'Drive-'Slow Procession a HUGE Success!!!

The drive-slow procession arranged by Towerlands, Springside and John Galt Primary Schools was a huge success with in excess of 80 cars joining in for the day. From Towerlands we had around 50 children, which equates to around one third of Towerlands' school kids walking out, effectively, on strike.

Towerlands Primary School Parent Council had already set aside the 7th of March to carry out some form of demonstration, so as soon as the Springside Committee contacted us to ask if we would like to join forces and pull off one huge act of defiance, we gladly put this date forward and joined forces with them and John Galt to organise the 'Drive-slow' Procession.

We discussed and agreed the format and route for the procession then applied for a licence through the Townhouse; after some intense negotiations with NAC Roads Department and Strathclyde Police, at Perceton House, amendments to the proposed route were made and the procession was given the go-ahead.

After the route was agreed the work really began with issuing permission slips to see how many parents would permit their children to walk out of school in protest, and we had to determine how many cars would be attending, making sure everyone was allocated a seat. Then the fun part, preparing vehicles with balloons; this was an immense amount of fun and know that all the children who took part had a great time preparing their own vehicles.

It was then time to leave school; our Head Teacher, Mrs White, kindly split the children into car-groups for us, and the parent/responsible adult signed to say they had received the children that they expected to. This was cross referred with the permission slips to ensure the school knew the whereabouts of every child.

We then lined up in Heatherstane Way ready for Springside to appear over the horizon; we were stunned when they arrived with a procession as long as ours. The combined length of the procession, including John Galt, was around 80 cars and we could never have imagined the full effect of the procession as a whole. At it's longest point the procession must have been in the region of half a mile long.

The response from the public was outstanding; car drivers who were held up at junctions were waving and tooting their horns; the staff from shops in High Street were out in force, clapping and cheering; there was even some shock on the faces of some of those we passed, probably at the sheer scale of what we, the 3 schools together, had created. In addition to this, the press photographers were out in force with their cameras, so we should be popping into a newspaper near you soon :D

NAC cannot ignore the strong feelings for our schools and communities, and the public support, that was on show at the demonstration; to do so would be to ignore our schools and communities altogether!!!

A huge thank you is given to all who helped with preparations, and most importantly, to those who turned out on the day...THANK YOU!!

Say NO! to closure!
Dates for Your Diary !!!