ALLAN Glen's School is no more but the former pupils are still remarkably active, with a rugby club still playing out at the old school playing fields in Bishopbriggs, bursaries bestowed every year on engineering students, and even a lunch club, which I think is still going, which meets once a month in a city centre hotel.
Allan Glen himself was a successful Glasgow craftsman who made a fortune in property, and left a huge sum to set up a school in the city for the sons of people engaged in trade or industry. It opened in 1853 and became Glasgow's foremost school for science and engineering with boys having to sit an entrance examination to get in. This is the school in 1953 during its centenary, when the photographer noted on the back of the print that this was Mr A. A. Smith in engineering "giving a demonstration with a model". That was photographer-speak for "I have no idea what is going on here but the picture looks interesting enough."
Allan Glen's School was swept aside as part of Labour's comprehensive school reform in 1973 when it merged with City Public School at its Montrose Street campus. Of course that was never going to last as very few people actually live so close to the city centre and unsurprisingly the school role fell and it closed for good in 1989.
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