fayyoung

About Fay

Editor in Chief for Walking Heads, Fay is a blogger, writer and editor with a special interest in what makes cities tick.

520 Sauchiehall Street

We would like you to meet the cast of A Brisk Walk. Six very different characters provide the narrative of our journey through the hidden promise of buildings at risk. First up is 520 Sauchiehall Street the oldest and perhaps the most eccentric of them all. […]

Old buildings reborn with new music

Past, present and future jostle together in city streets.  We wander up an alley to find a beautiful Charles Rennie Macintosh building squeezed into an improbably tight space. Linger by the Finnieston Crane on the Clyde to hear music in the wind. Pause by an old factory in the East End to discover a new arts hub emerging inside.  […]

The hidden promise of Glasgow’s derelict buildings

Silent, empty, enigmatic, yet derelict buildings are often full of potential. A Brisk Walk invites you to explore the strange beauty and hidden promise of seemingly forgotten buildings. […]

Backstage Gossip: well beyond the Fringe

Backstage Gossip with Susan Morrison and Bruce Morton, takes us behind the scenes and well beyond the Fringe. Our research director Fay Young introduces the latest Walking Heads audio tour.  […]

Contraflow – by Clare Archibald

A woman alone and without pre-ordained purpose enters the echoing space of a multi-storey car park: this powerful piece by Scottish writer Clare Archibald opened an occasional series exploring the complex relationships of people and place. First published 12 August, 2016 this is one of the top reads on Walking Heads blog.   […]

Lucky for some: #LoveComedy Fringe draw

Best laid plans…and all that. Our first week’s Fringe competition has not been without incident thanks to hackers and high winds. But, hey, that’s show biz and we’re delighted to say that despite such hazards six talented people have won tickets to The Stand Comedy Club in the first six days. […]

Memory and music in multi-storey telling

Music, words and buildings – they all describe human experience in different ways. They’re also all important elements of Walking Heads projects so we are delighted to feature Contraflow, a powerfully evocative new work by writer Clare Archibald, on our blog later this week. But first a heads up: Brigid Mae Power, an inspirational element in the story, will be playing live at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow on 13 August.  […]

Win two tickets to The Stand every day during Fringe 2016

Do you love comedy? Then here’s an offer you surely can’t refuse.  Don’t miss this chance to win two tickets to top late night shows at The Stand Comedy Club every day during Edinburgh Festival Fringe in a daily draw from 2 – 26 August (tickets available from 4 – 28 August).  […]

Take a walk on the southside: O2 Academy Glasgow

We set out to create an audio tour of Glasgow music and indeed it’s impossible to go far in the city without hearing live music from somewhere nearby. But more often than not, it’s a building with a story of its own to tell.  Take a walk on the southside to the O2 Academy. […]

Time for a tea trail: from Glasgow to Ceylon

Tea time is over. Or so the latest market research suggests. But not in Walking Heads Towers…we are still partial to a cuppa and sometimes even make it the proper way: in a teapot. Which is only right since we are based in the city which gave birth to Thomas Lipton. Oh, come on, you’ve heard of Liptons! […]

Graveyard safaris: cities of dead and living!

An old lion rests, eyes open, at the edge of the path, bats flitter among branches of an oak tree, a fox slinks into the undergrowth, children’s laughter echoes in the summer evening air. Where in heaven or earth are we? […]

Waterloo, Wellington and Glasgow cone

The Duke of Wellington would have been amused. Far from being offended, the man who defeated Napolean would have seen the point of the cone. So says no less an authority than author and historian Owen Dudley-Edwards […]