Toby Symonds

THERE’S something fishy about this photograph from 1986 and it’s not the fish. Taken at Rouken Glen Park, in the south side of Glasgow, front and centre here is a young lad holding three former residents of the body of water behind him. These tiddlers did not, however, meet their untimely end by his hands. Of course not, surely this is a face for which butter wouldn’t melt? Neither were the youngsters that can be seen fishing behind responsible.

Instead, the tragedy occurred when Eastwood District Council responded to public complaints that the pond had become overgrown with a mass tangle of weeds by hiring an outside contractor to apply weedkiller to the site.

All went to plan up until the rotting weeds began to starve the local fish population of oxygen. Many died, with hundreds more found gasping at the side of the pond by a, rather late to the game, council rescue operation.

As Eastwood’s Parks and Cemeteries – in this case: both at once – manager Ian Whitehall told The Herald at the time: “It’s a very unfortunate incident.”

That said, this is not a tale of total woe. For once, a good helping of Glasgow rainfall came to the rescue, saving the majority of the pond’s inhabitants from the same fate with a fresh supply of water.

The photographer, however, ought really to have checked on the boy under this lad’s armpit; he appears to have had a sip of the strong stuff too.