Post by jawbox on Jan 10, 2010 11:43:09 GMT 1
Here are a few of my memories in the 50s I'd like to share about Palace Street, the people who lived alongside us and a wee note aboot the Steamie!
4 Palace Street
Ground floor
On the right were the Owens – Mr & Mrs Owens and daughters, Bridget, Martha and Marie
on the left were Mrs & Mrs Mcleod and son Brian who later went to live in Sweden, he was adopted.
At the rear a “wee hoose” which we as a family lived in for a few years before moving upstairs to the second floor. We moved there from Aunt Jeannie's in 190 Fordneuk Street in 1947. The house was a single room with a “press”, a small hallway and a small scullery at the door entrance. I don't know who moved in there after we left in1951. My earliest memory there was imitating my Dad falling asleep on the chair and Mum waking us up with bowls of soup. My pram was black with cream interior and was kept in the small hallway between the door and the main room. When we were in that house I found some matches which had been left on the fireplace and started striking them managing to set fire to a pullover I was wearing. Fortunately, Mum came in and put out the flames just as they started to get hold!
On the first floor
The Davidsons, Ronnie, Brenda and Dorothy, Mr & Mrs Davidson
Mrs Smith (Nessie) – Mr Smith was in the navy and was seldom home and their son was called Zander – he often played the piano much to my Dad's annoyance when he was trying to sleep when working night shift
Ronnie now lives in Ayrshire, Brenda married Raymond Carpenter and Dorothy lives in East Kilbride. We all went to Newlands and Ronnie went on to Allan Glen's.
On the second floor
Mrs Martin who was a widow and her son Henry.
Ourselves – we moved in in 1951 after the Currie family, they had a dog that slept near a cupboard in what became my bedroom. The house consisted of two rooms a scullery kitchen and a hallway which had a coal bunker in it. The main living room had a double bed set into the wall, a coal fire and a “press”. At the sash windows to the left was a small scullery, just big enough for a sink and a cooker.
In the bedroom (my room) it was on the corner of the building adjoining Palace Street and Edminston Street, from the corner window I could see Springfield Road.
Next door were the Hunters - same name as us! Moses & Bel and their children Christine and Gordon. Moses played the bagpipes again much to my Dad's annoyance when he was trying to sleep whilst working night shifts. Christine lives in East Kilbride, don't know about Gordon.
On the third floor
Bullochs, - Mr & Mrs and their daughter Isobel
Humphries Mr & Mrs & their son Willie, tragic family, Willie was killed on his motorbike at the corner of London Road and Springfield Road, Mrs Humphries dies in Blackpool and Mr Humphries had a heart attack on the way to a football match.
10 Palace Street
Joan Tazar, Anne McClean, Margaret Burgoyne and Ian and Ann Anderson lived there.
Ian was a great drawer and used to draw huge chalk drawings of horses on the street (after the cobbles had been tarmacked over), he thought it was a great "canvas " for drawing on.
Ella Marshall lived across the road as did the Convery's.
16 Palace Street
Ground floor
Mrs Sneddon and her son John who many years later was murdered.
First floor
Mr & Mrs Walker, sons Norman and Marshall and David who lived with his Grandma
Last I heard of Norman, he was in Canada
Second floor
Mrs Wylie, her son Hugh and Mr & Mrs Doran
Grannie's
The key to the “sterrheed lavvy” hung just inside the front door which always had a “check” key in it.
Grannie had a piano for many years and my uncle Tommy Bell used to sing to her playing which was normally to sheet music from which she read the “do re mi's”. The piano went in favour of a television which sat on top of the sideboard. I remember pulling out the centre drawer too far and the whole drawer and contents fell on Tommy's big toe which was painful for many years after!
Above the sink was an Ascot hot water boiler. The table was in the centre of the room and two chairs, one on each side of the fireplace. On top of the fireplace was the clock, which never showed the correct time. It was always fast by an odd amount of time, something like an hour and three quarters! When I asked what time it was Grannie had to calculate each time to tell me the time. I never did find out why she kept the clock at the wrong time.
I used to watch the One o'clock gang there, I think it was with Larry Marshall, Jimmy Nairn, Dorothy Paul Charlie Sim and the Tommy Maxwell trio.
Granda always did a “line” for the bookie’s which was called a “six cross” I think, which consisted of three horses and the bet being for a treble, two doubles and three singles at sixpence or a tanner a go which came to 3/-. I never knew him to win anything of any significance.
On the third floor lived the Barrowmans, Mr & Mrs McArthur and their daughters Greta and ? and two sons, one of whom was a paratrooper killed in Sicily.
The Steamie
Locations:
1 Ruby Street ( when Mum worked at Nicol Mair's in Dalmarnock Road)
2 Barrowfield (accessed via Janefield Street)
3 Tollcross Road ( near the library and opposite the three Ps cinema - Parkhead Picture Palace)
When we lived in Palace Street Dad made a bogey to carry a galvanised bath, it was a flat piece of wood about 3 foot by 2 foot by ½ “ thick with four pram wheels set in two pairs on the underside, on the top were four curved pieces of wood matching the base of the bath so that it sat in and was held in place. The bath was then secured with rope to the bogey. To pull the bogey a piece of washing line or pulley rope was used.
To get a “turn” you had to queue at 6 am to buy a ticket , the office didn't open till 7 am and the ticket gave you a time normally the next day. Generally, a washing could take up to three hours to do, there were two basins - one deep basin and one normal and a boiler, the normal one for washing with soap the boiler to boil the clothes and the deep basin for rinsing.
To aid drying, there were wringers and steam driers, the clothes were folded and placed back in the “tin” bath alternatively if the weather was fine they could be taken home and hung out to dry in the backcourt that all tenements had. When it was really wet, another alternative was to hang the washing up to dry in the main living room on a pulley, which was secured to the ceiling. This was raised and lowered to load / unload and check if the clothes were dry.
4 Palace Street
Ground floor
On the right were the Owens – Mr & Mrs Owens and daughters, Bridget, Martha and Marie
on the left were Mrs & Mrs Mcleod and son Brian who later went to live in Sweden, he was adopted.
At the rear a “wee hoose” which we as a family lived in for a few years before moving upstairs to the second floor. We moved there from Aunt Jeannie's in 190 Fordneuk Street in 1947. The house was a single room with a “press”, a small hallway and a small scullery at the door entrance. I don't know who moved in there after we left in1951. My earliest memory there was imitating my Dad falling asleep on the chair and Mum waking us up with bowls of soup. My pram was black with cream interior and was kept in the small hallway between the door and the main room. When we were in that house I found some matches which had been left on the fireplace and started striking them managing to set fire to a pullover I was wearing. Fortunately, Mum came in and put out the flames just as they started to get hold!
On the first floor
The Davidsons, Ronnie, Brenda and Dorothy, Mr & Mrs Davidson
Mrs Smith (Nessie) – Mr Smith was in the navy and was seldom home and their son was called Zander – he often played the piano much to my Dad's annoyance when he was trying to sleep when working night shift
Ronnie now lives in Ayrshire, Brenda married Raymond Carpenter and Dorothy lives in East Kilbride. We all went to Newlands and Ronnie went on to Allan Glen's.
On the second floor
Mrs Martin who was a widow and her son Henry.
Ourselves – we moved in in 1951 after the Currie family, they had a dog that slept near a cupboard in what became my bedroom. The house consisted of two rooms a scullery kitchen and a hallway which had a coal bunker in it. The main living room had a double bed set into the wall, a coal fire and a “press”. At the sash windows to the left was a small scullery, just big enough for a sink and a cooker.
In the bedroom (my room) it was on the corner of the building adjoining Palace Street and Edminston Street, from the corner window I could see Springfield Road.
Next door were the Hunters - same name as us! Moses & Bel and their children Christine and Gordon. Moses played the bagpipes again much to my Dad's annoyance when he was trying to sleep whilst working night shifts. Christine lives in East Kilbride, don't know about Gordon.
On the third floor
Bullochs, - Mr & Mrs and their daughter Isobel
Humphries Mr & Mrs & their son Willie, tragic family, Willie was killed on his motorbike at the corner of London Road and Springfield Road, Mrs Humphries dies in Blackpool and Mr Humphries had a heart attack on the way to a football match.
10 Palace Street
Joan Tazar, Anne McClean, Margaret Burgoyne and Ian and Ann Anderson lived there.
Ian was a great drawer and used to draw huge chalk drawings of horses on the street (after the cobbles had been tarmacked over), he thought it was a great "canvas " for drawing on.
Ella Marshall lived across the road as did the Convery's.
16 Palace Street
Ground floor
Mrs Sneddon and her son John who many years later was murdered.
First floor
Mr & Mrs Walker, sons Norman and Marshall and David who lived with his Grandma
Last I heard of Norman, he was in Canada
Second floor
Mrs Wylie, her son Hugh and Mr & Mrs Doran
Grannie's
The key to the “sterrheed lavvy” hung just inside the front door which always had a “check” key in it.
Grannie had a piano for many years and my uncle Tommy Bell used to sing to her playing which was normally to sheet music from which she read the “do re mi's”. The piano went in favour of a television which sat on top of the sideboard. I remember pulling out the centre drawer too far and the whole drawer and contents fell on Tommy's big toe which was painful for many years after!
Above the sink was an Ascot hot water boiler. The table was in the centre of the room and two chairs, one on each side of the fireplace. On top of the fireplace was the clock, which never showed the correct time. It was always fast by an odd amount of time, something like an hour and three quarters! When I asked what time it was Grannie had to calculate each time to tell me the time. I never did find out why she kept the clock at the wrong time.
I used to watch the One o'clock gang there, I think it was with Larry Marshall, Jimmy Nairn, Dorothy Paul Charlie Sim and the Tommy Maxwell trio.
Granda always did a “line” for the bookie’s which was called a “six cross” I think, which consisted of three horses and the bet being for a treble, two doubles and three singles at sixpence or a tanner a go which came to 3/-. I never knew him to win anything of any significance.
On the third floor lived the Barrowmans, Mr & Mrs McArthur and their daughters Greta and ? and two sons, one of whom was a paratrooper killed in Sicily.
The Steamie
Locations:
1 Ruby Street ( when Mum worked at Nicol Mair's in Dalmarnock Road)
2 Barrowfield (accessed via Janefield Street)
3 Tollcross Road ( near the library and opposite the three Ps cinema - Parkhead Picture Palace)
When we lived in Palace Street Dad made a bogey to carry a galvanised bath, it was a flat piece of wood about 3 foot by 2 foot by ½ “ thick with four pram wheels set in two pairs on the underside, on the top were four curved pieces of wood matching the base of the bath so that it sat in and was held in place. The bath was then secured with rope to the bogey. To pull the bogey a piece of washing line or pulley rope was used.
To get a “turn” you had to queue at 6 am to buy a ticket , the office didn't open till 7 am and the ticket gave you a time normally the next day. Generally, a washing could take up to three hours to do, there were two basins - one deep basin and one normal and a boiler, the normal one for washing with soap the boiler to boil the clothes and the deep basin for rinsing.
To aid drying, there were wringers and steam driers, the clothes were folded and placed back in the “tin” bath alternatively if the weather was fine they could be taken home and hung out to dry in the backcourt that all tenements had. When it was really wet, another alternative was to hang the washing up to dry in the main living room on a pulley, which was secured to the ceiling. This was raised and lowered to load / unload and check if the clothes were dry.