Early Days Glasgow
Below are some family photographs of those early days before the onset of World War II about which we shall have more to say later. There are thirty-three pictures in this photo-gallery click thumbnail to view larger picture. The include some of my cousins Raymond and Hazel Birrell who were two and four years younger than me respectively.
Among my earliest childhood memories are the holidays on Millport on the Isle of Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde. My mother and aunt Stella rented a whitewashed cottage near the sea front for a fortnight, and we enjoyed ourselves on the sandy beaches and climbing on the rocks at the seashore and searching for crabs and shells. We also hired bicycles to cycle round the small island which is only about 10 miles in circumference, although whether or not we completed the full circuit, I cannot now remember. I have not been back since those days just before and at the beginning of the second world war.
Early Days
My earliest memory is of 1938 when we went as a family to Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow. Not that I remember much about the exhibition itself, but I have a vague recollection of the main centre as shown in the photograph, but more particularly being left in a crèche while the adults visited the various displays. I think my sister Joyce was there as well, but I recall that we had boiled eggs for lunch (my favourite meal in those days), but that's as far as it goes.
I suppose it is inevitable that we recall mainly the good things of our
childhood while our minds tend to blot out those things that were not so good - and perhaps that is a good thing. For me, however, the days before, during and just after World War II are filled with memories of sunny days, care-free adventures, of Sunday walks in Queens Park and sailing our boats and fishing for minnows in the boating pond at Camphill; of bike rides and picnics; of running up and down closes, climbing walls and climbing on top of 'steamies'; of ice cream from the Santangelo's Ice Cream Parlour in Polmadie, or the Bluebird Cafe in Pollokshaws Road, as well as the bright yellow ice cream horse-drawn cart with the white roof, that, alas, ran over our kitten called Kiltie! They are filled with memories of the clip-clop of the horse-drawn coal carts, and the cry of the merchants "Co-al".
Click on the thumbnails on the left for a bigger picture.
