"LOVELY night for a stroll," said one of the stewards at Rouken Glen Park last night, in cheerful defiance of the incessant rain and the mud under his feet.
Despite the miserable weather, the first night of Electric Glen, East Renfrewshire's first-ever lighting festival, seemed to be a resounding success.
Throughout the picturesque park, artful, subtle lighting illuminated bridges, waterfalls and tree trunks.
Lights followed the curve of the boating lake. Trees took on interesting new shadows from lights directed at them.
It was atmospheric, and cleverly done.
The event was originally planned to run from tonight until Sunday and all 8400 tickets were quickly sold.
When tickets went on sale for the event last night, these were snapped up in double-quick time. The council was inundated with phone calls from people asking if there were any tickets left.
People arrived, as advised, with torches, waterproof jackets and sensible outdoor shoes. Family groups were a common sight and some people brought their dogs.
All told, including a special preview, some 2100 visitors enjoyed the spectacle, which was put together by events company Culture Creative.
From the boating lake to the waterfall, and the depths of the glen itself, there was much to see. Here and there, actors gave voice to characters from Rouken Glen's past.
East Renfrewshire Council leader, councillor Jim Fletcher, said: "I'm delighted. This is a great event for families.
"We could have sold it out three or four times over. We think it will be a big success and if it is, we'll try to make it bigger and better in future years."
Mr Fletcher, who is also the local member, added: "This is a great park. People use it during the day but they tend not to use it at night. This is an opportunity to see the park lit up at night, to see the waterfall and the various trails."
Jo Cook, with her six-year-old son Finlay, from Strathbungo, said: "It's really exciting. This is a whole side of the park that I've never actually seen, even in daylight.
"Finlay is really enjoying himself – he thinks he's in something from The Hobbit and that the woodland elves are about to jump out at him."
Frank Pignatelli, 65, from Barrhead, who came with his grandchildren, said: "I never thought so many people would turn out. You couldn't have picked a worse night for it. But it's something different, it looks really good."
Keith Banks, 51, from Paisley, added: "It's fantastic and the colours are absolutely amazing. The lighting effects on the water are amazing. I can't wait to get my pictures developed and see what they are like."
"The weather's not brilliant," Mr Fletcher conceded. "But we're told it should dry up [for] the rest of the week and be quite pleasant. If it's dry, it will obviously be better."
l Electric Glen and The Herald are jointly launching a photography contest relating to the festival, with prizes for the photographs that best capture the event. For more details, visit www.electricglen.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article