Goodness Gracious! Great Falls of Clyde! - Robert Owen Commemoration Lecture 2018

The Friends of New Lanark, in association with The Open University in Scotland, are delighted to announce the 2018 Robert Owen Commemoration Lecture will be delivered by Graham U'ren, Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute (FRTPI) and a trustee of New Lanark Trust.

The Falls of Clyde form one of the sights of Central Scotland for modern day visitors who venture up the Clyde Valley.   Many opt to take the Clyde Walkway path from New Lanark which leads to the viewpoint overlooking Corra Linn Falls, spectacular after heavy rain or snow melt, and then on to Bonnington Falls which form a wall across the end of the deep woodland gorge not far below the takeoff dam for the water supply to the hydroelectric power station downstream.

However, few people realise the full, dramatic story of how the Falls themselves were originally created in distant Ice Age times, or came to be regarded as an aesthetic and natural wonder, or just how much they have affected the pattern of human life in the upper Clyde Valley for much of historic time, not least in the decision to build the model industrial village of New Lanark in the cast of their flow, towards the end of the Scottish Enlightenment period.

Graham U’ren is a town planner and geographer who has lived and worked in the area for over 40 years. Currently a trustee of New Lanark Trust, he has been Director of Planning for the former Clydesdale District Council, Director of the Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland, chair of the Crichton Trust and a founding trustee of the Built Environment Forum Scotland.

Graham has been associated with the preservation and development of New Lanark for much of that time, both as trustee of New Lanark Trust and chair of the Friends of New Lanark. He has a special interest in the Falls of Clyde and their surrounding landscape, contributing to the chapter on The Falls of Clyde in “Clydesdale’s Heritage” book. In his view, the Falls of Clyde are, indeed, “great” in every sense, which he will attempt to demonstrate with his illustrated talk.

The Friends of New Lanark are grateful to The Open University in Scotland and The New Lanark Trust for sponsorship of this event.

Tickets are £3.00 and can be booked via the New Lanark website or purchased at the door.

You can find out more about Robert Owen and New Lanark, on the OU's free learning site, OpenLearn.