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Recollections of
Edinburgh Old Town
Infirmary Street
Baths
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Recollections
1.
Eric Gold
East London
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Thank you to Eric Gold, East London, who wrote about
'the great boiler' at Infirmary Street Baths.
Eric wrote: |
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The Great Boiler
"When
I was wee, I went to St Ann’s school in
the Cowgate and to
St Patricks in St John’s Hill, so I
would come home via High School Wynd, near
The High School Yards, and on to Drummond
Street.
I passed the boiler room at infirmary Street Baths a thousand
times. I used to look at the great
boiler and furnace there.
Goodness, he was big and powerful.
As
it happened, the boiler men drank in
Stewarts and Rutherford’s pubs in Drummond Street and knew my family
well. One of the men showed me the
big boiler. It was hot.
He opened the door so he
could shovel more coal into the boiler to whet
his appetite.
I also remember coming home from the Waverley Buildings where
my Auntie Nancy lived.
It was dark and you could see the boiler
flames from the Cowgate as the boiler men had a delivery of
coal and the doors were wide open.
It was like a scene
out of a space movie. The
heat was great too. It was in the
middle of winter so I got my hands warm,
I've
seen these night flames a few times when visiting my
Auntie Nancy.
Once, we bumped into the High School
janitor opposite the baths. He
had a beast of a bulldog.
When the bulldog
barked, my Auntie
Nancy would tell him were to go in harsh language and say
'I'll grab the dog and put it in the
boiler' (ha ha ha ha).
All the boiler men were in stitches with her wit and harsh
tongue. She always got a drink
from them in Stewarts and Rutherford’s,
her local pubs.
I'll
never forget the big boiler and the way it was made.
The rivets were large too, a real piece of engineering. If a
Hollywood producer wanted to do a film of
the Titanic, that would be an ideal
backdrop for them."
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Plunges
"On the Friday
night my Ma would send us to infirmary
Street baths for a plunge (bath) as we had
no inside baths or toilets in Arthur Street.
I think it cost 3 pence in
old money.
You'd
get a towel and a bar of carbolic soap. It
stank. The man running the plunges
was miserable. He'd shout,
'Come on, your
time is up, you've
been in there for hours.' All the
Dumbiedykes families were waiting to get a bath.
I'll never
forget him as he moaned all the time (ha ha ha ha).
I said to him once, 'You
should give us more time.'
He replied
'Where do you think you are, on the
Queen Mary?' (ha ha ha ha).
Ironically, when I went to sea, I
worked for five years on the Queen Mary as
First Class waiter." |
|
Swimming
"My
big brother, George and cousins were great
swimmers, especially George.
If he were here today,
he'd be in the Olympics and win a gold
medal. He'd
swim like a fish and do summersaults from the springboard.
I couldn’t swim so I stayed at the
shallow end (ha ha ha). My mate from
St Patrick's once
pushed me in at the deep end. I
fell to the bottom and panicked, but
George got me out fast and reprimanded my mate and he apologised,
and were great mates at school ever since.
The water had a bleach smell and taste
to it. We'd get rubber armbands and if
your time was up the armband colour would let the pool attendants
know. But George had 4 different
armbands so they got confused when they called in a certain colour.
He never got caught and was nicknamed, 'The
Shark From Arthur Street '(ha ha ha ha).
Those were great days.
I visited the boiler
again in 1997, but it was all
sealed off. I wonder what happened
to it. The baths
are now an arts centre, but no
boiler. It was a great piece of art
and engineering work. I bet the
boiler was made in Glasgow where the great
liners were made. The only iconic
thing that still stands is the great
chimney which took the fumes away from the great boiler.
If anyone
knows anything about the boiler, do let me
know." |
|
Eric Gold, East London:
August 7+10, 2008
|
|
If you'd like to
reply to Eric, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to
him.
Thank
you. - Peter Stubbs: August
10, 2008 |
|
Recollections
2.
Dave Lowe
Gifford, East Lothian, Scotland |
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Thank you to David Lowe who wrote: |
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1976
"I've not
long retired and have taken to looking into parts of my life that
have given me good memories.
I worked at
Infirmary Street Baths from 1976 to 1991
as the swimming teacher/lifeguard, plant operator and then
supervisor before becoming a swimming pools manager in 1992.
I loved the place
and went there yesterday on an Edinburgh Open Day visit with my
daughter who was 4 years old when I
started there as a lifeguard from the Royal Commonwealth Pool.
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The Boiler
I worked the big
boiler that Eric Gold from East London refers to
(1 above).
It was a big oil-fired Lankie (Lancashire).
One of my early morning duties was to climb the fixed ladder
that led to the top where I opened the crown valve to permit the
steam to tear through the pipes and bring the ancient building to
life. I can hear the steam pipes hammering throughout the whole
building as I write this!
There was no such
thing as 'childcare' in those days.
I used to take daughter Stephanie there on my bicycle after school
to do my back shift and in the late afternoon her Mum would finish
work and come to fetch her home.
At the end of my
shift I'd then scale the heights of the boiler to close the crown
head before wandering up the lane to Stewarts in Drummond Street for
a couple of pints and then next door to Kushies for a Bhuna (curry).
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Homeless
The boiler was
indeed a beauty and I now reveal that there was a side door in
the boiler house that opened onto the lane from the back of the
boiler. It was a fire door. I used to 'forget to close it' in the
evening cos there was an old homeless bloke who would 'sneak' in and
sleep overnight behind the warmth of the boiler. He didn't know
that I was 'forgetful' and he never abused the situation."
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Dave Lowe, Gifford, East Lothian,
Scotland: September 29,
2009 |
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Recollections of
Edinburgh Old Town
Infirmary Street
Baths
|
|
Recollections
1.
Eric Gold
East London
|
|
Thank you to Eric Gold, East London, who wrote about
'the great boiler' at Infirmary Street Baths.
Eric wrote: |
|
The Great Boiler
"When
I was wee, I went to St Ann’s school in
the Cowgate and to
St Patricks in St John’s Hill, so I
would come home via High School Wynd, near
The High School Yards, and on to Drummond
Street.
I passed the boiler room at infirmary Street Baths a thousand
times. I used to look at the great
boiler and furnace there.
Goodness, he was big and powerful.
As
it happened, the boiler men drank in
Stewarts and Rutherford’s pubs in Drummond Street and knew my family
well. One of the men showed me the
big boiler. It was hot.
He opened the door so he
could shovel more coal into the boiler to whet
his appetite.
I also remember coming home from the Waverley Buildings where
my Auntie Nancy lived.
It was dark and you could see the boiler
flames from the Cowgate as the boiler men had a delivery of
coal and the doors were wide open.
It was like a scene
out of a space movie. The
heat was great too. It was in the
middle of winter so I got my hands warm,
I've
seen these night flames a few times when visiting my
Auntie Nancy.
Once, we bumped into the High School
janitor opposite the baths. He
had a beast of a bulldog.
When the bulldog
barked, my Auntie
Nancy would tell him were to go in harsh language and say
'I'll grab the dog and put it in the
boiler' (ha ha ha ha).
All the boiler men were in stitches with her wit and harsh
tongue. She always got a drink
from them in Stewarts and Rutherford’s,
her local pubs.
I'll
never forget the big boiler and the way it was made.
The rivets were large too, a real piece of engineering. If a
Hollywood producer wanted to do a film of
the Titanic, that would be an ideal
backdrop for them."
|
|
Plunges
"On the Friday
night my Ma would send us to infirmary
Street baths for a plunge (bath) as we had
no inside baths or toilets in Arthur Street.
I think it cost 3 pence in
old money.
You'd
get a towel and a bar of carbolic soap. It
stank. The man running the plunges
was miserable. He'd shout,
'Come on, your
time is up, you've
been in there for hours.' All the
Dumbiedykes families were waiting to get a bath.
I'll never
forget him as he moaned all the time (ha ha ha ha).
I said to him once, 'You
should give us more time.'
He replied
'Where do you think you are, on the
Queen Mary?' (ha ha ha ha).
Ironically, when I went to sea, I
worked for five years on the Queen Mary as
First Class waiter." |
|
Swimming
"My
big brother, George and cousins were great
swimmers, especially George.
If he were here today,
he'd be in the Olympics and win a gold
medal. He'd
swim like a fish and do summersaults from the springboard.
I couldn’t swim so I stayed at the
shallow end (ha ha ha). My mate from
St Patrick's once
pushed me in at the deep end. I
fell to the bottom and panicked, but
George got me out fast and reprimanded my mate and he apologised,
and were great mates at school ever since.
The water had a bleach smell and taste
to it. We'd get rubber armbands and if
your time was up the armband colour would let the pool attendants
know. But George had 4 different
armbands so they got confused when they called in a certain colour.
He never got caught and was nicknamed, 'The
Shark From Arthur Street '(ha ha ha ha).
Those were great days.
I visited the boiler
again in 1997, but it was all
sealed off. I wonder what happened
to it. The baths
are now an arts centre, but no
boiler. It was a great piece of art
and engineering work. I bet the
boiler was made in Glasgow where the great
liners were made. The only iconic
thing that still stands is the great
chimney which took the fumes away from the great boiler.
If anyone
knows anything about the boiler, do let me
know." |
|
Eric Gold, East London:
August 7+10, 2008
|
|
If you'd like to
reply to Eric, please email me, then I'll pass your message on to
him.
Thank
you. - Peter Stubbs: August
10, 2008 |
|
Recollections
3.
Stewart Connolly
West Highlands, Scotland |
|
Thank you to Stewart Connolly who wrote: |
|
Boilermen
"I've
just been reading the notes above. They brought back fantastic
memories for me, as my dad, Simon (Sam) Connolly was one of the
boilermen at Infirmary Street Baths.
He used to
frequent Stewart's Bar."
©
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Stewart Connolly, West Highlands,
Scotland: August 9, 2010 |
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