Could you tell me where you were born and brought up please?
I was born in Redlands Hospital in Glasgow, 1938. I was raised at 30 Blantyre Street Glasgow until I started National Service in January 1960. Apart from 1941-43 when I was evacuated to Milngavie I lived there continually.
Just prior to WWII
Would you tell me any memories that you have of 1939, please? Fear of war? Any preparations for war being made? Air raid shelters being built? Housing-for your family and for others. Food? Healthcare? School? Parent’s work? Any holidays? Films, play, entertainment in general?
Don’t have that sort of memory for 1939 due to my age, but I have plenty of memories of air raid shelters, baffle walls at the front and back of tenement closes, EWS tanks and rationing in the last 2 years of the war.
Early Days of WWII
What do you remember about the announcement of war? How did you feel about the onset of war? Did you talk about the war with your friends – what did they say? What do you remember (if anything) about the sinking of the Athenia? What can you tell us about your awareness of people going off to war? The changing role of women? Can she describe any memories around munitions factories? People moving to Glasgow to work in them? The air raid wardens, blackouts. school? 602 Squadron.
I don’t remember the early stages of the war. I read about all that in later life but my father was an air raid warden and I sat through plenty of raids with my Mickey Mouse gas mask handy after I started primary school in 1943. I think that the Kelvin Hall was used as a factory for making barrage balloons which I think was the main reason for my evacuation along with my mother. Well that and our proximity to the Clyde with docks and shipyards only about 1 mile away. Also Clydebank was only about 8 miles from us and the blitz there started, I think, in March 1941.
Rationing
Could you tell me about any memories of rationing? Sweets (GIs with sweets?). Fish and Chips. Recipes, ‘Dig for Britain’? Clothes rationing- Coal rationing. Soap rationing? Etc. The end of rationing? Do you remember it being phased out?
I remember sweets being rationed and the rationing, I think being briefly lifted and quickly re-imposed. When it was finally ended, I was sent to queue for a box of Cadbury’s roses. My mother made sweets occasionally during the war. I was also sent often from 1944 on to queue for available butcher meat which was rationed. I know we got coal and soap during the War but I don’t know if rationing affected our family. I did not know clothes were rationed. I never saw a GI.
Evacuation
Were you evacuated? Can you remember any friends that were? Would you say there were more or fewer children at your school? Can you tell us about seeing evacuees leaving/coming home? Any children coming to Glasgow from other places?
I was evacuated to Milngavie (pronounced Millguy) but went with my mother and not any other children. We stayed in ‘Invermay’ which is a mansion in Milngavie which still stands today. I did not see or meet any other evacuees. My mother and I travelled to Milngavie by train and I remember arriving at the station and the long walk to the house. The house was owned by John Dunlop Anderson (Director of Education for Glasgow) who was unmarried and lived with his sister whom I only ever knew as Miss Anderson. I arrived home, by train, in the same way we had left, on the night before I started primary school at Overnewton Primary School. I believe that many people living in the suburbs and the countryside offered accommodation to Glasgow refugees, I didn’t know any incoming refugees from other parts of the country.
The Blitz
Can you describe how you felt when there was an air raid? Do you have any memories of a siren suit? The place you went to shelter? Did it change over time? What people chatted about in there? Were you aware of any other shelters in the area? Did you hear of anyone that died? Did you hear about the blitz in Clydebank and Greenock?
I have no recollection of the Clydebank Blitz which started in March 1941 but it may have been a reason for our evacuation. I don’t remember which month of 1941 we went to Milngavie. I do remember my Father holding me at our front room window after a raid when, I think, a munition ship was hit in Yorkhill docks and the flames could be seen rising above the Sick Children’s Hospital at Yorkhill. I remember well the air raid sirens warning and also the all-clear when danger had passed. We were 1 floor, up in a 3 storey tenement and, for some strange reason all the neighbours congregated in our lobby instead of the air raid shelter or even our close which was shored up with scaffolding. When I was older and after the War, I thought this was rather silly. I had a siren suit but did not know enough to be scared, however, my parents, and the neighbours, dud not transmit any fear that I remember.
Housing during WWII
Do you have any memories of people being made homeless by bombs? Can you remember bombed-out buildings?
I remember that the bridge over the river Kelvin, on Kelvin Way through Kelvingrove Park, was hit by, what people said was a landmine but might have been a bomb, and all the windows on Sauchiehall Street, facing the Park, were blown in. This resulted in some mesh type material being stuck to the glass on the windows at the landings on all the stairs of Blantyre Street. My recollection is that this was not removed until a few years post-war. There was a ruined Church at the corner of Old Dumbarton Road and Argyll Street, right by the EWS Tank, but I believe the story is it was destroyed by fire and not bombs.
I also remember, after the War, the construction of ‘pre-fabs’. My Mother’s cousin’s family lived in one at Machrihanish, and despite appearing tiny, on the outside, were very comfortable and seemed spacious inside.
Impact on Family of WWII
Did you have any family members that went off to war? Do you have any memories of friends whose parents were in the army/navy/air force?
My Father’s 2 youngest brothers served in RAF I believe as ground crew. I met a friend at University in 1957 who told me that his Father had survived his ship being torpedoed on the Russian convoys but other than that no one close was involved other than as Air Raid Wardens like my Father. My Father at the start of the War was a bus driver, he had previously driven lorries, and during the War often drove ambulances as did his 2nd oldest brother. His 5th brother was a shop-keeper in Greenock.
Schooling and bits of war work
Can you describe what school was like during the war? Did your classes get moved to other buildings? Gas mask training? Any war work that you and /or classmates carried out? Gas mask training? School dinners? Patches of land with vegetables on?
In 1943, when I started school, we carried gas masks to and from school but this did not last long I presume because the danger from bombs and invasion had considerably lessened. My Father grew vegetables, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, peas and tomatoes in two greenhouse in the garden in Milngavie, both while we were evacuated and for many years after we returned to Glasgow, since Mr Anderson gave him expenses to travel out and maintain the garden and gardening was his hobby, He also, in the years after the War, attended to his Mother’s large garden at her house in Lesmahagow. I also did some tree planting with one of my teachers, in a garden by Woodside Secondary School around about 1952. One of them still stands and has gotten big. We never got moved to other buildings, in fact schooling for me, did not change after the War.
Children’s understanding of events during WWII
Were you aware of The Battle of Britain, Dunkirk, D-Day etc? The progress of the war in general? Did you hear about it on the radio? Through newspapers? newsreels?
I was not so much aware of happenings during the War apart from the latter stages D-Day onwards. From around 1943 when I started school I started to listen to the news with my Mother and Father. The War completely dominated the news to such an extent that, at the end of the War, I asked my Father if that meant there would be no more news?
Following the War, a series of glossy magazines, most with War pictures relating to various actions, were published many of which I read. They also contained first and accounts by the participants. I also joined Partick Library in 1946 and have read much about the War ever since and still take an interest in TV shows or films about the War.
Cinema and play and other entertainments and leisure activities.
Can you tell us about going to the cinema? What games did you play as a child? Any other entertainment or trips away during the war? Anything in local parks?
I saw my first film, Bambi, with my Mother at the only cinema in Milngavie. Leisure activities at home in these days were mostly card games, Pelmanism, Whist and Patience. We also played board games such as Ludo, Snakes and Ladders and, later on, Monopoly.
Back in Glasgow outside games, in Glasgow, were predominantly football played with any strange things when we could not get hold of a ball. Empty tin cans, tied up rags and newspapers but somebody nearly always managed to scrounge a ball (mostly tennis balls). We also played cricket in the summer with wickets painted on the wall of the Kelvin Hall and usually with an old tennis racquet, a shovel or just a piece of wood and a tennis ball. Ball games were not allowed in the Street and we needed to be alert for the local Bobby. ‘Kick the can’, ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘Dodge the Ball’, ‘Peaver’’, ‘Marbles’ and ‘Tig’ were also favourites. We also spent a lot of our time climbing on the washhouse roofs and the walls separating our backcourts from the next street’s. There was ice skating in the Kelvin Hall on a Saturday morning that I went to for a few years around 1946-48 and we roller skated with skates which were clipped and strapped onto our shoes. Although nearly all Glasgow streets were cobbled there were areas in front of the Kelvin Hall and the Art Galleries and a single street not far away that were smooth.
We sometimes went fishing, with nets, to Whiteinch boating pond where there were small fish known as baggie minnows. We collected caterpillars from the leaves on the holly trees, which at that time were planted around the Kelvin Hall, and we caught wasps and bees in jam jars until finally the cruelty of all this dawned.
Nobody was allowed on the grass in Kelvingrove Park and kids were chased by the Parkie (Park Ranger). However, if you were prepared to run you could manage a game since he had a large area to patrol. Also, on the few hot summer days we get in Glasgow so many Mothers with young children sat on the grass without interference by the Ranger, because of the numbers. The park had a bandstand with regular entertainment such as bands, singers, magicians and comedians. If you couldn’t or wouldn’t pay there was standing at the back. There was plenty in the Art Galleries just across the road and the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow also not far away.
The radio was much used back then, one program in particular cleared the streets briefly every night around 6.30pm. This was ‘Dick Barton (Special Agent) and for 15 minutes every night there would be no kids out playing. This program also aired an omnibus edition 1 hour long on Saturday morning, in case you missed any episodes during the week. We also listened to ‘Children’s Hour’ ‘The McFlannels’ and my Father was very keen on Scottish Dance Music, played every Saturday evening, with a different band every week.
I also went with my father to see round the battleship ‘Duke of York’ when it was anchored off Gourock sometime after the end of the War.
The end of WWII
Can you describe the end of the war? What was VE day like for you? Where there any immediate changes in your life and that of your family? What expectations did you have for your future? Can you let us know what it was like to have Social Security come in as a safety net for everyone? Do you remember what it was like when the National Health Service was introduced in 1948?
On VE Day we went up to Bath Street and stood on the raised steps of some office to get a good view of what seemed to be an impromptu parade. There was great excitement much hugging and kissing (not me I was only 8). We never needed Social Security since my Father was working but I remember we got, during the War and after, a bottle of concentrated orange juice and a bottle of cod liver oil, these I was sent to collect at offices across from the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Partick. We also got free milk at school in small bottles of about 1/3 of a pint although on some days you could get more than 1 bottle.
I have no real recollection of the start of the NHS although from August 1962 I would spend the next 46 years working for it. I had been treated for measles at the house in Milngavie around 1942 but do not know how this was paid for.
Schooling Post-War
Can you describe schooling at this time? Any changes from during the war? Leaving age?
I noticed no change in schooling after 1945 as compared to before. I know leaving age was raised because my Father left school at 14 and, the earliest, I could leave would be 15. Compared to today the Janitor was a big man in the School appearing in all our photos and being responsible for all maintenance work in the school, including defrosting frozen out door toilets in the winter.
Schooling was different from now in that great emphasis was placed on memory and learning the multiplication table ‘off by heart’ without any understanding of the maths involved. We were often given word which we had to learn how to spell and were frequently tested. In fact, one teacher gave us a spelling test each day and where you sat that day depended on how you did in the test. The best sat at the back/right desk and the worst at the front/left with the rest graded along the rows right to left and front to back.
Women’s work Post-War
Can you describe what was expected of women in terms of work? Would you describe your experience? What were your peers doing? Did they leave work once they had had children or when they got pregnant? How did the role of women in work change from after the war until 1960? The women you knew?
Married women, like my Mother were housewives and my Father did not expect my Mother to go to work. Being a housewife was difficult during and after the War. There we had no labour-saving devices apart from a vacuum cleaner. We had no hot water in the house until a few years post-War when my Father installed a Geyser. My Mother’s wash day was Monday morning and a fire had to be lit under a large boiler into which the clothes went to be stirred and mashed with a wooden pole. They were then put through a mangle and hung out to dry in the backcourt if dry and on the pulley inside if wet. No electric irons the iron was heated at the fire. Baths were taken in a zinc tub in front of the fire with kettles used to heat water. Toast was made by holding bread in front of the fire on a toasting fork. Due to shortages during the War my Mother spent a lot of time baking.
Men’s work Post-War
What sort of work were men doing? What did the boys from your class go on to do? Did any of them do National Service and/or go to Korea.
I did National Service from January 1960 to January 1962. I did not see any action apart from helping to set up a radio link between Singapore and Bangkok. This was, I think, related to some problem in Vietnam. I lost touch with most of my friends from school and since I did no live local to my school I have only seen about six of them since I left. Three I know went to Glasgow University. One studied agriculture and ended up on Vancouver Island. One was a Physicist, one was a metallurgist at British Steel, one was a rep for Boehringer and moved south to the Birmingham area. I kept in touch with one friend through university but lost touch after he got married. However, I met up with him again, after a fifty-year gap, and we played some golf together. He was a lawyer and apparently rose quite high in the Scottish Office. Among my friends after school were teachers, a Social Security worker, an engineer and a bread factory foreman.
Housing Post-War
Do you remember people being homeless then? Houses being built? Prefabs, people living in old POW camps? Where did you live?
East Kilbride was started as a New Town in 1947 and one of my school pals and his family moved there. We were on the list for rehousing but it never happened. Prefabs were put up in many locations mostly outside Glasgow. I did not know or see any homeless in our part of Glasgow.
Courtship and Marriage
What was courtship like then? Were people married younger then? Do you remember lots of your friends getting married?
Don’t know about average marriage ages but a few of my friends got married and moved out to places like Glenrothes and Irvine. Reo Stakis started up restaurants in Glasgow which for the first time were priced low enough for even students to eat out occasionally and gave courting a new dimension. Girls went more into Pubs than during my parents’ generation. Where for my Mother it would be unthinkable to enter a public house, it seemed to become more common after the War. I was 32 when I married.
Food and Consumerism Post-Rationing
What changes were there to food, recipes and buying habits between 1954 and 1960?
Post War we began to see more exotic fruits than had been available before. It was 1947 before I ever saw a banana for example. Butter became available and brand name margarines. Rationing ceased and much more and varied foods were available.
Leisure -time
Any holidays in the 1950s? Any hobbies or pastimes?
The first time any of my friends went abroad was in the ‘60s. My first holiday abroad would have been 1978. The resorts on the Clyde (Rothesay, Largs, Saltcoats, Dunoon) and East Coast resorts like St Andrews, Crail and Elie, all flourished during the ‘50s. During the ‘50s my holidays were all at my Mother’s birthplace, Helensburgh or my Father’s birthplace, Lesmahagow.
My hobbies were mostly sports, football, badminton, table-tennis, tennis, squash and golf. I also did and still do a lot of reading.
