Fond memories of a Glasgow childhood

“Well, I was a millionaire in my own wee world,” he laughs.

“My father had a butcher’s shop in Hillington where I worked every Saturday morning from the age of 12, delivering orders to far-flung places like Ralston.

“I used to cycle the butcher’s bike with no gears and a big basket on the front, through Hillington and Penilee, wind, rain or snow. I had to push it up the hills.”

Bobby adds: “Some of my ‘posh’ customers in Ralston tipped me every week and twice a year, on Glasgow Fair Friday and Christmas Eve, they would give me a florin or half-crown. It was hard work, but come the Fair or Christmas, I’d feel like a millionaire…”

Throughout the year, Thanks for the Memories holds drop-in sessions at city libraries where people can meet up to share stories and photos of times gone by. Since the coronavirus outbreak has prevented us from holding these events, our readers have been sending in their memories of Glasgow’s good old days by post and email.

Bobby Pollock has fond memories of growing up in Cardonald with his five sisters. (Two still live in Glasgow, one is in New Zealand, one in Abu Dhabi and one in London.)

“I went to Cardonald Primary and Penilee Secondary, now demolished and replaced with housing,” says Bobby, a keen volunteer who was chosen to run in the Queen’s Baton Relay for Glasgow 2014.

“I had the chance of taking over the butcher’s shop, which my grandfather Robert had passed on to my father, Ian. When my dad retired, he asked me if I wanted to take it on – I was 16 and had just completed my apprenticeship. But I said no.”

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He grins: “When my dad asked why, I replied: ‘the hours are too long and it is freezing….’”

Sadly, Ian died in 2018, aged 88. He had dementia, and attended Musical Minds, a monthly singing group on the south side of Glasgow for people living with the condition.

Bobby took him along to the group, where his dad would recall singing as a child with his own father, explaining it was “back in the days before television, when people had to entertain themselves.”

Our recent features on Townhead, and the tenements cleared to make way for the new M8 motorway prompted James Brown to get in touch.

“We lived in a tenement on McAuslin Street in Townhead in the 60s - it was typical of most working class dwellings at the time and we did not see it as a poor upbringing, as we were all in the same boat,” he says.

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“How could we know there were houses with gardens and grass and flowers out of the city centre? However, there was one family who lived a couple of closes up from us who had all the best toys.”

James adds: “This boy had everything our parents could never afford – so whenever it was his birthday or Christmas, we’d wait in the shared bin area to see if we could salvage any bits and pieces of toys he was tossing out.”

James recalls one time, lurking near the bin sheds, when he spotted a discarded Action Man.

“I desperately wanted one so I was quick to grab it – then realised it had been binned for a reason,” he laughs.”It had nae heid!”