Earliest memory of Glasgow? Going on the trams with my granny. She was a clippie and after she retired she still knew all the women running the ‘caurs’. Me and my three sisters used to love hearing her stories about all the daft boys and sleekit passengers trying to get away without paying the fare.
Describe your house: I grew up in Townhead - me, my sisters, mum and dad, and my aunt stayed with us for a wee while too. It was a ground floor tenement, not much room for all those folk, but you made it work and thought nothing of it. We were all latchkey kids, sent to school with the house key round our necks on a piece of string, as both our parents had to work, so we’d come home on our own. There was always a neighbour with a piece or a bowl of soup there if we needed them, though.
What school did you go to? City Public Senior Secondary. It was a big dark building with huts out the back, I recall. We used to shout and make fun of all the posh lads going to Allan Glen’s School, which was fee-paying. I didn’t mind school that much - my favourite subject was English. I was a big reader, even back then. I loved my local library.
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Favourite local cinema? Going to the pictures was what we all did back in those days - you didn’t have Netflix then, of course. It was the best thing, getting a laugh with your pals on a Saturday morning and we were spoilt for choice - the Carlton, the Grafton, the Casino, the St James’s - Glasgow was cinema city back then.
Favourite local shop? Loved the wee bakery near our house - the cream cakes were fantastic and me and my sisters would go there for a treat when our auntie gave us some pocket money.
Best thing about growing up in Glasgow? Sometimes your memories can feel like you’re looking back at life through rose-tinted glasses, but it’s not the case. Life WAS good back then, with community spirit, families looking out for each other ....Happy, happy times.
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