So: top tip when applying for a new job: when walking up the road in the pissing rain en route to the job interview, and an old lady asks you to help her across the road,
SAY YES
as the good karma it gives you clearly makes all the difference in the ensuing interview.
Farewell academia! My new job is as the first ‘Heritage Development Officer’ for Maryhill Burgh Halls Trust. Basically, for those folk not familiar with the Maryhill Burgh Halls, they are a landmark listed building just off Maryhill Road in Glasgow. When they opened in 1878, they featured 20 unique stained glass panels showing the many different industries in Maryhill.
[Photo by Cycleologist on Flickr]
They’ve been derelict for many years, and the Trust has been working hard to secure the funding needed to restore and re-open them
My new job is to research the industries in the stained glass panels, build community links, promote the history and heritage of Maryhill, create leaflets, talks and guided walks, and prepare the building for the return of the panels, and work on how they will be displayed and interpreted. Oh, and create and run a website as well. I can’t wait to get started 🙂 A selection of the panels can be seen here on theGlasgowStory.com website:http://www.theglasgowstory.com/searchq.php?qsearch=maryhill+burgh&iore=1 More about the Maryhill Burgh Halls project is here:
http://www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/MaryhillBurghHall.aspx
[Appropriately enough, given my Chemistry background, one of the panels depicts a Glassblower…]
Gordon's Miscellanea 
Very good to hear the glass panels are coming back – there was talk a while ago that they wouldn’t be, which would have been a shame. My father is a professor of Chemistry at Glasgow, so the glassblower panel has a connection for me too ;-)PS I found this via Flickr as that’s my picture you’ve used up there…
Congratulations Gordon that’s fantastic news and sounds absolutely fascinating. bencooper – if your father is who I think he is then I did my PhD for him!