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Recollections
Abbeyhill |
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Please
scroll down this page, or click on one of the links below: |
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1.
Dorothy
Addison (nee Jenkins)
Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.
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Shops
Crisps and Salt |
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2.
George T
Smith
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
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Draper's Shop
Dairy
British Columbia |
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3.
Rob Fender
England
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Family and Friends
Tramlines
Shops |
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4.
Elizabeth Bell
Murray Bridge, South Australia
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Meadowbank
Parsons Green School
Abbey Church
Streets
Shops
Cinema
Industry |
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Recollections
1.
Dorothy
Addison (nee
Jenkins)
Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.
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Dorothy wrote:
Shops
"I
wish one of your avid readers would add some more information about
Abbeyhill. Abbeyhill was a bustling little neighborhood when i was
young.
My
grandparents had the two shops at the top of Waverley Place, and they
owned the houses above and at the back. One store was a licensed
grocer, and next door was ladies milliners type of store.
My
grandfather, David Forrest, lived above the store with his family.
I also
remember my grandmother in her dark clothing, walking along to Easter
Road, to Young Brothers, bakers, every Saturday to get all the nice baked
goods."
Dorothy Addison (nee Jenkins), Tsawwassen, British
Columbia, Canada: May 16+20, 2007
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Dorothy added:
Crisps
and Salt
"When I
was young, which was a long time ago, the only potato chips (use to be
called crisps) that one could buy were plain. They cost thrupence a bag.
At the bottom of each bag was a little pouch in dark blue paper filled
with salt, which we sprinkled on our crisps.
Two
companies produced crisps, Smiths, and Lothian.
One day
my girl friend Ann Henderson whose family were the owners of Lothian Crisp
Factory, asked me to chum her to her Granny's house.
Her
Granny lived behind the Poppy Factory at Abbeyhill, and not far from
Holyrood Palace. When we arrived, she let us in and immediately
returned to her chair by the fire, and continued with her work.
In her
lap she had a bowl of salt and with utmost precision she would pick up
these tiny pieces of dark blue paper, and with a tiny spoon scoop some
salt into each one and screw it up, and place into a bag which already
contained hundreds of these little packets, ready for pick-up.
She was
the only person who did this for the company. We left there with the
finished goods
I was
amazed to think that each time I had enjoyed these crisps that a dear old
lady had put the little pouch of salt together by hand.
How
simple things were done in years gone by.
Dorothy Addison (nee Jenkins), Tsawwassen, British
Columbia, Canada: June 15, 2007
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So, if you have
any recollections of Abbeyhill, please e-mail me so that I can add them to
the web site for Dorothy.
Thank you. -
Peter Stubbs: May 18, 2007 |
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Recollections
2.
George T
Smith
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
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George wrote:
Draper's Shop
"My maternal aunt Barbara Lawson worked for years in a small draper's shop on the south side of Abbeyhill. The owner's name I do not remember.
The shop closed half-day Wednesday. It was at street level in a block of flats. I dimly recollect (I was about 5) that dresses on hangers were hung high against the shelved wall behind the counter."
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Dairy
"Further east, almost opposite Meadowbank, was a dairy where I believe the cows were kept without recourse to grazing: there is some special name for this sort of husbandry."
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George added:
British Columbia
"By
the way: Tsawassen is the other end of the ferry from here in Nanaimo.
That is the fifth person from Edinburgh that I have come across through
your site who is living near here."
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George T Smith, Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada.
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Recollections
3.
Rob Fender
England |
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Robert Fender, now living in England, wrote:
Family and Friends
"I
had an aunt and uncle who lived in Regent Place, just off London Road
opposite the Abbey Church.
A pal of mine from school used to live in Mayfield Place. Ronnie
Nicholson was his name."
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Tramlines
I remember in the late 1940's there used to
be a policeman on point duty at the junction of London Road and Montrose
Terrace.
The tramcars used to travel down there and one
day I was cycling along there when the front wheel of my bike got stuck in
the tram rails and I finished almost in the arms of the policeman.
I remember I got a ticking off from him, but worse still I bent the
pedal of my bike
so
I had to walk home. I wont tell you what my Dad said when I
got there."
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Shops
"There used to be a butchers shop on London Road.
- I think the name was Drummond and next to it was a hardware shop,
Across the road from them was a haberdashers
where you could buy plastic collars.
Further down on the same side, past the junction with Montrose Terrace
was a cobblers and then at the end at the junction of
Easter
Road was the Fire Station."
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Robert Fender, England, September 26, 2007
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Recollections
4.
Elizabeth Bell
Murray Bridge, South
Australia |
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Elizabeth Bell wrote from
South Australia:
Meadowbank
"I
lived at Meadowbank for 25 years, from 1933
till I married and came to South Australia, firstly
to Henley Beach, an Adelaide suburb, in 1958."
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Parsons Green
School
"I went to Parsons Green School, which burned
down just after we left. We used to go to
the baths at Abbeyhill School on Friday afternoons for swimming lessons."
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Abbey Church
"My
family attended Abbey Church and I was married there.
Sadly, when I managed to visit in 1976, it had just been closed
and it has now been demolished."
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Streets
"I remember Cadzow PlaceI
and all the little streets that led north from
London Road, and I well remember the variety of
shops in
Abbeyhill.
It was
great o catch the train at Abbeyhill Station to visit relatives at
Eskbank."
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Shops
"I
remember:
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a very good newsagent, next to the station entrance
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a dress shop, next to
the newsagents, where I purchased a very good quality coat once.
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an
ice-cream shop.
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a very
good toy and model shop, up Montrose Terrace.
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Bald's fish and chip shop,
also up Montrose Terrace.
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one of the first
launderettes at the corner of Abbey Street. I think
there was once a Funeral undertakers
there.
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a
jeweller and maybe a printers, towards the fire station
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the licensed grocer's shop where my Granny would often buy port
wine. I have an old family photo
including, I think, my late uncle William Hill,
as a young man, complete with the white apron grocers used to wear.
- Coltart's, the photographers on the north side of London
road, where I had to have my wedding photos taken.
- a good wool and clothes shop near the photographers.
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Young's, of course, with their Aberdeen biscuits, gingery hot cross
buns etc. This was always a favourite
place to shop.
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The
dairy, called Sunny Bank, which, I think, was
the first established to serve the Palace of
Holyrood House."
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Cinema
"Around the corner was the Eastway cinema and
Masonic premises. I've been in the
latter for a wedding reception.
A great
aunt lived in the tenement just before the Easter Road corner and we could
hear the sound track from the cinema sometimes."
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Industry
"And the
foundry in London Road used to give off many a
clang. I used to wonder how the folks in the tenements could stand the
noise
I always remember,
too, the smell of the steamy down Rose Lane."
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Elizabeth Bell, Murray Bridge, South
Australia
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