IAYS OUT

.\'lill. HANNA

I CHEERLEADER TRY-OUT Sat 4, 10am. Marco’s Leisure Centre, 62 Templeton Street, Glasgow. Free. Details from Dawn Peterson on 0131 220 1314. Scotland’s new American Football Team have only nine cheerleaders at present and they need a total of 24 to cheer them on to victory. The main criteria to join are an ability to dance, an outgoing personality and the willingness to be an ambassador for the team on radio and television appearances. The dancing is on the modern tip - several of those already chosen dance in clubs. Dn hand to choose the team will be Ramona Braganza who has spent ten years with the LA Raiderettes and is currently a line captain there. As the choreographer/director she hopes to bring the cheerleaders some contemporary new dance routines and a little bit of Hollywood razzle dazzle. She has appeared in Baywatch and her favourite colours are red, green, white, and, of course, the Claymores’ colours: black and silver. Go for it!

This section gives details of selected events taking place in and around the Central Belt of Scotland this fortnight. Events are listed by area and then alphabetically. All submissions should be accompanied by a contact phone number for our information. Days Out compiled by Thom Dtbdin.

BORDERS

I ETTRICK AND YARROW ORGANISED HIKE Sun 5. 10am—4pm. Meet at Hogg monument at the southern end of St Mary‘s Loch on the A708. Free. A fairly strenuous ten-mile hike organised by the Borders Regional Countryside Ranger Service. You will need stout walking boots. a packed lunch and waterproof outdoor Clothing as the route will be over the ridge separating the iittrick and Yarrow valleys. returning on the right-of- way from Ettrick Kirk to the Loch of Lowes. No dogs.

CENTRAL AND TAYSIDE

I III TOUCH WITH THE PAST Sat 28 Jan—Sat 18 Feb (not Suns). 10am—4pm. Callendar House. Callendar Park. Falkirk. £1.50. 01324 612134. This hands-on touring exhibition frotn Glasgow Museums is aimed at the blind and partially sighted. but also provides a good family day out. Specially selected prehistoric objects and modern technology introduce the neolithic world through touch. with stone weapons. tools and carved ritual items. Besides the axes and arrows for hunting and farming on open display at each stage of their production from rough stone to finished object there are also the skins of wolf and deer: the type of animal hunted. Entry includes

.iccess to the house. which dates from the 13th century. with its period kitchen.

I MILLS OBSERVATORY OPEN NIGHT Fri 27. 7.30 10pm. Mills Observatory. Eialgay l’ark. Dundee. Free. 01382 367138. Monthly open night at the

)bsei‘v atoiy with a talk about the night sky and the planet Mars followed by a :hance to look through the 10in telescope. The observatory is open on weekdays. 3--l0pm. and Sat. 2-5pm.

LO'I'IIIANSS: FIFE

. 131-. i Grant Morrison: graphic account I COMIC TURNS Sun 29. 2pm. Filmhouse. 88 l.othian Road. litlinburgh. £2.20 (£150). 013] 228 2688. A screening of the 1989 version of Captain America (PC) followed by a personal appearance with question and answer session from Grant

Morrison who is one of Scotland‘s leading-

graphic novelists. See Film lndex for further details.

| I NIGHT SKY IN FEBRUARY Fri 27. i 7.30—9pm. Royal Observatory. Blackford j llill. Edinburgh. £2 (£1.50). 0131 668

8405. Russell liberst talks about what can ; be seen in the heavens during February.

. The observatory visitor centre is open daily. noon—5.30pm. livening opening

g .‘vion—Thurs. 7—9pm on clear nights to

; look through the telescopes. Phone on the day after 4pm to book (£1.50).

1 I RECORD FAIR Sun 29. 10am. Windsor

1 Hotel. Victoria Road. Kirkcaldy. File.

; 50p. A small record fair. with vinyl. Cl)

and cassettes for sale.

' I SIX PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE Thurs 9. 7.30pm. Royal Museum of

Scotland. Chambers Street. Edinburgh. £1 (£2 if pic-booked). 0131 225 7534 est

l 219. Dr Simon Conway Morris front the

I Department of liarth Sciences at the

University of Cambridge gives a lecture

entitled ‘Six problems in the history of

life: from the origin of life to the origin of consciousness.‘

' eardrum- I AH AWFY INTERESTIN’ LIFE Tue 7.

' l—-2pm. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. 2

f Sauchiehall Street. £1.50 (1.2 on the day).

0141 227 5511. Former liuro Ml’ Janey liuchan talks about her ‘awfy interestin' life' in the first of the new series of

conversation pieces.

I CHEERLEADER TRY-OUT Sat 4. 10am.

Marco‘s Leisure Centre. 62 Templeton Street. Glasgow. Free. Details from Dawn

, Peterson on 013l 220 1314. See photo caption.

I GIANT RECORD ’N’ POP FAIR Sat 4.

j 10am—6pm; Sun 5. 10am—4pm. SFCC. Finnieston Quay. Glasgow. L2. 0141 248 3000. llartlcore record collecting action with some 400 stalls selling records. cassettes. CDs and pop memorabilia.

I SCOTTISH BOAT, CARAVANING,

CAMPING AND LEISURE SHOW Wed l—Sun

5. 11am-9pm (Sun: llanrhpm). SFCC. Finnieston Quay. Glasgow. £5 (£3). 0141

248 3000. lixcellent days out material for you leisure fanatics. with displays of boats. caravans. motorhomes. camping equipment and associated products and

services. For the more active there will be

plenty of 'come and try' exhibits.

including a diving stand with specially

constructed pool.

I SPOT YOUR GRANNY! Wed 8.

7.30—8.30pm. (.‘hatelhcrault Country Park. Ferniegair. Hamilton. Free. 01698 426213. If your granny lived in Hamilton.

then you might well see her in this film

show of historic footage from the local

archives.

As The List went to press. cold weather and blizzards had been kind to most of the Scottish ski areas. apart from Glenshee which still lagged behind.

I Ski Clubs For the social life and post- piste piss-ups. your local ski-club can't be beat. They also organise mini-buses to slopes on most weekends and cart put you in touch with other people who might want to car share.

Glasgow Ski Club meet every Thursday at 9pm in The Scaramouche. Elderslie Street. Details from 0141 424 1893 or 0141 883 6665.

Edinburgh Ski Club meet every Tuesday from 9.30pm at the West find Hotel. Palmerston Place. For an information pack phone 0131 220 3121.

I GLENCDE Chairlift company: 01855 851 226. Closed Tue/Wed. The closest resort to Glasgow and Scotland's first commercial resort. The first tow opened in 1956. All runs were complete. with a wide cover of fresh snow giving [800 feet of vertical descent. All uplifts were running and the nursery areas also had good coverage.

I NEVIS RANGE Chairlift company: 01397 705825. Scotland's newest and hence most modern ski resort boasts the UK‘s only gondola system. The highest pistes in

Scotland are at the top of Aonach Mor L (4006 feet). Creche facility: three to seven

years. The coverage was getting ‘better and better' with deep drifts around the mountain so there were some good runs on a firm base. although others were still quite narrow. All lifts were operating.

I CAIRNGDRM Chairlift company: 01479 861 261. Scotland‘s tnost famous ski area.

5 close to the skiing town of Aviemore so there are lots of things to do off-piste. The resort is reckoned to be Scotland's largest. i boasting 28 runs. A decent snowfall had

' left the coverage ‘heading in the right

direction' and the wind pushing loose

snow into all runs. filling them up with good coverage. iileven of the seventeen : tows were working. although the high

winds were causing sortie problem. Most of the upper and many of the middle and lower runs were complete.

I GLENSHEE Chairlift company: 013397 41320/41343. lidinburgb's closest resort. The three valleys of Glenshee offer 38 pistes on 40km of runs and a massive uplift capacity of 18.500 skiers an hour. Creche facility: over two years.

; Reasonable snow falls made skiing i ‘slightly more promising than it has been'. Some runs were complete but they were

generally narrow.

I THE LECHT Chairlift company: 019756 51440. Scotland's best resort for absolute beginners. with easy green and nursery slopes right next to the car park. Creche facility: over three years. Southern winds had left things ‘a thousand times better than last week!’ At least one run was complete from fence to fence at the top of each lift. although the northern slopes are a bit thin. All they need now is a decent storm from the north.

“N'va [atat‘

h 7.6..) I». figzflwzw,u A

After a mild start to the skiing season. Scotland's sIti operators are crossing their fingers for more blirds and cold weather to firm-up the pistes and broaden the nuts. The white stuff has been falling and all resorts promise skiing of one standard or another. Phone first

for an up-to-date report.

74 The List 27 Jan-9 Feb 1995