'We were a typical New Town family' - memories of East Kilbride as town celebrates 75th anniversary

Our recent feature on the 75th anniversary of the designation of the New Town prompted many Times Past readers to share their memories of its early days.

Dan Harris moved to East Kilbride in 1959 with his wife Marion and two-year-old daughter (the couple’s second daughter arrived shortly after).

He recalls: “The first house Marion and I lived in after our marriage was a single end in Maryhill. It had one room and an outside toilet.

“Our house in East Kilbride was a newly-built three-bedroom mid-terrace house. I still live in this house today and Marion lives in a nearby care home, having been diagnosed with dementia.”

Dan recalls his neighbours were all young, married couples when he and Marion first moved in.

“There are six terraced houses in our block and when we moved in, five of the married couples who lived there were all aged under 30, all with one young child,” he says.

“The ‘auld yins’ in the block were in their mid-30s. This was typical of family sizes being housed in East Kilbride at that time – I have a photo of Marion and I with our daughters Eleanor and Doreen, and I think we look like a typical EK New Town family!”

Dan lives in the Murray district of East Kilbride, which – along with Westwood, West Mains and St Leonards – was one of the first neighbourhoods created. Greenhills and Whitehills followed, with Lindsayfield and Stewartfield added much later.

“East Kilbride was not under the control of politicians when we first moved there, it was managed by East Kilbride Development Corporation, who contacted factories located in the south of Glasgow to offer housing to their employees,” says Dan.

“I was an engineer with G&J Weir in Cathcart. Many of us, including Ally McCoist’s dad, Neil, moved to East Kilbride. It was wonderful having a house with a large back garden, and a communal lawn at the front.”

Dan smiles: “However, we soon learned the Development Corporation took management of the town seriously.

“My next door neighbour was a college lecturer in horticulture. He asked me if it would be all right for him to create an oval flower bed in the centre of our communal lawn. I helped him to do this.

“The following morning while we were both at work, an official from the Corporation arrived and told our wives in no uncertain terms to get the lawn restored to its original condition.

“He said East Kilbride was an ‘open town’ - no fences, no flower beds. Thinking back, I think East Kilbride was a much cleaner town before the County Council replaced the Corporation.”

Dan recalls that at one time in the early 1960s, the average age of East Kilbride New Town residents was 29.

“To raise the average age, parents of the young residents could apply for residency – I know this, because my mother moved here under that scheme,” he says.

READ MORE: 'At times it was a paradise' - East Kilbride prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary

“Another thing that may surprise younger readers is that professional footballers could take up tenancy in East Kilbride. When I moved to East Kilbride, my wage was £10. We all depended on overtime to make a decent living.

“Professional footballers’ wages were of the same order as tradesmen. Johnny MacKenzie, the Firhill Flyer and Scottish internationalist moved into the terraced house in the next block to ours.

“He was a lovely friendly person.”

Did you move out to EK from Glasgow when it was first built? Get in touch with Times Past to share your stories and photos as the town celebrates its 75th anniversary?