Around Town Events are listed by city, then type. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to sport@list.co.uk for sport or aroundtown@list.co.uk for all other events. Listings compiled by Suzanne Black. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry

Glasgow Activities & Events FREE Free Wednesdays Wed 14 & 21 Oct, 1–4pm. Mackintosh Church, Queen’s Cross, 870 Garscube Road, 946 6600. Free entry to the visitor centre every Wednesday from 1pm. FREE The King Monkey Pub Quiz Tue 13 & 20 Oct, 8.30pm. The Drawing Room, 1055 Sauchiehall Street, 339 2999. Are you brainy or bananas? Win yellow fruit and beer at this weekly pub quiz for teams of up to seven primates. Greetin Glasgow Ongoing, Mon–Sat 10am & 2pm. £8 (accompanied children free). Doulton Fountain, Glasgow Green, 07751 976935. Walking tours of the East End of Glasgow and Merchant City. Times are flexible so check the website. Booking required. FREE Awopbopaloobopalambamboom! Thu 8 Oct, 6.30pm. Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 287 2999. Celebrate the 50th anniversary tour of Cliff Richard and the Shadows with a dance session, daddio. DiScOmBoBuLaTe Thu 8 Oct, 7.30pm. £4 (£2). The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. Ian MacPherson hosts another verbose outing of the literary/comedy evening. Part of Glasgow Poetry Week. Garden Walk Sat 10 Oct, 2.30–4pm. Included in admission: £5.50 (£4.50; family ticket £10-£15). Greenbank Garden, Flenders Road, Clarkston, 0844 493 2201. Seasonal gardening tips and a round-up of what’s going on in the garden this month. FREE It’s All About Having Fun-gi Sun 11 Oct, 2–4pm. Twechar, Kilsyth, 956 6586. Discover the mushrooms and toadstools of Barhill in Twechar on this ranger-guided walk. Booking essential. Fright Nights at Mugdock Country Park Tue 13–Fri 16 Oct, 7.15pm & 8.15pm. £8 (£5). Mugdock Country Park, Craigallian Road, Milngavie, 956 6100. Fizzgig and Grubb host a minibus journey to the creepy Mugdock Castle where things go bump, bump, bump in the night. For the brave and the bonkers. Not suitable for buggies or young children. Booking essential. FREE She Settles in the Shields Thu 15 Oct, 10am–1.30pm. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 572 1663. Explore mental health through the prisms of migration and gender. Part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. FREE The Merchant Voices Wed 21 Oct, 6.30–8.30pm. City Halls, Candleriggs, 353 8000. Community choir with weekly classes, led by tenor and conductor Dominic Peckham and covering a broad vocal repertoire. Open to adults of all ages, no previous musical experience is required just lots of enthusiasm! Photography Walk: Intermediate Level Sun 18 Oct, 10am–4pm. £15. Mugdock Country Park, Craigallian Road, Milngavie, 956 6100. Improve your outdoor and wildlife photography skills with photographer David Palmar. Booking essential. FREE Skyride Local Hogganfield Loch Sun 18 Oct, 2.30pm. An ideal way to get into cycling, this group ride is guided by qualified leaders, and is suitable for beginners or families with older children. The route begins at the Boat House and takes you on two loops around Hogganfield Loch. See www.goskyride.com/local/event/608/Hog ganfield-Loch 34 THE LIST 8–22 Oct 2009

Nationwide drawing programme The Big Draw celebrates its tenth birthday this year with hundreds of events for adults and children all over the country. It’s run by charity The Guild Etch a sketch of St George, on principles established by the artist John Ruskin. ‘Ruskin believed that if you draw as he did, the natural world, a leaf or a rock, you understand it and are able to engage with it more clearly,’ explains Big Draw director Sue Grayson Ford. ‘It’s a very interesting notion, that looking becomes seeing when you draw. Drawing encourages you to understand the composition of everything around you, maybe becoming kinder and gentler to it as a result.’ Our pick of the Big Draw’s programme in Scotland is Drawing Bites at GOMA in Glasgow, in which adults are encouraged to contribute to a large-scale collaborative drawn installation, however there are exciting events happening all over the country. The Big Draw runs free events all over Scotland from Wed 7–Wed 21 Oct. For full event listings, see www.thebigdraw.org

Exhibitions Doctor Who Exhibition Until Mon 4 Jan 2010, 10am–5pm; Fri & Sun 11am–5pm. £7.50 (£4.50; family ticket £18). Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 08444 815816. Calling all Whovians: a galaxy of Doctor- related material is on display in Kelvingrove, from props to costumes. Come face to face with Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and the Ood with nary a sonic screwdriver to fend them off. Tickets from www.SECxtra.com or 08444 815816. FREE World War II Exhibition Until Sat 7 Nov (not Sun/Mon), 10am–1pm & 2–4.30pm. Clydebank Museum, Clydebank Town Hall, Dumbarton Road, 562 2400. Launched on the 64th anniversary of VJ Day, this major exhibition provides a background to WWII with a pictorial history of the impact of this global conflict on West Dunbartonshire. 110 Years, Mackintosh in Maryhill £4 (£2; children free; Wed after 1pm free). Mackintosh Church, Queen’s Cross, 870 Garscube Road, 946 6600. A display of items relating to the only church in the world designed by the great Scottish architect, designer and artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Part of Mackintosh 100.

Food & Drink Aberfoyle Mushroom Festival Thu 22–Sun 25 Oct, times vary. Prices vary. Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park, Loch Lomond Gateway Centre, Loch Lomond Shores, Balloch, 07920 440400. A festival of fungi, food, drink and music with a Scottish Homecoming theme. Expect guided fungi walks, cookery demonstrations and tastings. Sport Grand Prix Snooker Until Sun 11 Oct, times vary. £5–£35. Kelvin Hall

International Sports Arena, 1445 Argyle Street, 0871 230 1092. Grand Prix Snooker returns to Glasgow bringing with it all the top-ranked players, including John Higgins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and Stephen Maguire. Eurofight Xtreme Sat 17 Oct, 6pm. £25–£100. Braehead Arena, Kings Inch Road, 0870 277 6062. Mixed Martial Arts fights with Paul McVeigh, Chris David, James Doolan, Marcelo Costa and many more throwing down.

Talks FREE Fiction Writers at the Heart of Town Thu 8 Oct, 7pm. Alliance Française de Glasgow, 3 Park Circus, 339 4281. Alliance Française de Glasgow and the Goethe Institute Glasgow have put together a panel of authors from twinned cities to discuss the identity of their own town and the influence it’s had on their literature.

✽✽ FREE Beyond the Corporation: Taking Control of Our

Everyday Lives Thu 8 Oct, 7.30pm. Hetherington Research Club, 13 University Gardens, 330 4503. Tom Hodgkinson, editor of The Idler and author of How to Be Free, discusses corporate control of our everyday lives in an event chaired by Andrew Wilbur of the Radical Geographies Reading Group at Glasgow University. See Hitlist, page ??

✽✽ An Evening with Kevin Smith Mon 12 Oct, 7.30pm. £35–£40.

Royal Concert Hall, 2 Sauchiehall Street, 353 8000. See picture, page 38. FREE Objects in Focus Thu 15 Oct, noon. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Argyle Street, 276 9599. A lunchtime talk on The Honesty Mirror by Frances Macdonald. FREE Burrell’s Tapestries: It’s All in the Detail Thu 15 Oct, 12.30pm. Burrell Collection, 2060 Pollokshaws Road, 287 2550. Patricia Collins, Curator

of Medieval and Renaissance Art, and Helen Hughes, Textile Conservator, explore whether the ‘Sheldon Tapestries’ are myth or reality. Valerie MacLennan in Conversation with Tam Cowan Wed 21 Oct, 8pm. £10. Oran Mor, 731–735 Great Western Road, 357 6200. A chat with presenter and comedian Tam Cowan. Workshops Creative Writing Programme Mon 12 Oct & Mon 19 Oct, 6pm. £6.50 (£30 for six sessions). Borders Books, 98 Buchanan Street, 222 7700. Alistair Paterson leads a weekly class to inspire, guide and shape your literary outpourings. Bellydancing Classes Tue 13 Oct & Tue 20 Oct, 6.30pm. £6. The Lynne Millar Academy of Theatre Arts, 243 Sauciehall Street, 332 6332. Tribal bellydancing classes. Tickets from hipswithattitude@yahoo.com Next Step Dance Tue 13 & 20 Oct, 7pm. £5 (£12 for all three classes). G12 Studios, 37 Ruthven Lane, Byres Road, 552 2442. Body sculpting, ballet and musical theatre drop-in classes. Zoot Swing Tue 13 & 20 Oct, 8.30pm. £5. Sounds of Progress, 73–77 Trongate. Swing that thing to a soundtrack of big band and swing jazz at these fun classes (beginners 7.30pm, improvers 8.30pm). Book at www.zootswing.co.uk Vocal Masterclass Fri 9 Oct, 2.30pm. £3 (£2). RSAMD, 100 Renfrew Street, 332 5057. Learn from the best as mezzo- soprano Felicity Palmer shares her experience. Joyworks Laughter Workshop Fri 9 Oct, 7.30–8.30pm. £8; term £30 (regulars £6; term £22). G12 Studios, 37 Ruthven Lane, Byres Road, 07842 414765. An hour-long laughter workshop designed to beat stress and be invigorating. Booking required.