City's Joy And Sorrow' Remembered

The Archbishop of Glasgow has reflected on a year of joy and sorrow'' for the city in his New Year message. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia said tragedies such as the fatal bin lorry accident and last year's Clutha disaster had cast a shadow but there had also beenpositive and inspiring'' moments of light during the Commonwealth Games and independence referendum." He previously told a service in honour of the victims of last week's George Square crash that he had wept with Jacqueline McQuade, who saw her teenage daughter Erin and parents Jack and Lorraine Sweeney die ''almost right in front of her''. The Archbishop's message said: Alas we begin this new year in the shadow of death. The terrible accident in George Square, Glasgow, which shocked and saddened us just before Christmas, seemed to echo the tragic event of a year earlier when a helicopter fell from the sky on to the Clutha Bar.The shock of both events casts a long shadow - a shadow which cannot be banished by the sound of the bells or the clinking glasses of New Year toasts." Yet as we look back and look forward we must also recall more positive and inspiring moments."The Commonwealth Games and the independence referendum were moments when we glimpsed a huge common desire to improve Glasgow and to do what was best for Scotland. Both were proofs of the goodwill and concern for others which still prevails in human hearts.'' He added: In joy and in sorrow, the goodness of people triumphs. That is a consoling thought as we begin a new year.''