Welcome to the Glasgow Keelie

The dictionary of Scots language describes a keelie thus: I. n. 1. A male city-dweller of the rougher sort, specif. of Glasgow and district (see Glesca), occas. ‡of Edinburgh, an uncouth rowdy fellow, a “tough”. Orig. it implied thievish or criminal propensities.

We have become a bit more sophisticated from back in the day. And a bit more understanding of how working class folk were treated, described, and proscribed if they didn’t fit into the order of things. Or could be banished to the shadowy world of survival – that the elite classed as criminality.

Here we are not implying “thievish or criminal propensities”. We are occasionaly, uncouth and rowdy, but all in the nicest possible way and for the nicest possible outcomes.

EVENTS UPDATE PAGE

A new Keelie feature. We will gather as many relevant events as we can and publish them in a weekly or by weekly update. If you wish to join the mailing list for updates , you can join through the contact page.

Who We Are

The Keelie is part of the work of a group of people involved in different aspects of community investment, through, history and archive projects, events, bookfairs, talks, solidarity with workers, commemorating our radical past, reenactments, music art and a bit of drama here and there. We have no party political affiliations and receive no funding.