Glasgow based actor Simon Weir, who has appeared in Taggart, Monarch of the Glen, River City and Take the High Road, as well as a number of feature films has taken another step forward in his dream to bring extinct Football Club, Third Lanark, back to their spiritual home of Cathkin Park in the south side of Glasgow.
Weir’s curiosity in the ground was stirred when he discovered earlier this year that his great-grandfather, John Weir, played at the ground for Third Lanark from 1916 to 1919.
After filming in various projects during the summer Weir would spend his spare time cleaning the surrounding pitch wall of dirt and moss that had gathered since the Hi-Hi went out of existence in 1967.
After scrubbing more than 300 feet back into pristine condition he has now gone further in his desire saying, “I carried out a Companies House search on the real title to the club, and found it had expired, so I bought it. I am now the proud new owner of the Third Lanark Athletic Club Limited name and I feel a bit like Victor Kiam.”
“A Steering Group has been formed involving the club historian Bert Bell and a couple of former players. We are finalising our proposal to put in front of Glasgow City Council to take over the long term lease of our old home ground from them.”
“We are also well on the way to completing Phase One of the refurbishment of this atmospheric old ground. We have started repainting the pitch wall and the ground is slowly coming back to life but it will require a major clear up before serious restoration can begin. Forty six years of undergrowth, rubbish and broken bottles to be removed first.”
Weir has ambitious plans for the old ground adding, “We want to have football of a higher level played here again and we have plans to rebuild the quaint old players’ pavilion building exactly where it was.”
“We are trying to get the public on board to support us as well and have started a petition at www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/3rdlanarkcathkinpark.
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