DANNY Barr says himself that he was a “wee toe-rag”. Growing up in Govan, he left school at 15, couldn’t find a job locally, was getting into a few scrapes, and by the age of 18 had left home.
Getting a job was difficult. “Govan? There’s no much for anybody down there,” says Danny. Finally a life-line was thrown to him by Coatbridge plastering and rough-casting firm PBR Building Services - provided he could get the first train of the morning out to Coatbridge from Glasgow’s Queen Street Station so that he could be picked up by a works’ van.
He asked his mates if anyone had a bike they could lend him, and all that he could get was a little pink bike that belonged to a pal’s wee sister.
“It was the worst bike in the world,” recalls Danny. “I’d to get up at four in the morning so that I could cycle over the Clyde to Queen Street Station where I chained it up. Funnily enough no one ever nicked it.”
That determination Danny showed must have been spotted at PBR who signed him up as an adult apprentice, which involved two weeks on the job alternating with the next two weeks at South Lanarkshire College.
And there was only one thing he dreamed of saving up for as he cycled over the Clyde on that awkward little pink bike - his driving licence. He failed it three times, but every time he did, he immediately put in for his next test.
Says Danny: “I’ve now got a works’ van. It was one of the best feelings in the world when I had passed my test and they handed over to me the keys to a brand new van.”
He laughs when he thinks about it. In fact Danny laughs a lot, even when thinking about the difficulties that come his way. “I was up a rone pipe today in the rain rough-casting. I could squeeze the water out of the sleeve in my jumper, so I called it a day. I’ll finish it tomorrow.”
The reason he had to finish sharpish is that Danny was heading to The Trades Hall in Glasgow, that elegant Robert Adam designed hall on Glassford Street that most folk walking past have never seen inside. The Trades House of Glasgow is quietly proud of the fact that the Trades Hall is the oldest building in Glasgow, apart from the Cathedral, still used for its original purpose.
It is home to the 14 Incorporated Crafts, which used to control trade in Glasgow, but which now concentrate on mainly charitable purposes. But that early link with trade is still recognised in its Modern Apprentice Awards which Danny was attending as a finalist, and which he left as the overall winner.
As a Trades House spokesman explained: “The judges felt that Daniel showed enormous determination and self-progression, overcoming challenges and – as Daniel himself said – a lack of opportunity. He is, the judges noted, a fantastic role model for other young people.”
He received a cheque for £1000, and a quaich. Going to treat himself to a holiday? “Probably a bag of tools,” says Danny. He is, without doubt, determined to get on in life after a few false starts.
As he said himself: “College changed everything. That’s where I realised I had to grow up.”
He still goes to the college at its East Kilbride campus, even though he has completed his two-year adult apprenticeship as he is now starting an advanced craft course.
Eventually, once he has had enough of squeezing water out of his jumper, he would like to become a college lecturer himself, and pass on what he has learned to the next generation.
Amongst the other award winners was Jaspreet Rai, who was award the Overcoming Difficulties prize sponsored by the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, who faced the eternal problem of young people of not being able to get a job because they have no experience.
Eventually he got a week’s work experience with Arnold Clark’s car company, and his enthusiasm to try anything led to him being taken on as an apprentice with the firm’s Harry Fairbairn franchise in Glasgow.
The awards are presented by Glasgow’s new Lord Provost, Eva Bolander, whose Swedish cadences in her voice remind you of how international Glasgow has become.
You are though, surrounded by history in the Trades Hall. In the Salon, where the awards are being presented, the walls are draped with the brown varnished boards adorned with gold lettering explaining what funds have been left to the trades of Glasgow to distribute over the centuries.
One board announces that 1000 merks were donated in 1707 - remember that is over half-a-century before even Robert Burns was born - for the Skinners craft to teach a freeman’s son the trade. Oh and it helped if your name was Craufurd or Brechen. Another 12,000 merks were left to look after “six poor old men” who used to be tanners.
No idea what a merk is worth now, but I do know what a £1m is, which was left for “deserving widows” especially those who worked in Macfarlane Lang’s biscuit factory. The House manages over £20m in funds, and distributes £750,000 annually for students, community projects and the vulnerable.
But the modern apprenticeships being honoured that night are not quaint memories of the past. As Trades House Deacon Convener Keith Brown said: “Young people are sometimes criticised for being work shy. The Glasgow Modern Apprentice Awards have shown the opposite to be true, with eight incredibly motivated and hardworking finalists exhibiting real dedication and skill”
So next time you glibly say young people have it easy, think of Danny on his pink children’s bike peddling over The Clyde. The young can still surprse us oldies.
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