Latest news with #Milngavie
Glasgow Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Inspiring school near Glasgow wins top music award
Milngavie Primary has achieved the Gold Award from the We Make Music School Award scheme for their outstanding success in the subject. The distinction 'recognises and celebrates the rich variety of music-making activity taking place in primary and additional support needs schools in Scotland'. Milngavie is the first school in East Dunbartonshire to gain the accreditation and one of only three in Scotland to achieve gold. Jennifer Ramsay, a specialist music teacher at the school, said 'We are very proud to place music at the heart of our school and delighted to have our commitment to music celebrated. 'We know music is extremely beneficial to pupils and can help increase attainment, confidence and resilience. "It also promotes inclusion and develops strong teamwork skills. 'At Milngavie we want all children to experience the joy music can bring and develop a lifelong appreciation for the arts.' READ NEXT: Homes in postcode could be left without water In particular, the Gold Award acknowledges the school's commitment to high quality weekly music lessons and extracurricular groups who regularly perform in the local community. It also recognises its collaborative links with outside organisations such as Scottish Opera, The Benedetti Foundation and The Milngavie Music Club. Furthermore, the award celebrates the team of instrumental teachers who work together to host performances such as the annual musical evening, which showcases the talent of pupils from across the school. The award was presented to Milngavie by Neil Millar from Education Scotland who came along to the school for the occasion. He said: 'This is only the third time in which gold has been awarded, so it is a huge achievement, and it is clear from today's showcase of musical talent why it has been awarded. 'Music is very much at the heart of the ethos of the school and it is fantastic to see." READ NEXT: 'Like a wasteland': Bereaved residents hit out at 'disgraceful' cemetery Mae Murray from We Make Music Scotland added: 'Huge congratulations to Milngavie. "Your hard work, talent, and dedication to the arts truly shines. "It's inspiring to see a school nurturing creativity and giving young people the opportunity to express themselves through music. "Well done to all the pupils and staff who made this possible.'
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Yahoo
Commuters warned as broken-down train causes delays on key routes
A broken-down train has caused significant disruption to certain services this morning. The fault occurred at Cambuslang, affecting the line between Milngavie/Balloch and Motherwell. Although the train is now making its way to the depot, ScotRail has advised that services between Milngavie/Balloch and Motherwell, as well as between Balloch and Larkhall, may experience delays. Passengers are urged to check the ScotRail app for the latest travel updates. READ MORE: ScotRail travellers face mounting frustrations as cancellations top 17,000 READ MORE: ScotRail commuters issued warning amid ongoing issue ⚠️ NEW: We had a broken down train at Cambuslang earlier. The service is on the move to the depot but train services between Milngavie/Balloch and Motherwell, and also between Balloch and Larkhall may still be delayed. Please check your service on our app or website. — ScotRail (@ScotRail) June 15, 2025 ScotRail said in a statement: "We had a broken down train at Cambuslang earlier. "The service is on the move to the depot, but train services between Milngavie/Balloch and Motherwell, and also between Balloch and Larkhall, may still be delayed. "Please check your service on our app or website."
Glasgow Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Voice actor: 'ScotRail must stop using my voice for AI announcements'
Gayanne Potter said she felt 'violated' because she did not give permission for her voice to be used in the way it has by the company contracted by the state-owned rail company. Her voice has been used to train the new AI-generated announcements on ScotRail trains – something the Swedish tech company ReadSpeaker was covered in their contract. But in a Facebook post, Potter said: 'I discovered last week that ScotRail's new horrible AI train announcer Iona is in fact using my voice data – and nobody told me. 'I have been in dispute with a company in Sweden, ReadSpeaker, for over two years to get my voice data removed from their website.' READ MORE: Warning as no trains to run on busy Glasgow Central route The voiceover artist, whose credits include work for CBBC, Heart Scotland and STV, said that her understanding of her arrangement with ReadSpeaker was to 'provide text to speech recordings to be used for translation purposes from foreign language copy pasted into their site, and as an accessibility tool for people with visual impairment'. Potter added: 'So imagine my distress when I discover that ScotRail have installed the ReadSpeaker model Iona that contains my biometric voice data as their new announcer on their trains. 'I did not know. I was not asked. I did not consent. I was not given a choice. 'Four years ago, we didn't have the AI we use now. You cannot consent to something that doesn't exist. You should be able to withdraw your consent at any point. Readspeaker won't let me.' She said that her issue with the company was 'not about money', adding: 'It's about my identity. I feel violated. 'ScotRail should employ a real human irrespective of who it is. Why continue to choose a dreadful AI version of me when I'm right here – and I know how to pronounce Milngavie?' READ MORE: Edinburgh Marathon runners stranded by busy ScotRail trains Iona, the name given to ScotRail's AI announcer, has been used on some routes including those north of Inverness and its high-speed, inter-city services over the last 10 months. A spokesperson for the company said: 'It would be a matter for Ms Potter to take up with ReadSpeaker, who her contract is with. We have no plans to remove the voice from our trains.' ReadSpeaker chief marketing officer Roy Lindemann said: "We are aware of Ms Potter's concerns. ReadSpeaker and Ms Potter have a contract regarding the use of her voice. 'ReadSpeaker has comprehensively addressed Ms Potter's concerns with her legal representative several times in the past."
The National
27-05-2025
- Business
- The National
ScotRail must stop using my voice for AI announcements, voiceover artist demands
Gayanne Potter said she felt 'violated' because she did not give permission for her voice to be used in the way it has by the company contracted by the state-owned rail company. Her voice has been used to train the new AI-generated announcements on ScotRail trains – something the Swedish tech company ReadSpeaker was covered in their contract. But in a Facebook post, Potter said: 'I discovered last week that ScotRail's new horrible AI train announcer Iona is in fact using my voice data – and nobody told me. 'I have been in dispute with a company in Sweden, ReadSpeaker, for over two years to get my voice data removed from their website.' READ MORE: Las Vegas-bound flight forced to make emergency landing at Scottish airport The voiceover artist, whose credits include work for CBBC, Heart Scotland and STV, said that her understanding of her arrangement with ReadSpeaker was to 'provide text to speech recordings to be used for translation purposes from foreign language copy pasted into their site, and as an accessibility tool for people with visual impairment'. Potter added: 'So imagine my distress when I discover that ScotRail have installed the ReadSpeaker model Iona that contains my biometric voice data as their new announcer on their trains. 'I did not know. I was not asked. I did not consent. I was not given a choice. 'Four years ago, we didn't have the AI we use now. You cannot consent to something that doesn't exist. You should be able to withdraw your consent at any point. Readspeaker won't let me.' She said that her issue with the company was 'not about money', adding: 'It's about my identity. I feel violated. 'ScotRail should employ a real human irrespective of who it is. Why continue to choose a dreadful AI version of me when I'm right here – and I know how to pronounce Milngavie?' READ MORE: Jobs lost as luxury Highland spa goes bust amid 'mounting cost pressures' Iona, the name given to ScotRail's AI announcer, has been used on some routes including those north of Inverness and its high-speed, inter-city services over the last 10 months. A spokesperson for the company said: 'It would be a matter for Ms Potter to take up with ReadSpeaker, who her contract is with. We have no plans to remove the voice from our trains.' ReadSpeaker chief marketing officer Roy Lindemann said: "We are aware of Ms Potter's concerns. ReadSpeaker and Ms Potter have a contract regarding the use of her voice. 'ReadSpeaker has comprehensively addressed Ms Potter's concerns with her legal representative several times in the past."
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Give it time' - ScotRail defends AI announcer Iona
Passengers on ScotRail trains have been noticing a new voice announcing the station arrivals and some have not been new announcer, called Iona, has recently taken over on some routes but unlike her predecessors she is not announcements were pre-recorded by a Scottish voice artist but Iona is a synthetic voice which uses an AI model to deliver typed messages in a "Scottish accent".ScotRail urged passengers to "give it time and it may grow on you". It said tricky place names such as Milngavie and Achnasheen are inputted phonetically as "Mill-guy" and "Akna-sheen" to help the software avoid embarrassing the technology has not yet been fully implemented, some passengers have already voiced their unhappiness with the passenger told the BBC Scotland: "It was weird. I could tell it was AI because it sounded so robotic."Another posted on X that the voice sounds unsure of what it is saying and questions everything. One passenger described it as an "AI lassie" that was "so horrible and unnatural".In response, ScotRail said: "Sorry you're not a fan. I love the new voice but appreciate it may not to be everyone's liking. Give it time and it may grow on you." The new announcer was developed by global technology company, ReadSpeaker, which has over 50 language iterations of its text-to-speech team also AI-generated an image that matched the name Iona to feature on their end result is a red-haired woman wearing a woolly orange scarf and green jacket stood in the middle of a Scottish glen. The technology means drivers or operators can type customised announcements on a computer and Iona then reads them out. The first service featuring Iona was trialled quietly in July 2024, but a recent extension of the technology has led to more passengers noticing the only certain services from Glasgow's train stations feature the technology. Among the first passengers to notice the change are on the Glasgow Central services to Ayr, Largs, Ardorssan, Barrhead and Paisley. From Glasgow Queen Street, Iona has been heard on trains bound for Inverness, Dundee and system is only used on ScotRail trains and will not include stations. 'Replacing real humans' Rachel Nicholson, a voice coach and former actress based in Edinburgh, said replacing human announcers with an AI voices affects both jobs and identity. "It's really sad that they want to replace real humans and put them out of work," she said. "Just because it saves money doesn't mean it's the right thing to do."Rachel has spent more than 15 years working in the creative industries and said the topic of AI voices is often a tricky one in her world."It's a bit taboo, honestly," she said."This is a real voice, a human voice, being replaced that was doing a perfectly good job." Rachel said the new ScotRail voice is clear and easy to understand but questioned whether clarity was enough."They're clearly struggling with some of our more unique names like the 'ch' in 'loch'."If someone's travelling around Scotland, don't we want them to hear those names said the way we actually say them?"For Rachel, this goes beyond speech - it's about preserving a sense of place."We should be proud of our languages and place names. What this might be doing is diluting how those names are remembered, and I think that's a real shame."Rachel, who is also an accent coach, is often asked to teach a "general Scottish" accent - something she says she finds a bit odd."I don't know any Scot who'd describe themselves as 'general'. "It feels like they're going for something neutral but it ends up feeling like a missed opportunity. Why not regional?"I don't think I could pin Iona's accent on a map." Lifelike voices Prof Peter Bell, a speech technology expert at the University of Edinburgh, said the growing power of artificial intelligence has made it significantly easier - and cheaper - to create synthetic voices."We can now give a system just a couple of sentences of someone's voice and it can immediately start to speak like them," he said. The technology is now capable of producing speech that sounds convincingly human, with companies able to generate voices at a fraction of the cost of earlier systems, he despite the progress, some synthetic voices don't always resonate with listeners."People care a lot about the identity of an accent or a speaker, so they often treat it differently from other types of AI, as they don't want to be fooled in that way," he said. "Even when a voice is very good, there's this uncanny feeling - is it a real voice, or is it not?"Prof Bell believes cost savings are a major motivator for companies switching to use new technology instead of previously hiring "expensive" voice talent. 'Local' voices onboard trains ReadSpeaker said ScotRail first made inquries three years ago about adopting their technology."We use AI just to train the voice, but at the base it is a real human speaker. That's important to us," said Roy Lindemann, co-founder of like early adoptions of text-to-speech, he said they worked with voice talent to create their synthetic Scottish firm says in future the technology could allow for "regional" and "local" voices across any network."It is definitely a path forward," Mr Lindemann said. Phil Campbell, ScotRail's customer operations director, said the new system would allow "flexibility" and "consistency" across its said: "ScotRail has always used automated announcements in relation to customer information. "It doesn't replace human interaction through either pre-recorded audio or staff on trains."
