The Couper Institute has seen many different types of activities in its 130+ year history. It’s hosted weddings, railway shows, birthday parties and just about every other type of event you can imagine. But was there ever such a lot of larks as we saw in September, for Doors Open Day?
At Cathcart, Merrylee and Muirend Community Council, we believe the Couper Institute is the jewel in our area’s crown: and our regular surveys tell us our community agrees. This stunning B-listed building, bequeathed by 19th century local mill-owner Robert Couper, has been the heart of Cathcart for years, and many of our residents cherish memories of their own or their parents’ weddings being held there.
That’s why we are working hard to celebrate and protect the building. So for Doors Open Day 2025, we pulled out all the stops to showcase this incredible asset. We started with three sold-out tours, in which Neil from Glasgow Life shared his knowledge of the Couper’s history, taking visitors behind the scenes onto the magnificent stage and into the warren of rooms upstairs.
So that people had a chance to try some of the activities that are regularly on offer at the Couper, we used funding from our local Area Partnerships to organise taster yoga and zumba sessions with teachers Aletia and Mags, both of whom run weekly classes. At our request, Aletia ran a special chair yoga session, suitable for people of all ages and abilities. Your fearless Community Council chair joined in the class and I confess that, having been doing yoga for over twenty years, I thought I might find this a bit timid. How wrong I was: we stretched and twisted in our chairs, and I soon realised that yoga in a chair can be just as satisfying as getting onto a mat.
Zumba changed the pace entirely, as the inexhaustible Mags put us through our paces, with upbeat music and cheery shouts of encouragement to keep us moving. And we couldn’t miss out our local families, so we ran a popular arts and crafts session in the cosy Auchincloss Room (named after Margaret and Tommy Auchincloss, who lived in Merrylee for many years and were tireless campaigners on behalf of their neighbours).
After all that, we needed some downtime. Luckily, Cathcart employers Celeros Flow Technology (known to many as Weirs) have sponsored our film programme this year, so we were able to provide a free screening of the moving film From Scotland with Love, with its haunting King Creosote soundtrack. Almost 60 people took their seats in the Couper’s handsome Grand Hall, and the audience was rapt throughout.
We’d like to thank all of the funders, supporters, community councillors, Glasgow Life staff, Glasgow City councillors and volunteers who made this wonderful week possible. And if all of that has whet your appetite to get back to the Couper again soon, you should know that the building is available to book for parties, events, shows and meetings: just fill in this form.
And if you’d like to check out the yoga, zumba, art classes and everything else that goes on at the Couper, check out the event listings.
The Couper is a wonderful asset to our community: let’s make sure we use it.
