That's yet another date for us SOLD OUT, 1st December at Singl-end, Garnethill for our Feast Yourself on Murder! murder mystery dinner. Great for us of course, but we are sorry for those who have been enquiring and been disappointed. This year for us has indeed been busy. Halloween is coming, again our dinners are all SOLD OUT! BUT, we had during the covid period been able to film and direct our events to be online events, and we have a couple of virtual events available on our site to book. Not everyone is able of course to get out and about, and of course for a lot of people cost is a factor, of course it is. So at £12 for the connection for all to enjoy, we feel it really can be a fun around the table night for family/friends/groups to enjoy! #halloween #glasgow

So, in 2002 when I first took a franchise from Mercat Tours Edinburgh, I called my small business Mercat Glasgow. When my franchise came to an end with Des in Edinburgh (amicably!) I decided on a new name. What I wanted, was to portray somehow what I wanted people to understand that my business offered. I felt "The Spirit of Glasgow" gave a nod to what Glasgow is, and was in the past. As we perform scripts on the basis of history we also chose a logo of historical images within a magnifying glass. I felt this was also apt. So I settled on this. We of course own the domain name and have done for all of these years. Can I say over the 21 years in business, I am now amazed at how many times I come across this name used by others. This is not a complaint, simply a surprise really. Perhaps others agree with the logic behind this name? Those of you who read my blog will have noticed I did comment on the Sir Billy Connelly Spirit of Glasgow Awards. The other day I came across a painting called "Spirit of Glasgow" - Commissioned in 2020 by young entrepreneurs Daniel & Matt, this mural was destined to hang as pride of place on the walls of a refurbished cocktail lounge within Glasgow’s iconic Art Deco landmark, the Beresford Hotel. However, it was not meant to be. Soon after the painting was completed Daniel and Matt announced ~ “We regret to say that sadly, our beloved Beresford Lounge will not be going ahead. We’ve tried everything we could to secure the resources needed to open our doors but only a few weeks into taking on our venue in 2020 we had to pivot in our strategy due to the global pandemic. Our dreams have been shattered.” The painting is now for resale. Go on................. treat yourself, it's only $45,000!

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https://www.catherineabelstore.com/products/the-spirit-of-glasgow

Happy Friday all, the sun is shining and it really does feel good! We have a rare weekend off, busy week next week for the coming events we have booked for Freshers' week........... long standing relationship we have with Glasgow University. Looking forward to it. And, really looking forward to a cool weekend, full of fun and sunshine. To all of my lovely actors, enjoy what you are all doing this weekend.

Caroline & Jackie who work behind the scenes running our business, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on 30th July. They had been married in the Church of the Three Holy Brethren, and the reception was in the old manse, now called The Shore House Inn. This gorgeous venue has been taken over in recent years by Liz and Billy, who, to Caroline & Jackie's delight opened up and put on a wonderful meal especially for them. Isn't it just wonderful that we all meet kindred spirits and good souls in this world. How absolutely kind to say the least of Liz and Billy to do this, and to make this that special occasion for Caroline and Jackie. The Shore House Inn has been beautifully restored, and from one business to another, we give out a big shout out to encourage anyone looking for a special trip, to pop up to Lochgoilhead and book in with Liz and Billy, and their recent addition Watson (the dog!) really, you won't be disappointed!

Traditionally during summer we’ve been busy with hen night/small wedding parties but other work comes in also! If it’s an ‘away day’ for us, ie going out with Glasgow to a venue, we try to make a day out of it. One of my favourite away days was when we enjoyed a summer picnic on the private beach @SeamillHydro what a lovely day it was, the weather was sunny, very sunny and we were very excited to be performing to a private group of local dignataries Oh, we just love going out to beautiful venues in the summer months! It's just for us "A guid day oot!"

So, as all my followers, customers know, the basis of our live performance (and virtual) murder mystery dinners is true history, but performed for light entertainment value. Recently, my husband and I took a trip up to Leadhills, what a stunning area of Scotland of course, absolutely stunning! I hadn't known, but there a lady's house given over to the Teddy Bear Museum. As a lover of artist bears, I had to visit of course. What was really surprising was the way this very creative, innovative lady has transformed the history of people from Leadhills or who have had associations with Leadhills, into this Teddy Bear Museum. All of the teddies inside are named after such people! And her garden at the back was just a delight, especially geared towards children. What a wonderful way to engage children in what after all is history.......... I was well impressed, as this is a passion of mine also. This image is of Mr Taylor............. from the village,............. do read on, he was apparently 137! years old when he died. Fantastic, what can we say!

Delighted to say we have our first booking in for a corporate group (NHS) for their Christmas night out. Corporate work for us throughout the year has included big companies eg Vodaphone, Siemens, TalkTalk, BBC, Shell, Scottish Power, NHS, Edrington Group, Prudential, Scottish Water, British Gas, Tesco Bank, Allied Bakeries, Hayes Travel, KPMG, Morgan Stanley, Bank of Scotland, Strathclyde University, Glasgow University, and many many more smaller companies over our 21 years in business, and we can't wait to get Mary Queen of Scots out there again, in our medieval banquet murder mystery this year in December, open for private bookings in any of our wonderful venues, and for public tickets we are performing again this year @Singl-end, Garnethill. https://www.spiritofglasgow.co.uk/event1176

Because our scripts on our murder mystery dinner events all have the USP of having true history in the core of the script, it is really important to us that we work if we possibly can in venues with some history behind them. We've just uploaded an event @TheCorinthianClub, Glasgow for 23rd June. This is a splendid venue, with some terrific history! The Corinthian prides itself on retaining many of its original features, and has previously won awards for its design and architecture. Built in 1842, it has previous served as the Glasgow & Ship Bank and subsequently the city’s judiciary courts, before being painstaking restored in 1999 to the impressive venue it is today. Featuring a 26 foot glass dome and some of the most intricate and elaborate plasterwork in the city, it really is a must visit for all and we just love working here.

Artifical Intelligence is of course very currently in the news and the forefront of our minds, but for a bit of fun we asked chatGPT to write a poem for us about Madeleine Smith, this young lady being the main character in our "Death by Chocolate!" murder mystery. "Madeleine Smith, a maiden fair, A story full of scandal and despair. Her life was one of privilege and wealth, But secrets and lies were hidden stealth. In Glasgow town, she did reside, A beauty with a heart that was snide. A courtship with Emile, a love affair, But her heart and mind were elsewhere. The truth was dark, and soon revealed, A lover's quarrel with Emile sealed. A letter found, written in her hand, An arsenic mix, a deadly demand. Madeleine stood on trial, her fate in doubt, The court, her jury, and her story came out. A guilty verdict, but her sentence rare, A verdict of not proven, left in despair. Her life forever marked, a tale of lore, The mystery still remains, forevermore. Madeleine Smith, a name still heard today, Her story, a reminder of love's wicked way.

Does this image just say it all?? We do pride ourselves and our 5 star reviews on our performances, but we also understand that food and service is crucial to our murder mystery dinners. That's why we pick the best! We're giving a big shout out to Singl-end, garnethill, fantastic venue and FOOD TO DIE FOR! And thank you Charlie R for your review on our recent event here "Very good, got it wrong but the reasons for why it was someone else was really satisfying. Good fun!!"

"Hi Caroline, I just wanted to drop you a message to say THANK YOU for such a wonderful evening on the 8th. Your actors were incredible, the evening went down so well – everyone was raving about the experience! Especially my sister, the bride to be. It will stay as a special memory for us all. Best, Caitlin " ....................... of course reviews are extremely important for all small businesses and we are very proud to say we do get excellent reviews, almost all of the time. Often people on the night tell us they will definately review us, but it is just the nature of it that they just forget, or don't find the time. That's okay of course, we are all mega busy and sometimes even just finding 5 minutes is hard. When we do hear from our customers though it really really does make a difference to us. We do put our all into our performances, we always want to please, and it is just so so nice when we do hear feedback. And you know, it's the best job in the world most of the time, but when you know you've made someone's special event so memorable and enjoyable for them.................. well, what more could you ask! Thanks Caitlin and all for booking, and thanks so much for taking the time to put such lovely words down for us. X

Networking darling, it’s all about networking That’s what my good friend Judith from The Britannia Music Hall told me……………??? So many years ago, about 22, when we both worked for Glasgow City Sightseeing, and she was bringing the profile of the music hall up by doing just that. I will admit she has been successful in this. I though struggle with it. I did take myself to a Business Gateway meeting locally this week, and I will admit it was lovely to chat to other business owners and some new starts, from Winifred who had left teaching about 30 years ago to set up her own gallery and studio, to the young new start photographer Gillian, to Paul who owns and runs a local business turnbullcarcare.co.uk What we all have in common is there is not enough time in the day! I always think, today I’m going to do………. Never, ever do I manage to do all I want, and that is apparently very common in business. I have found Business Gateway useful at times, but I do still tend to spend most of my time not networking…………

I wanted to be……………… a journalist (in the days when journalism was a valued profession and people relied on Reuters to be reliably informed! Or being out in the field itself with first hand information!)…………. Alas that was not to be but as it happens I effectively am doing what I want in any event, researching and writing things up. I take a piece of history and work with it. It’s something which interests me, and I always hope others too. Honestly, the last time I wrote a full new script was quite some time ago. I spend quite some time generally tweeking my scripts as time goes by, but a new script can and usually does take months to write. There a lot of time researching…….. corroborating facts, before I even begin to try to adapt the true story into a fun murder mystery, with of course necessarily the fiction required to make it a murder mystery. So, let me think…………… in fact the last full script I wrote was “Espionage!” and that was written as a Spy Game, I wrote it about 3 years ago! Based on true history of the Clydebank Blitz. I tend to have been kept very busy with admin in the office, managing enquiries has been frankly a full time job. But, I do now have some office help hence beginning to very much enjoy what I love again. I am super excited about my new script, recently completed, Murder on the Dance Floor!, I have a good feeling about it. It has historical content, but , good music, dance, 1970’s style (fabulous costumes) and yes the usual crime of passion involved. Almost as much as writing the script I have just loved sourcing the costumes and props. You may think this is difficult, it sometimes can be depending on the time period of my script but in this instance 1970, not a problem! Guess where? My favourite day out…………. The Barras! Hey, I’m not that unusual, The Barras are mobbed on a Sunday! I highly recommend it. I often reflect on trader Jean McIver and wonder if when she set the barras stalls up, she imagined people like me would still love trading here all these years later!

Well, what is a milk claw? And actually, one of our guests asked (last Thursday night), what is a milk claw and really would that have been part of machinery in 1935? So, we all looked at each other and thought, oh dear………………. Would it have been? Research is the key to everything of course, and Caroline puts such a major effort into research, but…….. you just never know what people are going to ask!! Anyhow, a milk claw is quite simply a part of a milking machine, and yes, they were first used in milking cows as far back as 1923! Phew! Why was the subject brought up? Our murder mystery script “The Dalliance” was being performed, and the killer used a blunt force instrument to kill the victim, which in this case was a milk claw. This was a great night, a group whom we had performed for before, thanks to Gwen Stokes, appreciated very much. It was a great venue to work in Massimo’s Bearsden, and the food and service was just fab. Beautiful view onto the graveyard (we love graveyards, they’re full of history!) and we were delighted that they seemed to enjoy this script as much as the last one we performed as we got this lovely 5 star review “Put the Cluedo board aside and go for the real thing. Minus the blood and dead body of course! We have just thoroughly enjoyed our second murder mystery by Spirit of Glasgow. Word has gone round since our last night in Feb 2022 and we doubled our audience. This time we hosted The Dalliance. Again superbly acted and very professional from booking to performance. Just sit back and enjoy the fun.” And boy did they have fun, especially with their answers. A couple of the tables did get the correct answer, but possibly our favourite answer was the sheer fun of this one by team Hollandaises - “We think it was The Photographer, he did it to shutter up. He snapped and killed her in a flash! This is a very negative thought!”

Glasgow Intl Comedy Festival this year are awarding a prize for the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award. The ‘Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow’ Award will be the only official award given by Glasgow International Comedy Festival (GICF), with the winner announced at the Festival’s Closing Gala event at The King's Theatre on Sunday 2nd April. The award aims to celebrate the city of Glasgow and the Glaswegian warmth, resilience and above all sense of humour. May say, we love the name Spirit of Glasgow!! :)

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https://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/festival-info/sir-billy-connolly-spirit-of-glasgow-award/

People make Spirit of Glasgow a successful business of 21 years. I came into business late in life........... well, why not? I love my city, as they say People Make Glasgow, and I just love our history, warmth, resilience and above all sense of humour and so I decided to set up a little events company offering tours, murder mysteries, spy games, and other events, all with the unique selling point of having true history behind them, but presented in a fun, light hearted, engaging way. Life can and should be about adventure, and yes of course business is a struggle, but for me, it has been an adventure also, an exciting adventure, full of fun, the creativity of writing scripts, the chaos of directing actors! (like herding cats sometimes!!) , freedom to bring my own family up whilst running the business from home, freedom to take the time to care for my old horse when he needed it most, and enjoy outdoor time in nature, as a balanced lifestyle. Appreciation of the fact that I have had so many lovely lovely customers over all of these 21 years, and such fun performing for them! Of course, covid was a massive struggle, with our industry being shut down, and our own actors necessarily having to go and take other jobs, but, since September 2021, we have been back working, and am so so pleased that business is busy again. I am so thankful to have a team of actors who have been with me throughout this journey, Kirsty Kavanagh being our longest serving actor of almost 19 years now, wow! We've just been up to Eilean Donan Castle to help her celebrate her marriage, and oh the emotion when I first caught sight of her coming down the aisle! The thing about what we do is, working so closely and passionately, all of us together, you form such a close bond with each other, and I don't know if it is just luck, but we all seem to just get along so well............. the laughs, honestly I sometimes can't believe how much we laugh and have fun behind scenes. All of these beautiful faces mean such a lot. Onwards and upwards on this adventure, and anyone out there wanting to take the risk of going into business yourself, whatever that business would be, I would say, prepare to be amazed at how hard you will have to work, really............. BUT, go for it! It can and does work!