Earliest memory of Glasgow? When I was three, I was taken in an ambulance to Belvedere Hospital with scarlet fever. I was so scared - my parents weren’t allowed to visit. I remember a big girl sat me on her knee which made me happy.
Where did you live? Butterfield Place at Eglinton Toll, a room and kitchen with bathroom, with my mum, dad, aunt and cousin.
What school did you go to? Holycross Primary in Govanhill. I was terrible at spelling and we used to get a spelling test on a Friday which I hated.
Favourite local shop? Our local shop was Murray’s and we would take the empty ginger bottles there – you got three penny sweets for one bottle. My mum worked in the Co-op on Cumberland Street and my dad worked in the City Ham and Egg Store. My aunt and cousin also worked, so I remember the key was under the mat and I had to let myself in from school. We didn’t have a television, so if it was raining, I was usually bored.
Favourite cinema? I went to see cartoons with my friends at the Cinerama at Eglinton Toll on Saturday mornings, then we went swimming at Calder Street Baths.
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Where did you go dancing? I left school at 15 and went to work in the Co-op offices on Coburg St i- I got £3 15d a week. I met some friends there and we all started going to the Flamingo Ballroom at Paisley Road West on a Saturday. We also went to the Barrowland and Tiffany’s. We started going on holidays to Ireland, Blackpool and Spain. I met my husband at the dancing and I got married in 1974. We bought a room and kitchen flat in Shawlands then, when I had my first daughter, we moved to a small terraced house in Langside and eventually to Pollokshaws. I have five grown up kids and four grandkids They have all left home but stay local and I look after my grandson when my daughter’s at work as a nurse.
Happiest childhood memory? Going to the carnival at the Kelvin Hall every year with my dad. I also liked going on holiday to Saltcoats at the Glasgow Fair - they always had the shows there.
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