Adult Author event – Hamish MacDonald

Join us at Library at Springburn Library for our local history event featuring readings from recently published Scottish fitba poetry collection 'Square Baw' and focusing strongly on the industrial and footballing history of Springburn. The book celebrates Scottish football from its earliest roots to the present day, told through the story of my William McKenzie Grant, born in 1887 in the Cowlairs Railway Village in Springburn. Growing up beside Springvale Park, home of Cowlairs FC, founder members of the first Scottish Football League, William was immersed in the origins of the modern Scottish game and went on to play for Petershill, Renfrew FC and Queen’s Park alongside Alan Morton. An apprentice engineer at the Caley Loco Works, his life changed with the outbreak of the First World War, serving with the Scottish Rifles, the Army Cycle Corps on the Western Front, later undertaking munitions work, and returning to military duty before the war’s end. Through poetry, photographs, maps and vintage sporting illustrations, the book traces his upbringing, footballing life and wartime journey.