Johnstone is a relatively medium-sized town in the royal burgh of Renfrewshire, in the west of Scotland. Under electoral ward designation, Johnstone is split into two categories: Johnstone North, which is categorised together with the nearby villages of Kilbarchan and Lochwinnoch, and Johnstone South, which is teamed up with the village to its immediate east, Elderslie. The combined population of these two electoral wards in 2016 was 30,639 (Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Guide, 2017).
Johnstone has a variety of different buildings, from the recently refurbished remains of the 16th century castle right in the middle of the Johnstone Castle housing scheme, to the strikingly modern town hall built in 2015.
The town centre has two public squares,Ludovic Square and Houston Square, both named after the family of estate owners who founded the basis of the current town in the late 18th century. Houston square boasts a war memorial and a band stand, both of which are unfortunately given very little attention outwith Remembrance week. The town centre also hosts many retail business, with three supermarkets, numerous restaurants and cafes, hairdressers and beauty salons. Recently opened in the old registry office building is a café/ice cream parlour, with a games room and outdoor space for local teens to hang out.
Originally a mining town in the 16th & 17th centuries, the 18th & 19th centuries saw Johnstone grow as a cotton mill town, with Paton’s Mill and bootlace factory being a cornerstone of the town. The old mill still lies in ruins, a pain in the backside of the local fire service as the local arsonists regularly try to destroy what is left. The Hannah’s sweet factory on Walkinshaw Street is now the most notable manufacturing business in the town, with the firm’s infamous white mice being exported all over Europe.
Within the new town hall, are many community services. Police Scotland and Renfrewshire Council both have access points within the building. There is also a performance area, where a number of local schools took part in a collaborative dance initiative led by YDance, titled “Look Up, Look Out, Look Under” in March of this year. The town library is also located within the town hall building, and is a valued resource for many of the town’s residents.
Residential dwellings are a mixture of terraced and semi-detached houses, maisonettes, flats and some more modern apartment blocks. Two new private housing estates have been built within the last 18 months at the outskirts of the town. There is also one tower block of high flats in the town centre. Most of the properties are council and ex-council houses and flats, which were built to accommodate the overspill from Springburn in the 1950’s and 60s.
Johnstone has four non-denominational primary schools, three Catholic primary schools, four nurseries and pre-5 centres and one high school. Located within the grounds of Johnstone High is the Johnstone Sports Hub, run by Renfrewshire Leisure. It boasts a swimming pool, sports facilities, gym, fitness classes and astro turf pitches. Local schools operate a rota system for pupils to take part in swimming lessons during school term.
Johnstone has several green spaces, most notably Thomas Shanks Park, known locally as ‘the public park’. However, most of these areas contain little or no playground equipment for children to use, and those that do are poorly maintained and often unsafe. Corseford, a council housing scheme to the south west of the town, has no facilities whatsoever for young residents. Community centres are few and far between, leaving young people in the area to try and find their own entertainment, meaning the area does experience bouts of anti-social behaviour.
Johnstone has two train stations, Johnstone station to the north-east boundary of the town, and Milliken Park to the south west, both of which are on the Ayr/Largs to Glasgow line. Bus services to Glasgow city centre and nearby towns are run by McGill’s, who have a depot located close to the Milliken Park railway station, and local shuttle bus services by Keycoaches. Johnstone is also located in the flight path for Glasgow Airport, and this causes some noise pollution to the town. By way of compensation, Glasgow Airport Flight Path Fund provide financial assistance in the form of grants to local community groups who are affected (Glasgow Airport, 2017).
For such an urbanised town, Johnstone does have a remarkable natural environment right on its doorstep; the stunning Rannoch and Bluebell woods surrounding the Johnstone Castle estate provide a variety of wildlife, from foxes, squirrels and deer, to owls and bats at night time. The woods lead right up to the Glennifer Braes in the south, and provide beautiful and stimulating walks for dog walkers, children and amateur hikers alike. The numerous streams and burns are rich in pondlife and on a summer’s day, the woods are peppered with the sound of local children playing ‘tig’.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the air pollution of Johnstone rated at level 2 – low, but also quite shocked to find that this was higher than Glasgow city centre’s rating of 1 (Air Quality in Scotland, 2017). I had wrongly assumed that the air quality of the city centre would be worse than a suburban town, however research shows that due to shorter commuting distances, and the close proximity of services in cities, cities residents expend less energy per capita that their more rural counterparts (European Environment Agency, 2013).
To devise a lesson in which a class of primary 5 pupils can investigate their urban environment, I would start with a discussion on the different types of housing that exist both in Scotland and around the world, and the benefits and disadvantages of each (SCO 2-13a). I would then organise a walk for pupils around the local area, to investigate and record the different types of housing present and how prevalent each is. Back in the classroom, I would ask the children to think about and discuss what they think these types of homes were chosen, and what impact this has on the local area. I would then encourage the children to devise a plan for a proposed new housing development in their local area, and get them to research features of houses that they could include, and the impact these would have on the environment (SCO 2-10a, SCO 2-8a, SCO 2-8b). This could be extended across the curriculum to include literacy, art and design, technology and numeracy by creating brochures and advertisements for their proposed development, creating a model of their development and investigating potential costings for the development based on different materials and options.
REFERENCES
Air Quality in Scotland, 2017. [Online] Available: www.scottishairquality.co.uk [Accessed: 22 September 2017]
Curriculum for Excellence: Social Studies Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed 22 September 2017]
European Environment Agency, 2013. Urban Environment [Online] Available: https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/urban/intro [Accessed: 22 September 2017]
Glasgow Airport, 2017 Flightpath fund [Online] Available: http://www.glasgowairport.com/community/flightpath-fund/ [Accessed : 22 September 2017]
Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Guide, 2017. [Online] Available: http://statistics.gov.scot/resource?uri=http://statistics.gov.scot/id/statistical-geography/S13003082 and http://statistics.gov.scot/resource?uri=http://statistics.gov.scot/id/statistical-geography/S13003083 [Accessed: 22 September 2017]
