Acknowledgements

Firstly, thanks go to my Director of Studies, Professor Katarzyna Kosmala, for her invaluable patience and feedback. I also could not have undertaken this journey without my other supervisors Dr. Gareth Rice and Dr. Evi Viza, who generously provided knowledge and expertise, and Professor Katherine Kirk for her invaluable help and support at the first stages of the study.  I am extremely grateful to the Forth and Clyde Canal Society and its volunteers and especially to Robert Welsh for their hard work and continuing support, as they provided their expertise on canals and boats so generously to me so I could complete this study.   Words cannot express my gratitude to the groups that made this study possible, the Maryhill Integration Network (MIN) and especially to Remzije Zeka Sherifi OBE, for her encouragement, knowledge and support, and to Gianluca Palombo and all the staff from MIN; the Women’s Centre in Maryhill, LGBTI Youth Scotland and the House of EvangelEasties group and especially to Stephen King.  I’m extremely grateful to Dr. Jonathan Read for giving a name to the concept of livescape, and encouraging me in the early stages of the study.  Additionally, this endeavour would not have been possible without the generous support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Scottish Refugee Council.

I am also grateful to my amazing team at CanalCraft, my project assistant Kirstie Anslow and my intern Shaun Horn for their insights, skills, support and encouragement. Special thanks to the study’s boat builder Ben Wilde and his team of boat builders, for his knowledge on boat building and skills in leading activities with communities all the years we have been working together.  Thanks should also go to the Seagull Trust, volunteers and especially Richard Davies for sharing generously their in depth knowledge of the canals and boats.  I am also grateful to the Clyde Maritime Trust (The Tall Ship at the Riverside), to the staff and volunteers and especially to Andy Aire for his continuous support to my endeavours with boats. Special thanks to local historian and researcher Don Martin OBE, for offering abundantly his knowledge on local history and heritage to me over the years.  I am also grateful to the staff of East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture and specifically Peter Mc Cormack for their generous offer of heritage knowledge and support to this study and my previous projects. I’d like to acknowledge Scottish Canals and Chris O’Connell for their support for the study, and East Dunbartonshire Local History Forum for providing me with encouragement, local heritage knowledge and support over the years.

I would be remiss in not mentioning my family, especially my partner Ian Maclellan, who through his academic knowledge, understanding and above all, passion of history and heritage, has been my inspiration, my colleague, advisor, and the biggest moral and practical support by keeping my spirits and motivation high during this process. I would also like to thank my three children for all their emotional support and encouragement. Finally yet importantly, I’d like to recognize the help of my PhD cohort members at UWS who influenced and inspired me in this study from the outset.