Back on the Road has marked its 25th anniversary with a celebration and a double funding boost.
As well-wishers gathered at Bridgeton Bus Garage to salute the GVVT programme which has helped steer scores of people out of addiction and into work, the People’s Postcode Trust announced an award of £21,452 and Glasgow Eastern Merchants’ Society revealed a grant of £5000.
With support by the Corra Foundation continuing, BotR looks to its past with pride and to the future with confidence.
More participants such as Alex will benefit. Aged 45, he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for 20 years, but under the guidance of programme supervisor Gordon Kerr, has learned work skills which have helped place his life on a positive path.
One of 37 guests at the BotR celebration, Alex said: “I worked as a labourer on building sites until drink and drugs took over and I became unemployable.
“Thankfully, I’m now in recovery and learning. Just getting up and coming to the garage means a lot. It’s a commitment, a routine and it has restored my self-confidence.
“Being introduced to coachbuilding and painting by Gordon has convinced me I can acquire skills and work again.”
BotR pre-dates GVVT by three years, and Alex is the latest in a line of more than 200 people in recovery who have benefited from the programme – a statistic founder Alistair Ramsay wouldn’t have dared forecast in 1999.
Former GVVT trustee and then director of Scotland Against Drugs, Alistair said: “Back then a lot of money was spent warning people about drug abuse. After 18 months of gruesome advertising, there wasn’t a single person who was not aware of the dangers.
“However, there was nothing to help those in recovery get their life back together by getting a job.
“We turned to the former Glasgow Bus Museum and chose L446 as a restoration project. A six-month pilot proved so successful, similar projects were set up by SAD in Shetland, Aberdeen, Bo’ness and Dumfries, and BotR was flagship.
“After BotR relocated to Bridgeton and GVVT was established, the true hero arrived. Gordon Kerr was appointed supervisor and brought to the project not just a unique set of skills with the ability to pass these on to the participants but also an amazing ability to empathise with their issues.”
Gordon blends experience of coachbuilding with social care skills learned at college and puts BotR’s success down to its unique approach.
He said: “I have an HNC in social care gained with support from GVVT. It has helped immensely because this job is as much about counselling as it is panel beating.
“We have developed our own techniques, working with empathy and we don’t judge. That’s how we have lasted.”
Gordon’s 20 years’ service was saluted by BotR board member Martin Walker, who also paid tribute to project co-ordinator Vince Ho and volunteers Heather MacDonald and Mark Caldwell.
Other guests included Tracy Thomson, of NatWest Social and Community Capital, Veronica Hetherington, representing the Corra Foundation, and John Grady, newly elected MP for Glasgow East.
John said: “It was a privilege to join the Back on the Road team for their 25th birthday party.
“It was incredibly moving to hear from the people the programme has helped, and I am sure it will transform many more lives over the next 25 years, too.”
