Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 111

Of course, still more conditions had to be met. The govern-
ment's planners insisted that “the money mustn't all be spent in
one shop.” It couldn't all be spent on improving the parks and
tending old people's gardens. There had to be Special Projects.
This idea was much disliked by the press, with letter-writers con-
stantly declaring that the money should be given to pensioners
or to other worthy causes instead. The Parks Department hired
an expert from Northern Ireland, Ken Naylor, to come up with
suitably imaginative ideas. These included developing methane
digesters for the parks' greenhouses, studying Covenanters' graves
in the city cemeteries, and many more.
In November 1977 Keith Fraser (Director, Glasgow Parks
Department) and Ken Naylor (Assistant Director Landscape)
initiated “Astronomy in the Parks” as a Special Project, to be
housed with the rest in the offices of the former railway station
on Buchanan Street. Knowing nothing about astronomy, as he
was the first to admit, Ken Naylor organized a school competi-
tion. The winning entry was to build a copy of Callanish, or
possibly Stonehenge, for one of the city's parks. As there were
no immediate applicants for the manager's post, early in March
of 1978 Archie Roy was asked by the Parks Department to take
it on. He replied that he was far too busy and, knowing the
interest I was taking in the subject, he suggested me for the
post. To be precise, he told me on the phone, “I said I knew
someone who might be crazy enough…”
At the first meetings between myself and Ken Naylor, the ques-
tion of a stone circle was scarcely discussed. The brief which had
been agreed with the Manpower Services Commission on Novem-
ber 1, 1977, was “the employment of two astronomers to design and
erect an astrological construction (sic), such as a mini-Stonehenge
using modern materials like steel tubing, as a feature in the Parks.
Additionally, the persons employed would be expected to put for-
ward proposals for the promotion of facilities for basic astrological
(sic) studies indoors and outdoors, in the City's Parks as an educa-
tional and recreational feature with the object of encouraging young
people to become interested in astronomy and allied subjects. The
project would, it is hoped, develop greater interest in and use of
the museums, libraries and the educational facilities offered by the
Council and other Institutions in Glasgow.”