stay throughout the year. Opponents also raised public safety concerns.
Glasgow will host a scaled-back Commonwealth Games from July 23 to August 2, with 10 sports on show. A council report previously stated the event will involve hosting around 3,000 athletes from up to 74 nations and around 500,000 tickets would be available.
The city’s policy on short-term lets, approved in September 2022, means licences are required for “use of residential accommodation provided by a host, in the course of a business, to a guest”.
The national legislation allows temporary exemptions from the need to hold a licence, with councils able to authorise three periods, up to a combined total of six weeks, per calendar year.
Property owners still need to apply for a temporary exemption, and the licensing authority has to set a fee and timescale for when an application will be determined.
Glasgow’s policy does not allow temporary exemptions. In Edinburgh, applications for temporary exemptions are considered during the Fringe, the Christmas and Hogmanay period and for major sporting or international events.
Glasgow’s public consultation process, which ran from December 9 to February 2, asked respondents to what extent they agreed or disagreed with temporary exemptions during the Commonwealth Games.
