Wee Skribbles Art Exhibition
Friday 7th October -It was a very busy night in the Willow Tea Rooms Trust Project Office! Over 200 guests turned out at this invite only event by local artist Wee Skribbles. It felt more like a party - great art, live music, plenty of refreshments and a cheery crowd. On sale were large canvasses, prints and postcards. Wee Skribbles has kindly pledged 25% of the night's proceeds to The Willow Tea Rooms Trust. Looking forward to the next one!
Doors Open Week - A BIG THANK YOU to our Visitors and Volunteers
It was a very positive exercise with Visitors from over 20 Countries totalling 557. Thanks to everyone who dropped in to hear about The Willow Tea Rooms Trust Project and the very kind donations. Warm thanks to the team at Doig & Smith - Gordon, Ian, Yvonne, Lauren, Jay, Robert, Aamir, Emily, Ross and Daniel for their time. And our other Volunteers Elisabeth, Elaine Liz and Anne. You all did a great job!
Catherine Cranston's Beautiful Dress - On Display at 215
We are delighted to have on display a beautiful dress worn by Catherine Cranston herself.
With special thanks to Liz MacKinlay, a distant relative of Miss Cranston, for allowing us to show case this beautiful piece of history at 215 Sauchiehall Street.
Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival - 12-18 September 2016
Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival is back for its 27th year, celebrating Glasgow's unique architecture and built heritage.
Join us at 215-217 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow from 10am-4pm, 12-18 September 2016 to learn about our amazing project and see our progress to date. Our aim is to complete the project by June 2018 to celebrate the '150th Centenary Celebration of Mackintosh'.
For further details please visit Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Project Funding Update - 9 September 2016
The Willow Tea Rooms Trust has been working hard this month on funding applications which would assist with the continuation of this important project. Applications were submitted to HLF, GCC, Scottish Regeneration Grant Fund & Scottish Enterprise.
This is an important month for The Trust, with decisions of key funding being made.
Volunteers Required - Doors Open Week 12-18 September & Pop-Up Sessions
The Willow Tea Rooms Trust would be delighted to hear from you should you be interested in volunteering your time during our 'Doors Open Week - 12-18 September 2016 between the hours of 10am-4pm'. This is an exciting opportunity to meet new people and learn more about our exciting project.
If you are also interested in assisting us during our regular pop-up sessions during the week or weekends we would welcome your registration.
To register or for all enquiries please contact our office via email at info@willowtearoomstrust.org. Thank you
Project Office Pop-Up at 215 - Doors Open!
The Willow Tea Rooms Trust, working in partnership with the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society (CRM), is happy to announce the opening of the Project Pop-Up Information Centre located at 215 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow.
Our volunteers are now able to offer visitors to the Tea Rooms an opportunity to hear about the project as well as giving information on other Mackintosh attractions to explore around the Greater Glasgow area.
Items of furniture on display has kindly been supplied by Bruce Hamilton, Furniture Maker.
The future of the Willow Tea Rooms starts here
A truly historic day at The Willow Tea Rooms today, we now have complete control of the building. It has been secured and we have removed the magnificent Room De Luxe doors, which are now safely in storage with Glasgow Museums until the end of the renovation project.
The next steps will be the initial works on the buildings’ ‘envelope’, on both 215 and 217 Sauchiehall Street, and will include making the buildings wind and watertight, essential works on the chimney in the back lane and re-positioning the Room De Luxe window to its original placement so that they can withstand the Scottish winter.
“This is something we’ve all been looking forward to since the summer of 2014. The amount of sheer hard work that has taken place to reach this point had been truly inspiring and I like to think that Charles and Miss Cranston would both be pleased with our efforts,” said Celia Sinclair, Chair of The Willow Tea Rooms Trust.
The greatest challenge remains raising the funds required to make the vision a reality. A number of applications have been made, including to the Heritage Lottery Fund, to assist in raising the project costs and we hope to see the fruits of these labours realised soon. However, these will not cover the projected cost in their entirety and we are still looking for other avenues of funding every day.
And thanks to John McClory of Brick and Steel Construction who offered his firm’s services in kind to help secure the building. Such acts of generosity are very much appreciated by the Trust.
This is just the start of the future of The Willow Tea Rooms.
G S A Pop-Up Exhibition - 20-21 June 2016
Cultural and artistic appreciation is never far from The Willow Tea Rooms Trust and this was made obvious when the Trust’s office was transformed into a pop-up gallery to showcase some excellent artwork. The work was a collaboration between 3rd Year Glasgow School of Art Interior Design students based in Glasgow and at their campus in Singapore. The exhibition itself was designed by 2nd Year Interior Design students.
This International focus was made to compare the living conditions of a typical Glasgow dwelling to that in Singapore — a real insight into the cramped conditions and compromises the country makes in order to satisfy comfortable living. Students initially invited guests along for the debut viewing before opening 215 to the public the following day.
It was an eye-opener of a project and once more went to show that the future of the Willow Tea Rooms is one which the Trust and building will remain strongly linked to artistic and cultural events to benefit the people and visitors of Glasgow. in as many ways as possible.