Growing Up

[Bobh]

Ionns, a great thread really. Well done. Probably a 'wee tonic' of what we all need. Especially in these gloomy days. Some fab stories-GG, Blueb and others.

I'm really interested in stories from those in Kintyre and their upbringing. It MUST have been very different. Please let's have more stories.

[EMDEE]

it was great to go down to stay with my granny in Park Square .

Even the place is just a memory now!

[A Horse called Juan Face]

I think I know what you're getting at, but not sure I agree with the middle class bit. Not looking to start an argument on a peaceful thread, just Ive never considered myself to be so. Cant be bothered telling any childhood stories, the acid and glue make it hard to remember.

[EMDEE]

I don't think Ionnsaigh was implying that everyone from Kintyre is middle class. I took it to mean that he was looking for a bit of input from a range of backgrounds.

[ionnsaigh]

Thanks EMDEE, even the upper classes can join in Like Govangirl and Bobh, I'm dying to hear about peoples upbringing in Kintyre, and feel a wee bit of apprehension that Glasgow stories may dominate the thread - would that mean that we are better story tellers in Glasgow?
We have a lot in common blueboyno1, particularly the one penny bag of broken biscuits - oh an see when you where swimming at Toonheid Baths - the chances are high, that it was ma Da that heated the water. On a Friday night the place was really busy with workman, queuing up for a weekly hot bath with fresh hot towels - upstairs in the gallery. A man committed suicide in the bath once ( cut his throat ). The swimming pools for the baths had to be drained every second night, as they didn't have a filtration system - the water was absolutely freezing straight from the mains. The added chlorine helped kill head lice. You couldn't beat a hot roll, out of the cafe across from the royal. Tony's the chip shop had sit in tables, so you could help yourself to salt vinegar with nippy hot - red or broon sauce. Remember thon creepy character, the disabled man - half blind and horribly scared down the one side of his face - scary stuff fur a wee boy, or girl for that matter. He sat in a large basket type of wheelchair hand powered - you could see him driving up High street - holding back all the traffic. Apparently he had some sort of grievance with Tony, the chip shop owner - he attempted to through a bomb through the shop window - it bounced back hitting him square on - that was the story anyway.

[ionnsaigh]

I will also post at a later date, and get Iain to add to your Glasgow tales! Changed days isn't it.....you didn't really need anything other than family and friends to be happy!! Mum and Dad still go on about their first marital home which was a room and kitchen with (i am sure) a shared toilet in Queen Street. They had to take a brolly to the loo on a wet day, and could watch the steamer coming up the loch through a hole in the toilet wall - only 45 years ago but it's so hard to believe!!

Ionnsaigh - my daughter was reading over my shoulder last night and asked how to say your name......tonight out of the blue she asked if you are related to Beyonce made me chuckle!!!!

Ags, you see - that got me mixed up there. I'm thinking, how can you see the steamer from a toilet in Queen Street - then I realise it's Campbeltown So outside toilets and holes in the walls, Campbeltown and Glasgow united in adversity - great stuff.
PS Who's Beyonce ?

[Dunc R]

Ionnsaigh,

Beyonce is the love child of Roy Castle

[LANDROVER ROGER]

These are wonderful stories, thank you all for sharing them with us.

I will second that.My childhood down here in the Potteries seems boring by comparison.

[blueboyno1]

Thanks EMDEE, even the upper classes can join in Like Govangirl and Bobh, I'm dying to hear about peoples upbringing in Kintyre, and feel a wee bit of apprehension that Glasgow stories may dominate the thread - would that mean that we are better story tellers in Glasgow?
We have a lot in common blueboyno1, particularly the one penny bag of broken biscuits - oh an see when you where swimming at Toonheid Baths - the chances are high, that it was ma Da that heated the water. On a Friday night the place was really busy with workman, queuing up for a weekly hot bath with fresh hot towels - upstairs in the gallery. A man committed suicide in the bath once ( cut his throat ). The swimming pools for the baths had to be drained every second night, as they didn't have a filtration system - the water was absolutely freezing straight from the mains. The added chlorine helped kill head lice. You couldn't beat a hot roll, out of the cafe across from the royal. Tony's the chip shop had sit in tables, so you could help yourself to salt vinegar with nippy hot - red or broon sauce. Remember thon creepy character, the disabled man - half blind and horribly scared down the one side of his face - scary stuff fur a wee boy, or girl for that matter. He sat in a large basket type of wheelchair hand powered - you could see him driving up High street - holding back all the traffic. Apparently he had some sort of grievance with Tony, the chip shop owner - he attempted to through a bomb through the shop window - it bounced back hitting him square on - that was the story anyway.

100% correct ionnnsaige .That guy did try throw a bomb through the window .It was the back window which had bars on it and when he hit the bars and bounced back he caught it .One of my older brothers was in the chippy at the time with his girlfriend .That guy ended up with terrible injuries and he used to walk about all over Glasgow with a sign around his neck which said war hero please help ,he also had a tin cup on a piece of string .Talk about getting your own back . I remember the suiside in the townhead baths .I used to go there to the steamie and help my mother with the weekly wash .It was a great adventure for me as all the woman would gossip while they were working ,and i would hear things like whos man was inthe jail and whos wife was sleeping with whos man , things i was never supposed to know ,i can tell you there was plenty of giggling going on the next day when i related all the stories at the townhead primary school across the road .Your dad done a great job as the water was always piping hot .That is where the three younger siblings in my family learned to swim on my fathers back .The three older siblings especially my two older brothers were not so lucky ,they were actually born in Campbeltown and spent most of the war years there .My father was a chief petty officer in the navy and he used to chuck them off the old quay with a heaving line tied to them,sounds hard but it worked .

[westport321]

I was born in '51 in craigard, to a fishing family. 5 siblings all born in CN.
remenber going to the beach to flip over stones and find wee crabs, climbing up the hills to find tadpoles or whatever we could find. wandering the graveyards, picking bluebells behind the quarry green.
spent some great days at macharioch beach. In summer if the weather was good mother would say forget the cleaning were off to the beach and away we would go to machrihanish or even dalintober. In those days we didnt worry about water quality, we should have but we didnt, seen some disgusting things floating about in the water at dalintober.
Wouldhelp on the boat polishing brass cleaning the fo'csle etc, and in the spring helped with the scraping and repainting of the hull. I remember at high tide there was always 2 ropes tied to the boat( in front of the wee pictures) and you lernt to walk yourself from the rails there to the boat. Never fell in.
In the summer we would have family from glasgow and up from england visit, the english always brought a car, we thought they were very rich because they had that little morris.
learnt how to gut and fillet out cod as big as a 4 year old and if we were lucky we would get cod roe boiled then fried in bacon grease.
walking out to that damned cave on davaar at least 1 time a year, never do it now. We used to take a white motor boat out cant remember who ran it but you took the boat to davaar with your packed lunch and spent the day there.Tried to chase the goats but you always got on the wrong end of that escapade. Years later did manage to eat part of one that had been roasted at a beach party.
Climbing about on the skeegs, catching big crabs off the quay. Running down to the quay when the maroons went off for the lifeboat.
There was plenty of shops in the town, no tescos, small co-op which really was a co-op.at least three butchers shops,and 3 bakerys, shops wher you bought fabric,bookshops, clothes shops and the high middle and low cafes.
When I was in the grammer one of my teachers told of a time in the distant future when all the people in the world would be connected by some kind of communications. Glad I lived to be part of it.
I could go on but wont, others have great stories as well as I.

[LANDROVER ROGER]

Just a thought.If we moved fifty years forward from now,what would the children of today in Kintyre reminisce about?

[£3.73]

As a child of the 70s/early 80s, Kintyre was just a big adventure playground, every inch of it was there to be explored on foot or bike.

Never a dull moment, FREE to roam about from dawn till dusk during the summer holidays, parents had TRUST in their kids not to do too anything daft and arrive home in one piece (maybe a wee bit scuffed sometimes )

Boys football ,,, Crosshill A, Crosshill B, Longrow, Dalaruan, Calton ... sponsored walks to Southend.
Random 20 a side games any night of the week. 5 a sides in the Vic.
Saturday matinees in The Rex or The Wee Pictures, hanging out in cafes, Muldoons Arcade, the arrival of CB radio.

Feeling like I KNEW EVERYONE in town (although I probably didn't), a real sense of community, respect for your elders.
Sunday school & Sunday school picnics .... the rivalry between Castlehill and Dalintober ... grudging respect for teachers who were good with the belt, school sports days ... HOGMANAY was about visiting your friends and family to reminice over droll stories & sing songs ... thinking that Campbeltown was the only place in the world that didn't have a funny accent ... not being conscious of class or feeling better or worse than anyone else. Laughing a lot.

.... and you try telling that to the kids of today ... they'd never believe you.

[ionnsaigh]

These are wonderful stories, thank you all for sharing them with us.

I will second that.My childhood down here in the Potteries seems boring by comparison.

C-mon Roger, spill the beans, out with it - where is the Potteries ? is it the place you see those wonderful pot bellied kilns - the ones that T S Lowry painted? You must have a story or two, to tell.

[EMDEE]

Probably in common with many other forum members, my earliest years were spent in the prefabs. (Albyn Avenue). These wonderful wee houses that were constructed from asbestos sheets. Everybody had their own garden and their own space. Where we lived was within a stone’s throw of the gasworks, the clothing factory, the piggery and the slaughterhouse. A great environment! Ted Fleming’s shop was just across the road, which looking back was not anywhere near as busy with traffic as it is now. The great meeting place for youngsters was “the dump” at the bottom of the street. “The dump” has been mentioned on other threads.

This was pre supermarket days, and the town itself was a bustling place during the day where you could buy just about anything you needed. Changed days.

[dr-sanchez]

Just a thought.If we moved fifty years forward from now,what would the children of today in Kintyre reminisce about?

as a 19 year old who has grown up (maybe) and only left the toon 2 years ago, does that make me qualified?

born in kirkcaldy in 1989, moved to the town when my parents divorced when i was 3 (i think). lived first of all in smith drive, then back to kirkcaldy for a few months, then back to campbeltown and lived for a few years in a flat above the dentists in cross street. money was dead tight and the windows didnt fit properly, so the three of us were cold and scraping by but my sister and i were happy, went to castlehill and loved it. moved to crosshill avenue in 1999 or 2000. began the grammar and didnt really come out of my shell until around 3rd year, and am still the same person, and hopefully will be for a long time. favourite memories of the town growing up include hot summers days spent climbing up bengullion, first time getting drunk at 13 or 14 at the opening of a private road in front of the highland parish with some southend boys, and not at the time, but looking back now, a slow way of life, with no hustle and bustle.

growing up in the town could be romanticised but as is the case with anything that's romanticised, there's always less attractive things that you miss out...such as always moaning about the lack of things to do, or always yearning to be in a place that presented more of a challenge. could have been worse though, could have been born and raised in tarbert