|
Recollections
Canonmills
1950s |
|
Recollections
1.
Eric Sloan
Emerald, Victoria, Australia |
|
Thank you to Eric Sloane for his recollections below. Eric
lived in the
Boswall area of Edinburgh from the 1940s until 1963.
Eric wrote: |
|
Golden Wonder Crisps
"In the mid 1950s my uncle, Ian MacDougall, worked
for the then fledgling Golden Wonder crisp company. There was a factory down
Canonmills in a row alongside the Water of Leith.
I used to go with him to the factory which was like
a Heath Robinson machine. I was fascinated by the place. It worked
automatically peeling and slicing the potatoes and dropping them into the fat
vats for cooking, then out again for drying.
Ian drove a delivery van around the retailers and I
used to help him dropping off the tin boxes containing the packets of crisps.
Another job was pasting the labels on to the side of the boxes. That was kinda
messy."
|
|
Shops and
Cinema
"Later, around 1956 or '57, my Nan and Pop bought a
shop in Rodney St. We were next to a milliner just north and across the
road from Broughton Primary (which I attended for a while) and nearly opposite
to the Ritz cinema.
I used to go to Saturday morning pictures there
taking the tram from Granton Rd alone from as young as 8 year old.
The shop was a bit of everything, like an
Australian milk bar. We sold sweets to the kids from the school and all kinds of
groceries.
They bought a large van and Ian left Golden Wonder
to come drive it. We operated a mobile shop going all over North Edinburgh."
|
|
Fame
"The last of that row of shops, at the southern end,
was a chippie and next to that a block of tenements.
Jackie Dennis was brought up in the first of those
tenements and went on to become a "one hit wonder" down in London appearing on
the 'Six-Five Special' and
'Oh Boy' shows.
I remember everyone said what a nice lad he was. The
hit song was called "Oh La De Dah" or something very close*.
Off Rodney St., just north of the row of shops was an old cobbled street leading
up to an elevated waste ground."
* Please see 'Recollections 3'
below for the name of the song.
|
|
Tenements
"The tenements in that street were very dilapidated,
housing some fairly rough characters. I don't recall the name - it was Something
Row.
The waste ground at the top was a great Cowboy and
Indian playground and I remember one time when I was a captive this kid from the
street had me tied up to a clothes pole and was preparing to burn me at the
stake! Somebody ran down for my grannie and I got rescued."
|
|
Recollections
2.
Richard Greenwood
Ripley, Derbyshire, England |
|
Thank you to Richard Greenwood for following up on the 'Fame'
paragraph above.
Richard wrote: |
|
Jackie Dennis
"Just a recollection of the 'one hit wonder', Jackie
Dennis.
He actually had a hit with 'Purple People Eater'
circa 1958. It was released on a 78 and the flip side was 'Yoo Hoo'. It was one
of the first records I ever bought. Sheb Woolley also had a hit with the
same song.
Maybe Jackie was a '2 hit wonder'. I've never
heard of him since."
Richard Greenwood, Ripley, Derbyshire, England: March 26,
2008
|
|
Recollections
3.
Betty McGill
Edinburgh |
|
Thank you to Betty McGill for leaving a
message in the EdinPhoto guestbook. Betty wrote: |
|
'Oblah De'
"I was just browsing through your website and
thought I would like to add to Eric Sloan's
comments (in 'Recollections 1' above).
The name of the song would
be 'Oblah De,
Oblah Da',
not 'Oh La De Dah'. I
loved that song.
All good wishes to you
all, from Betty Mc Gill."
Betty McGill, Edinburgh:
July 6, 2008 |
|
Recollections
4.
Clive MacKinnon
Orpington, Kent, England |
|
Clive MacKinnon did not agree with the comments
above. Clive wrote: |
|
'La De Dah'
"The song title was not
'Oblah De,
Oblah Da'.
It was
'La Dee Dah', a No.4 UK hit on the Decca label
(F.10992).
It is also
quoted as being featured in the film 'The Six-Five Special'.
Betty (3 above) is
obviously thinking of the Beatles/Marmalade song from 11 years later."
Clive MacKinnon, Orpington, Kent,
England
July 30, 2008 |
|
Clive added: |
|
'La Dee Dah'
"My daughter
has a collection of 'fifties 78s on You
Tube under the name 78junkee. She has Jackie Dennis' La Dee
Dah playing on there!"
Clive MacKinnon, Orpington, Kent,
England
July 30, 2008 |
|
