Edinburgh History

Recollections

David Say

New South Wales, Australia

World War II

Thank you to David Say for the following recollections. David was born in Dreghorn Loan, Colinton, Edinburgh, in 1939. He now lives in St Ives, New South Wales, Australia.

David wrote:

Evacuation

"My mother, sister and I were evacuated very early in the war, when I was only four months old - to Cardiff, of all places. Cardiff got bombed, Edinburgh didn't and we came back home again."

Air Raid Sirens

"Back in Colinton, I remember being taken down to sleep under the stone stairs as the planes flew over to bomb Glasgow. The wail of the siren on the police hut at the top of the village was piercing, yet mournful."

Air Raid Patrol (ARP)

"My father was in the ARP by night, and Professor of Electrical Engineering by day and by evening. Did he ever sleep? I did not see much of him. But I did find his stock of 'bombs', very loud fireworks used to simulate the sound of the real thing in evacuation exercises. And, after the war,

I won a few Dinky cars and trucks, also used in ARP exercises."

By Train to Glasgow

"We had friends in Glasgow and occasionally spent the day there before the bombers returned in the dark. I loved the anti-aircraft balloons that I saw as we emerged from the subway, just like the one in a picture book I had been given.

We went by train. It was invariably slow and the carriages seldom had WCs. I was lifted up to piddle out of the window."

By Train to Edinburgh

"Our car went off the road during the War, as there was no petrol. Saturday shopping in town was often done by train to the Caledonian Station at the west end of Princess Street. It was slow and it was dirty - but it was fun and always a treat preferred over tram or bus.

Gas Masks

"I had a gas mask with a Mickey Mouse face, which I wore in the village, as would a child today at Halloween. The real thing, soldiers from Redford barracks wearing masks, ran past on training exercises. I did not think I would like to do that."

Dreghorn Loan

"The railings outside our house in Dreghorn Loan were removed in 1941 to make armaments. For me, a little boy, this was a dramatic ravaging of our property. What would they take next?

Dreghorn Loan, Colinton

In the winter, we sledged down Dreghorn Loan. There were hardly any vehicles to make it dangerous. The milk horse frequently lost his footing and his dignity, finishing up on his bottom at the steep exit at the foot of the Loan. The kids who had a ride on the cart had to get off first.

The Pentland Hills

"Venturing up into the Polo Fields above Dreghorn Loan and below the Pentlands was dangerous, forbidden and always a great adventure. This was army training land. Burnt-out tanks, boxes of ammunition and little unexploded shells made for intriguing afternoons."

On one occasion, we saw a spy in the woods, examining the barracks through binoculars. One of us tore off to alert the police. An overweight, over-aged bobby struggled back up to the hills with my friend. He was not a happy chappie. The spy turned out to be a well-know ornithologist. He had permission to be there. We didn't."

The Railway Tunnel

"The railway line ran through Colinton, beside the telegraph pole in this photograph of Colinton Dell:

The train tunnel started close to Colinton Station. It was always a draw. About 200 yards long, it was curved. In the middle of the tunnel, we could see neither end. Soot blackened, even on the brightest day we were in total darkness.

Before walking through the tunnel, we put an ear to the rail to check that no train was approaching. Someone had been told about this safety procedure and also that, should we meet a train in the single-track tunnel, it was safer to lie between the rails rather than at their side.

We declared that this was what we would do, each secretly deciding that he would chance it at the side rather than have the snorting monster drive over him.

In the event, we did neither. On what was probably the last occasion that we ran the gauntlet, we heard the puff puff puff of an approaching train when we were in the middle of the tunnel. It must have been stationery at Slateford Station when we listened for it.

We didn't try lying down, between or outside the rails. We ran like Spitfires, stumbling on sleepers, the end of the tunnel enlarging oh so slowly as we made our escape. When the engine, belching smoke, emerged about a minute later, we escaped retribution by hiding behind the station before bolting up Spylaw Bank Road."

Life went on ..

"Mr Hutchison from the newspaper shop continued to take photographs. I see that I looked like a rather sweet little boy, not the sort to trespass in train tunnels and army ammunition dumps.

The fishwife came once or twice a week, bringing the freshest catch I have ever tasted anywhere. She filleted it in our scullery.

There were walks in the Dell, a swing in Spylaw Park and the occasional trip to Whinrig for afternoon tea. Why did the wind always whistle so eerily through the telegraph wires on that lonely road up from Balerno?

Holidays

"Armed with ration books, we had some short holidays. Once in the Isle of Arran, where my father laboured on a farm, a submarine surfaced. “Is it German?” we wondered. Probably not.

And in North Berwick, the beach was scattered with barbed wire and massive anti-tank concrete blocks. Some blocks are still there along parts of that coast.

Smallpox Death

"In 1942, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Edinburgh. Eight people died of the disease and another ten as a result of vaccination (encephalitis). One was my sister, aged 14. Her iron lung was turned off. It was needed, understandably, for armed forces casualties.

Monica’s name was never to be mentioned again. I was told she had ‘gone on a long holiday’, learning of her death from the boy next door.

It was how people dealt with grief at that time – but my mother’s stiff upper lift still quivered at Monica’s name when she died in her 102nd year, 61 years later. No grief counselling. Just bottle up the emotion and hope that it only smoulders and doesn’t explode."

End of the War

"The end of the war came uncertainly. I went to the church hall, used as a mess for the troops, asking the soldiers if it was over yet. They didn't know. Eventually the announcement came over the radio.

The world returned slowly to normality, but as a child of the forties, I had no idea what normality was. Adults excitedly welcomed back the banana. I was disappointed. It didn't seem to me to be like fruit as I knew it - mostly raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, apples and gooseberries from the garden. Lawns had been dug up to make room for fruit and vegetables.

It took years before sweets were de-rationed. They then ran out completely and had to be rationed again for another 18 months or so.

By Train to London

"My first visit to London was in September 1945. I saw what bombs could do. Half the dining room in our hotel was trampolined off, having received a direct hit.

The train home was murder. It took 15 hours and there was no food or water. And it was packed with troops going on leave - or to be demobbed - one sailor getting in by being passed through the narrow flat window above the main window.

Every visit to the loo - and there were many for a small boy - required three soldiers to move out first.

David Say, St Ives, New South Wales, Australia: October 28, 2006

Recollections

Valerie Turner

Queensland, Australia

Thank you to Val Turner, Queensland, Australia, formerly of Colinton, for sending these recollections of Edinburgh.

Val wrote:

Colinton

"I lived in Colinton Mains, Edinburgh and had a very happy childhood there, playing in the woods, in the burn, and during summer, climbing the Pentland Hills and eating the blaeberries. What wonderful times we had!!"

Schools and Gala

"I went to Craiglockhart school and then Tynecastle school.

Craiglockhart school

I was also the Gala Queen in Colinton Mains, a long time ago!!!!"

Library and Shops

"We used to walk to the library in Colinton, almost daily to change our books. There were no TVs in those days.

I used to go the St Cuthbert's church and then we'd go down the steps to what was the little sweet /tobacconist shop and spend our pennies and talk to the owner who used to wear a sailor's peaked cap. Then we'd walk to the dell. It was so beautiful."

Australia

"I emigrated to Australia with my family in 1952. I'm now a radio presenter here in Esk, Queensland, a tiny village an hour and half from Brisbane. My radio is 95.9 Valley fm 'Your Voice in the Valley'."

Return Visit to Edinburgh

"My husband and I came to edinburgh in 1975. We looked for the little humpy stone bridge in Colinton Road, just down from the barracks. It used to be a dear little bridge on a winding road, but we found a 4-lane highway.

When I stopped and asked a woman where my castle and the humpy bridge were, she told me that the castle had been blown up in a army exercise and that the burn had been re-routed. The old bridge still stands there but the burn flows elsewhere.

I cried and cried. 'I should never have left' I said!!"

Valerie Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia: December 30 + 31, 2007

Recollections

Val Turner

Australia

Here are more memories of Colinton from Val Turner.

Val wrote:

Flowers

"On Mother's Day, my sister's and I would walk to White's farm and ask to buy a bunch of flowers for 6d. They were usually white. Perhaps that's why we called it White's farm!

Now, I ask my children not to buy anything except flowers to go into the garden where I have my 'Mother's Day patch'."

Woods

"I'd play all day in the woods with my friend, Sandra Goodall. We used to pick wild strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries and Mum would make a jar of jam. She's save all the sugar to make the Christmas cake and jams. I still never have sugar in my tea or coffee o this day!! Thanks Mum!!

I remember the daffodils and rhododendrons growing wild, and the dog roses. We'd pick the red hips, take them to the school to be made into rose hip syrup!! Nothing was wasted in those days!!"

Old Castle

"We also used to play in the falling down old castle on Colinton Road. I remember the 'bobbie' yelling for us to come down from the turret with all our toys and stuff. We'd slide down the greasy pole to get into the grounds. wish I could do that now!!"

Return to Edinburgh

"Sandra Goodall flew over from Canada to spend a week with me recently. We went back and we saw our beech trees, elms, oaks, and we both had tears in our eyes. The bluebells were still in flower and it was a most wonderful time together."

Potatoes

"My older sister went to live on a farm for a couple of weeks to pick, by hand, the potato crop from the frozen ground as the men were all in the war. She loved that time but said they all cried when trying to pick the potatoes from ground covered in ice. Hard times!! "

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia: January 10, 2008.

Recollections

Val Turner

Australia

Here, Val Turner writes about some of her wartime memories around Colinton.

Val writes:

Air Raid Sirens

"I remember the air-raid sirens on top of Firhill going off when we were waiting for the tram. We heard the siren and we'd quietly walk across the road and wait for the 'all-clear'. There was no hysteria or rushing about, and no counselling!"

Gas Masks

"We had gas masks. My little sister had one that was supposed to look like Micky Mouse, I think. I remember her screaming when we put her into it."

Royal Navy

"My father was in the British Navy, so was not often at home, and when he was, he was in the A.R.P. I remember the sand bags stacked against the office of the A.R.P. - I think that's what it was - and at the convent at Firhill."

Trams

"We'd wait for our tram. Nos. 9 and 10 would go to Colinton Village. No. 27 would stop at Firhill.

At Christmas, we'd come home from the city, sitting upstairs in the tramcar, and count all the Christmas trees in house windows. It's all buses now."

Local Shops

"I remember:

- beautiful buttery flaky bread rolls from a bakery just up from Craiglockhart School. my friend Isobel Little used to bring them for her lunch. and I'd be having school dinners !!ugh!!

- the sweet shop just down from the school, selling small bottles of Fanta and lovely sherbet in little paper bags. I just loved t he sherbet and still love lemon sherbet sweets!!

- the shops including a lovely cake shop at Happy Valley. These held some excitement for me. What a daft kid I was!!"

Val wrote, later:

"I hear from Tony Ballard that he also remembers the lovely cake shop at Happy Valley. My mum used to call me 'Happy Val' after 'Happy Valley'. "

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia: January12, 2008 + February 23, 2008.

Recollections

10.

Val Turner

Australia

Here, Val Turner writes about some of her wartime memories around Colinton.

Val writes:

Spylaw Park

"I remember walking to Spylaw Park and playing on the swings. They are still there. I could almost see us swinging away, with my sisters, having a great time and smelling the porridge oats!!

It was there that we used to watch 'Punch and Judy' shows under the monkey puzzle tree. The tree is not there now.

When I returned to Spylaw Park, I was struck with the beauty of the place, and also Colinton Dell. On the way there, we passed the beautiful old church. We went into the grounds and wandered round the gravestones, mellowed with time passed - so beautiful."

Trip to Fife

"Dad was on the Herring Fisheries Board. He would be there to launch new fishing boats. He took me to a navy submarine one day and we went into it. I remember the terrible closeness and the oily? smell.

I remember, once, he took us to Fife (I think it was Fife). The women in the tiny whitewashed cottage, wearing long skirts, were all crying. So, looking back I can only imagine a terrible sea tragedy must have taken place but my sisters and I weren't told."

Fields behind our Houses

"Sandra (Canada) and I would take blankets into the fields behind our houses, throw ourselves and the blanket down in the wheat and make 'our houses' with many rooms all connecting. Then we'd see the farmer, shouting to us kids to get out of his fields. So unfair!!

The women in the fieldsalso had long skirts and kercheifs round their hair!! We'd scramble up the sides of the lovely haystacks, and sit for hours on top, singing away - a song just made for us, or so we thought!!

'Lovely day on top of a load of hay'

Soup

"I remember when dad came home with a sheep's head for mum to make soup!! We all screamed and ran from the kitchen, and it sat on the kitchen table, its eyes glowing in the dark!!"

Sandra's Mum

"Talking of soup, Sandra's mum would make soup and serve it to us. We'd be sitting on the coal bunker in the sun, drinking soup from cups!!

Sandra's mum had such beautiful hats. On Saturday afternoons, we'd go into her 'big room' and try on her hats and look in the mirror!! She was a beautiful woman."

Leaving Colinton

"My daughter couldn't believe that we all actually left Colinton, but when my Dad came back from the war he'd been in Trinidad and the West Indies, and we were still in our cold damp house. He said he had to get his daughters to the sun!! and so here we all are (in Queensland, Australia).

But my sisters and I know where we'd rather be!! And as for the sun, I could shoot it out of the sky!!"

Val Turner, Esk, Queensland, Australia: January 26, 2008.

Recollections

11.

Val Turner

Australia

Val writes here about her memories of food when she lived as a child in Colinton, during World War II:

Food during World War II

Rabbit

"I remember that we used to keep rabbits. One continually got away and raided all the veg. gardens in our neighbourhood. So one of our neighbours suggested that he kill it. Mum said 'Yes', and to our horror, we were expected to eat poor Blackie !!

It was awful, (not the rabbit!!) and we were crying but I think in the end the enticing aroma of carrots and dumplings in the rabbit stew won us over!! Fancy eating our pets!! But as Mum said, 'There's a war on', and that phrase covered most things as I remember."

Leaves, Nuts and Berries

"We used to eat almost anything. I remember Sandra and I poisoned ourselves in the woods eating some strange leaves. We were sick for a long time.

Sandra had said, 'Do you like vinegar?' and, of course, I said I loved it. So she said, 'These are vinegar leaves.' So we ate a whole bank of them, stalks and all. We had the nurse call round to us on her bike for days after.

We'd drink the white stuff from the dandelions, ugh!!, the beech nuts, and all the berries we'd find in the woods. In fact, anything we could find."

Dog Biscuits and Fish

"Mum would buy dog biscuits for Towser in the shape of dog bones and we'd eat them too. We loved them!! And of course we ate boatloads of fish. I remember the lovely big cod steaks we'd fry. Delicious !!"

Eggs

"We always had vegetables, but not much in the way of meat (not forgetting poor Blackie!!). And remember the powdered egg in packets? - brown waxy packets with 2 crossed flags on the front. I loved those eggs scrambled !!"

We eventually had hens in the garden for the eggs but we had to give up our ration of 1 egg a week so we could buy hen food instead. We'd go over to the barracks for all the scraps for the hens so they were fed very well."

Christmas Cake

"Mum would queue up and buy dried fruit, hide it away in the sideboard and lock the doors, and we'd slide the upper drawer out, stretch our arms along the space the drawer had left, dangle our hands and grab anything we could from the paper bags. Poor Mum could never see how the bags were all half full when she came to bake the Christmas cake."

Rations

"As we never took sugar in our tea, Mum always had plenty of sugar to bargain with!!

We loved it on ration day when we had our butter ration. We'd never had anything tasting like bread with real butter!! The margarine used to taste of fish. Horrible! The bacon used to taste of fish also."

The Pigs' Bin

"The pigs' bin was at the end of our street, and in it would be everyone's kitchen rubbish, just for the pigs. In the summer, the bin would smell horribly."

Milk Monitor

"At school, I was a 'milk monitor'. My job was to prick all