'The built-in bed where four weans slept' - Glasgow poem is love letter to tenement life

To times and happenings long since past, the sands of time are running fast,

As deep within my mind I see, a barefoot lad that once was me,

Of folks and places a’ well kent, nostalgia of the tenement…”

Times Past reader Margaret Hamilton got in touch recently with a lovely poem she found in her late husband’s possessions.

“He was born in 1932, and I can only assume this refers to life in Glasgow in the 30s and 40s – I know he lived in Yorkhill in a tenement,” she told us.

“I have no knowledge of the poem, or who wrote it, but I thought it might interest your readers.”

A quick search at Times Past HQ reveals this ode to the great Glasgow tenement was in fact written by Claude Currie – can anyone shed any light on who he was?

The words obviously meant a great deal to Margaret’s husband and we are sure these excerpts will spark memories for more readers.

“Two wally dugs upon the brace - maw! Throw me over a jeely piece/The jawbox where I scrubbed my feet, the pipe-clay patterns of the street/We little had o’ wordly pelf, a jeely pan upon the shelf/A jug or two at Christmas sent, nostalgia of the tenement.

“Milk-cans rattling at the dawn, the fender stool we a’ sat on/The Mondays ritual of the pawn, things and customs long since gone/The old zinc bath below the bed, the heilan soldier made of lead/The next door neighbour, old and bent, nostalgia of the Tenement.

“The rumble of the Riddrie tram, a two pound pot of rhubarb jam/A card from Flanders from the war, insurance money in the drawer/The waxcloth polished fresh and bright, the bath-brick used on Friday night/A footprint in the new cement, nostalgia of the tenement.

“The built-in-bed where four weans slept, green bunker where the coal was kept/The wee canary, bonnie bird, that early in the morn was heard/The dabbaties that widnae stick, the old oil lamp, the flickering wick/Saturday penny carefully spent, nostalgia of the tenement.

“Hunch-cuddy-hunch and kick the can, the many barefoot miles we ran/Peever, forfeits, gird and stick, release and moshie, take your pick/These were our games in yesteryear, little we knew of adult fear/Ragged but happy and content, nolstagia of the tenement….”

It ends on a wistful note:

“And as I reach my final page, I look back on a bygone age/And wish that once again could I hear my mother’s goodnight cry/Ben the room and coorie doon, children of old Glasgow toon/ Close the book, my muse is spent, nostalgia of the tenement.”

Times Past always gets a fantastic response when we run features about Glasgow’s old tenements, particularly in areas such as Townhead where many were demolished in the name of regeneration.

Margaret Nicol, from Cathcart, recalls: “My mum worked in Mearnskirk Hospital on the night shift and on her day off, when we came home from school, we could feel the heat of the open fire and the lovely smell of floor polish for the linoleum.

“There were no fitted carpets then, only a rug.

“The kitchen-cum-living room had a bed recess with mum and dad’s double bed fitted in it and the one bedroom had a single bed in the recess for me and a double bed settee for my brothers. They had to pull that out every night and put it all back in the morning.

“I remember when it was Christmas time mum would have us three kids in the double bed in the kitchen and with the fire glowing, the shadows on the walls would make weird shapes and give us the creeps – they looked like dancing ghosts.”

READ MORE: Remembering Glen Daly, the man who recorded Glasgow's famous Celtic Song

Did you grow up in a Glasgow tenement?

Share your memories with Times Past by emailing or writing to us. You can email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.

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