Watch the Golden Friendships Documentary

A documentary following the phenomenal journey of Golden Friendships has been released. The documentary was debuted at the Golden Friendships Community Hall over two nights on the 10th and 11th June. The film titled ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ follows Dalmuir-based Golden Friendships from its early days to the opening of the world’s first wheelchair entertainment venue.

Nick Low, owner of Demus Productions, who produced the film, told the Clydebank Post that he hadn’t initially planned on making a documentary on the club. The idea came about after two of his staff members visited the Golden Friendships Community Halls in Nairn Place and were blown away by what they saw.

Nick said: “Five years ago we were making videos for the West Dunbartonshire Lord Provost Awards and Jim McLaren had been nominated for the ‘Citizen of the Year’ award. We were tasked with making the films for the presentation ceremony and two of my staff at the time had come along to the club to interview Jim. They came back to the office and said ‘My god, you’ve got to come and see this place, there are people bouncing off the walls and it’s midday on a Thursday’. I went along and we brought our cameras and I couldn’t believe it. We had filmed quite a lot of people over the years for West Dunbartonshire Council but this was on a different scale.”

The documentary gives an insider’s perspective of some of the biggest events and challenges the club has faced since its inception. These include the local community coming together to raise funds to buy the building the charity had been renting, the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on the club and how members responded, and the launch of the Red Ramp Events. After five years following the lives of Golden Friendships’ members and staff, Nick explained that the first Red Ramp Event felt like a fitting place to end the documentary.