First Glasgow has announced the winner of its Bus Art competition. School children across First Glasgow's network area (Greater Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute, Renfrewshire and Vale of Leven) were invited last month to submit drawings, paintings and collages to the bus company on the subject of bus travel.
The artwork has been used to decorate the hoardings at the construction site of First's new depot and HQ on Cathcart Road in the South side of the city.
Emily Willox (11), a P7 school pupil at Broomhill Primary, was picked the overall winner. Emily's brightly coloured drawing, of a First bus with happy customers passing the Balfour Beatty site, impressed the judges because of its composition and careful illustration.
First Glasgow received a whopping 900 entries and has been able to display most of them on hoardings at the 10-acre Balfour Beatty construction site, which will become home to First Glasgow's £20million new depot and head office in November.
11-year old Emily commented: 'I love art and I'm really pleased to see my drawing on display. My classmates and I had lots of fun entering the competition.'
Emily's drawing along with three other winning entries will also be displayed on the exterior of some First Glasgow buses next month.
Fiona Kerr, First Glasgow's managing director, said: 'The children's artwork we have on display on the hoardings of our new site is really imaginative and inspiring. We were delighted and overwhelmed by the number of entries we received and very impressed with the children's creativity.'
Fiona added: 'Emily is a deserving winner and her entry and the contribution of schoolchildren throughout Glasgow and Lanarkshire has helped transform our site into a colourful and exciting talking point.'
Stephen Scott, Balfour Beatty Delivery Unit Managing Director from Balfour Beatty commented: 'Working with First Glasgow and the local community is very important to us. We are delighted to be displaying hundreds of children's drawings on the Cathcart Road hoardings, it helps to share the creativity and imagination of young people with road users and passers-by.'
Entries from numerous different schools are on display on 26 jumbo-sized frames on hoardings at the Balfour Beatty construction site on Cathcart Road until May.
Work commenced at First's new depot and headquarters at Gushetfaulds last year with Deputy First Minister and local MSP, Nicola Sturgeon, officially planting the first spade in the ground at a special ceremony in November. The new facility, which is scheduled to be fully operational from November 2014, will be the biggest bus depot in the UK with space for up to 450 buses and 1200 employees.