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Recollections
Niddrie
1930s
and 1940s
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Please click on one of the
links below, or scroll down this page |
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1. |
Lena
Mary Conway
(nee
Moran)
Livingston, West Lothian
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From 1933:
Niddrie Mains Terrace
Food
and
Drink
Games
The Tin School
Drink
Names
War
Cameron Highlanders
Family
To Work for Stoby
Taylor
Dancing |
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More Pages
Niddrie in the 1950s and 1960s |
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Recollections
1.
Lena
Mary Conway (nee
Moran)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
From 1933 |
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Lesley
Conway wrote:
"My
mother, Lena Mary Conway (nee Moran), was born
in Fountainbridge on 6 December 1927. She is now the eldest living
member of the Moran clan.
She
now lives in Sydney, Australia, after first immigrating to Melbourne,
Australia in 1960."
Lesley Conway: April 25, 2007 |
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Lena Mary Conway's memories
(recorded for her by her daughter,
Lesley Conway, now living in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia): |
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Niddrie Mains Terrace
"About
1933, when I was six,
the Moran clan – Peter and Molly, along with Peter, Rose, Isa,
me, John, Ronald and Patricia, left
Freer Street,
Fountainbridge, for Niddrie Mains
Terrace.
We lived at No
30. At the other end of the street was Letty’s caravan
where we went to get 'tick'.
I
remember the tunnel from Niddrie to Bingham.
Once it flooded and I fell in.
When
I got out I was
covered in leeches."
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Food and Drink
"Andrew
Neery used to push a barrow selling ice-cream and the kids would yell
out: 'Ma, can I get
a poke!'.
We all
used to call sago pudding, 'cats eyes and dogs
snotters'! One New Year,
I had a swig of port.
I wonder how old I was; maybe ten.
My
brother John remembers playing outside and sometimes getting a
'piece'
(bread/sandwich). Our hands would be all
dirty and grubby and if you were still eating when it was your turn,
you’d get someone to 'hud yer piece'.
If anyone else was eating an
apple, you’d always ask “Can I have yer stump”
(the apple core). I can’t imagine bairns today being so familiar
with dirt and food!"
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Games
"This
period consists of childhood games and school days.
In the years after
my birth, another five brothers and sisters
arrive, bringing the Moran clan to 11. My
mother had a tenth pregnancy but the child was stillborn.
Life was crowded and so was the
bed! I shared a bed with
my elder siblings, Peter, Rose and Isa,
sleeping head to toe.
We
played diabolos and piries. Famy Motion
was the diabolo champion! She was one of a brood of ten and their
Mother would yell out each child’s name, 'John,
George…..etc, come in for your cocoa!'.
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The Tin School
"I was
the only one in the family to go to the ‘tin school’ in Peffermill.
I think it only had two or three classrooms.
I couldn't work out why I was the only
one to go there, given I had 3 older siblings
and younger ones as well.
I
remember getting my coronation tin of toffees
whilst I was at the tin school, as
I remember being marched across the road to a
big house - I think it had something to do
with the brewery - and lined up to receive
my tin of sweeties.
This means that the tin school was operational in 1937, when
I was 10.
At about this time,
I went into the corner shop to buy a half-penny
lucky bag. The queue was long and I got
sick of waiting so I stole it and then
agonised over this action for months."
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Drink
"When
I was about 10, I
had to walk about ½ a mile in the dark to get a drink for
my Dad. He was a drinker –
he drank his pay when he was working (which wasn’t often) and
drank his dole money when he wasn’t.
Once, my
Dad saved up cigarette cards/tokens and redeemed it for a doll, which he
gave to me.
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Names
"I remember
all the dogs
we knew when we were younger: Prince Moran,
Chunky Day, Tiger Hannagan and Terry Halliday!
Even the people's
names were ‘no real’ – Troosers Mulhearn , Jackie Miles, Betty Mochan,
Joe Gilroy (which I always thought was Jogle Roy!), Dod Hay."
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War
"I was
twelve when war was declared, but Scotland
didn't really suffer as England did.
Nonetheless, five bombs were dropped on Edinburgh,
all near Craigmillar.
We
loved going into the air raid shelter, being such a large family
we had one to ourselves.
There were little lamps and we used to take
our books with us to read.
The day that
war was declared, Mrs Boyle (a neighbour up the stair, and a
staunch Catholic), threw holy water over all the bairns and said
'God bless us and save us!'.
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Cameron Highlanders
"My
Uncle Pat and my Uncle Tommy were
both in the Cameron Highlanders. Uncle
Tommy, when on leave, used to pull up in a taxi and get out in his full
regalia – kilt, spats etc. and all the kids in the neighbourhood would
come out to look at him – a very impressive sight.
He gave all his nieces and nephews
a thrupence each. Uncle Pat was actually a prisoner of war in
Germany for four years during WWII."
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Family
"My Dad
had a brother, Fred. He was apparently a recluse, but a very
handsome one! He also had a sister Mabel, who 'went
with the Poles' (went out with the Polish
soldiers). Mabel played the banjo and
the trumpet.
Granny Moran was a tall, skinny
woman who used to bone comb our hair for lice
as soon as we arrived to visit.
I think Granny Moran lived at Slateford on the
road to Corstorphine."
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To Work
for Stoby Taylor
"I left
school at 14, quite happy that my school days
are behind me. My
chum from school, Evie Henderson, got
me a job, alongside her at Stoby Taylors,
at the corner of the Pleasance and the
Cowgate.
I was
a cashier and book-keeper. I had great
fun working there. One day Evie
and I donned the merchandise, 'dressed-up'
in school uniforms, and
went off to lunch. Our boss
passed us in the street and
didn't even recognize us!
There were big drawers to keep
hats in and we used to go and hide in them.
We would sit on stools
and serve customers. One day, I hopped
off the stool and Auntie Susie, who had come to visit, couldn’t see
me anywhere – you were too short once you’d
gotten off the stool."
The shop owner, Stoby Taylor, was
about 74 and a very kind man who was nice to me. He used to give
advice for when I was were married, like
''Never go to bed on a quarrel'.
He wanted to send me to Skerry’s
College (at Surgeon’s Hall) to get a diploma but I
didn’t want that. In hindsight,
I wish I had gone to the
college."
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Dancing
"I used
to go out dancing three times a week:
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Friday night at the Casino in Portobello
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Thursday night at the
Miners Institute at Newcraighall, often with friends Evie Henderson and
Vera Forster. Later on,
my sister, Pat,
married Evie’s brother, Freddy.
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Tuesday afternoon at the
Palais de Danse, with Betty Mochan and the
gang from Stoby Taylors. My older
brother Peter, had a job as a valet, parking cars etc. at the Palais de
Danse.
At about this
time, we moved to
Bingham"
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Lesley Conway recording the memories of
her mother Lena Mary Conway: April 25, 2007 |
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