GAS 2025- Updates and Going Forward

Hi Comrades, 
In the 6 months since our last blog post, things have been very busy here at GAS. Thanks for all your support and patience at the moment. Since the opening party in June, we now have a rolling values statement, a new booking process, and have made lots of improvements to our new space, which are still ongoing. We also have an accessibility checklist that is constantly being improved and updated! We’re a new group of volunteers making up the current GAS committee, hopefully the blog posts will be more consistent to keep everyone updated. And most importantly, after the big move to our new cosy location in Govanhill, we’ve had over 200 events hosted in the space and over 2000 people through the door since we opened! 

• Community meal
• New GAS groups
• Funding update
• How to get involved

Funding update
In December, GAS reached out to the community to help cover our outgoing rent and utility costs; this was a big success and another step towards financial freedom from institutions and funding bodies for this space. If you’re interested in making a monthly donation, you can do that here. 
In the last few weeks, we’ve also come into some project specific funding. Big thank you to the kind students at Hollybrook Academy (on our street) who made an art project about GAS community meals and we were awarded £3000 in their school philanthropy competition.


We will be donating a percentage of this award to our friends at LGBT Unity, the remaining funds will go to our community meal team to cover bulk supplies, equipment and ingredients.  Thank you so much to all the pupils at Hollybrook Academy for all your kind words about GAS, it means the world! 


GAS Groups
Do you want to book GAS? We are keen to support grassroots projects this winter; did we mention the central heating sort of works?
Our regular groups include:


This Is Rigged, weekly Mondays
This Is Rigged returns to GAS on Monday the 27th of January for a special Burns Night Supper. If you haven’t been to a soup night for a while then come along and bring some friends too! Our first demand, for the Scottish government to oppose all new oil and gas projects, has been met. As we begin phase two of our campaign, there could be no better time to come along and get involved.
Date: Weekly Mondays (from January 27th)
Time: 6pm
More info: Just turn up!

Language Exchange, weekly Wednesday 
English Speakers Needed! Drop in to volunteer 
Language exchange is back! We are so happy to be hosting our language exchange on a weekly basis again. Every Wednesday, a casual evening of snacks and socialising is held where English can be practiced and languages from the globe across shared over snacks and games. There is always room for more volunteers at these sessions, and to get involved, simply turn up on the day as it suits you! Follow our Linktree to join the Whatsapp group.

Date: Weekly Wednesdays
Time: 6 - 8.30pm
More info: Linktree (English speaker/organiser Whatsapp and General participant Whatsapp)

GAS Community Meal, weekly Thursdays
An autonomously run group of volunteers have built momentum for our weekly GAS community meals. They are a warm, social, pay what you can (no one turned away for lack of funds)evening happening every week on Thursdays (takeaway only on the 4th Thursday of the month). All meals are fully vegan and halal, and aim to be gluten free, but to guarantee this is a work in progress. Any further dietary restrictions or takeaway requests can be made on this form. While there is no obligation to pay for these meals, any donations to help fund future meals can be made via a bank transfer QR code, or in cash on the evening. 
The volunteers WhatsApp chat is at 100 people and counting, and you can join it here. If you are interested in anything going on here at GAS, or simply just want to see what the space is like, the community meal is the best way to do that and meet some friendly faces. Our kitchen crew are offering takeaway options for all meals in compostable containers.

Date: Weekly Thursdays (fourth Thursday of the month takeaway only)
Time: 6.30pm
More info: Turn up, booking system in progress 


Movement in Thyme, fortnightly Sunday PM
Movement in Thyme offers free and pay-what-you-can herbal medicine workshops including their Solidarity Medicine Making sessions on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. Remedies made during the workshop are available at Community Apothecaries in GAS and Milk as well as sent to partner organisations like Refuweegee and Mobile Herbal Clinic Calais. All year round, herbs can provide deep nourishment and support, but they are especially important in the winter months to support immune function and soothe symptoms of colds, flus, fevers and more. Please yourself to the remedies available on the front of the cabinet in the main event space, any donation you can give is welcome but they just want to get herbs to the community, join the Sunday sessions to get stuck in, and keep your eyes out for announcements about the new GAS GARDEN coming soon! 🌿 Follow @movement_in_thyme to stay updated.


Unity Sisters, bi-monthly
Unity Sisters coordinated by our GAS committee member Virginie, it’s a grassroots group of refugee and asylum-seeking women providing each other with support, community, and peer advocacy. They host a range of community building activities in GAS, Unity Sisters use the GAS kitchen to bake together in the morning. Get in touch with us if you or anyone you know would like to join.
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LGBTQ Sober Socials, fortnightly (dates tbc)
LGBTQ sober socials offer fun, exploratory creative writing sessions at GAS fortnightly on Tuesdays. We will update our calendar (on our website) once 2025 dates are confirmed.

Industrial Workers of the World, monthly Sundays
Monthly meetings for the members of the IWW’s Glasgow branch, who very kindly make donations in support of the running of the space.


Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity, fortnightly Thursdays
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Glasgow Prisoner Solidarity is a small group of people working to connect with people inside prison in Scotland and beyond, and raise awareness outside about prison expansion and abolitionist principles. 
We have a pen pal group, where you can be matched with someone inside and write letters together, open to all. These meetings run on the second Thursday of the month at GAS (next date: 13th February), from 5.30-7pm, with all materials provided.
We also have collective meetings at GAS or online on the 4th Thursday of the month, where we work on our other activities - email us at [email protected] if you want to come along to one of these or find out more. We are currently putting together our first inside-outside newsletter and supporting other groups with campaigns. 
You can also follow us on Instagram @glasgowprisonersolidarity for occasional updates.


What’s Coming Up at GAS this month?
You can check our calendar here. 
GAS volunteers are in the process of streamlining the booking process for one-off events, in the hopes that many intersecting communities will get to use the space. We are excited to welcome a grassroots soup kitchen who will be using our kitchen to provide weekly hot meals to a homeless shelter in the west end of Glasgow. 



How you can help!
-  Paying the rent at GAS is entirely funded by its users and patrons, and small amounts go a long way. If you’d like to donate, you can head to our GoCardless page here.
-  If you don’t want to donate, you can help us by simply sharing posts or coming to any of our events throughout the week!
Thank you for your continued support and kindness this year! 

Solidarity, GAS

 Instagram - Linktree