News

Pinkston Watersports    Role: Activities Manager  Full Time: 37.5 hours per week, flexible across 7 days.   Location: Glasgow G4 9XP, site based. No homeworking required.   Salary: £29,500 to £34,750  Annual Leave: 28 days annual leave, plus progressive leave policy.    About Pinkston Watersports  Glasgow Watersports operates Pinkston Watersports in Port Dundas, a unique self-sustaining charity and urban community sports hub located close to the city centre. Pinkston is home to Scotland’s only artificial white-water course alongside a large clean water canal basin and was a legacy project of the Commonwealth Games 2014.  We deliver a diverse and dynamic programme of activity: from public sessions and school engagement to community programmes, paddlesport development, and national-level training for rescue services. We are open year-round and are driven by a clear purpose to build stronger communities through activity, opportunity, and connection.  Our delivery…

Pinkston Watersports  Role: Youth and Community Coordinator  Full Time: 37.5 hours per week, flexible across 7 days. Permanent contract.  Location: Glasgow G4 9XP, site based with some outreach / community working. No homeworking required.   Salary: £27,775 – £33,150  Annual Leave: 28 days annual leave, plus progressive leave policy.     About Pinkston Watersports  Glasgow Watersports operates Pinkston Watersports in Port Dundas, a unique self-sustaining charity and urban community sports hub located close to the city centre. Pinkston is home to Scotland’s only artificial white-water course alongside a large clean water canal basin and was a legacy project of the Commonwealth Games 2014.  We deliver a diverse and dynamic programme of activity: from public sessions and school engagement to community programmes, paddlesport development, and national-level training for rescue services. We are open year-round and are driven by a clear purpose to build…

  New course modifications: We have been working on the final straight of the course and the outflow of the artificial white watercourse (AWWC). The old river right eddy at the outflow was causing problems for site users due to the strong eddy line and recirculation. We have changed the configuration of blocks along the…

Pinkston Watersports is delighted to announce our very first Community of Practice Day, delivered in partnership with Paddle Scotland. This special event will bring together Scotland’s paddling community for a full day of shared learning, inspiration, and time on the water. Designed for recreational paddlers who are current Paddle Scotland members, the day celebrates learning through practice, connection, and community. We would really appreciate if you would be able to share this information or attached poster with your club/other paddlers that may be interested in coming along. This is a great opportunity to : Try a range of different paddling disciplines Gain 15 CPD points Enjoy a low-cost day of quality paddling in a supportive, inclusive environment Connect with paddlers, coaches, and leaders from across Scotland Date : 14th March Time : 9am – 6pm Location : Pinkston Watersports, 75…

Users may not notice but the hub building is slightly lower than the bridge accessing the site. Equally people may not notice that there is a sewage pipe attached to the side of the bridge. What this means is that we have a sump in the car park outside the hub building that has submersible trash pumps which pumps liquid and solids from the hub building drains up to  the level of the bridge. As the pump lives underwater it isn’t something you think about too much until it breaks down, which it did on 5th February. Although we had become aware in 2025 that the stand-by (spare) pump had broken down many years ago (2019?) and not been replaced since then, we had planned and budgeted to install the standby in May 2026. With the one remaining pump now…

Pinkston Youth Forum: The River Spey Expedition On the Friday morning of the September weekend, schools were closed, and Pinkston was quiet — except for a group of eight young people preparing for something they’d been working towards for weeks. Members of the Pinkston Youth Forum were checking kit, packing drybags, and loading canoes before…

Over ten weeks from July through to September, our Youth Forum took on a challenge that started right here at Pinkston and ended 191 miles away at Spey Bay, a beautiful coastal reserve, following an expedition on one of Scotland’s classic canoe expeditions. The Youth Forum, was not just about learning to paddle or planning…

As a unique watersports centre, we face a wide range of challenges, one of the most challenging being the canal walls, which mean we don’t a have a lovely beach that give simpler access to the water. In 2023 the accessibility pontoon was installed and over time we recognized some of its limitations, some areas where improvements could be made and the absolute need for a “beach”. There are some amazing resources available from the US, including a detailed review of launch options in https://www.river-management.org/assets/PreparetoLaunch/ptl%20-%202%20chapter%201.pdf . This led to the work by Maintenance Jamie and our Vice-Chair Graham to find a way to create a beach from the 2nd hand pontoons donated by SportScotland and dckc.co.uk that fitted onto the accessibility pontoon. This took a significant amount of time and iterations to finally get a beach than allowed seal launching…

When first opened in 2014 Pinkston was supported by the generosity of paddlesports clubs, paddlers and other orgnisations by the donation of equipment including a wide assortment of older but useable paddles. Over time we have slowly increased our range of paddles whether through grant funding, investment or just replacements due to wear and tear. With our steadily increasing work with young people it has been clear for some time that we did not cater to the needs of different body sizes whether due to age or gender. In June 2025 the Glasgow City Council Local area partnership grants panel from our local Council Ward, Canal Ward made an amazing contribution of £7981.70 towards an overall cost of over £10,000 to address this issue and allow us to increase our equipment available for our youth clubs, youth groups and others….

As we approach our busy summer season, we are keen to update you all on some of the changes across our site. As always, if you have any concerns or suggestions about any of the following topics, please do feel free to get in touch or pop by the office to say hello. Pontoon beach…

Welcome to Pinkston’s first ever safety bulletin! From the staff members and Directors at Pinkston, we would like to share some information with you around the health and safety decisions that are made. Accident reporting : Safety is everyone’s responsibility. We work very hard behind the scenes to ensure our site, facilities and activities are as safe as possible for site users and the general public. To make this easier for us, we ask that any and all incidents at Pinkston are reported to us as well as your own company/organisation. This allows us to respond quickly to significant incidents and identify any patterns or trends of smaller incidents. This would include any slips and trips around the centre and allows us to keep on top of our site maintenance. Incident report forms are available in the office. When filling…