|
|
Recollections
1.
George Smith
British Columbia, Canada |
|
Thank you to George Smith, British Columbia, Canada, formerly Edinburgh,
for the following recollections from the 1940s:
|
Icicles
"There was an
overflow on the Union Canal aqueduct, where it crosses the Water of
Leith. This helped maintain the canal at a level to prevent
flooding after heavy rain. Icicles extending down from the canal
were an annual event."
A succession of
cold days with sunny afternoons, causing a slight thaw could
produce long icicles."
George Smith
|
I
have seen one photograph where the icicle extended all the way down to
the Water of Leith. - Peter Stubbs
|
"The Plantations"
"Through the
Slateford aqueduct at ground level led (with
wet schoolboy feet) to what we called "The
Plantations" where we swung from a rope strung from one of the trees in
this forgotten woodland.
Access to this sylvan retreat was either through
the cattle sidings at the back of the cattle market or via Hutchison
Loan.
Interesting that there was Inglis Green Laundry
backing on to the Water of Leith near where the old maps show bleaching
fields. Tradition dies hard doesn't it?"
George Smith,
British Columbia, Canada
|
|
|
2005
There is now, in 2005, a path and cycle route
following the Water of Leith in this area, passing beneath the railway
bridge and aqueduct. At the aqueduct, there is a Water of Leith
Centre with info on the wild life that can be found.
There is a long
flight of steps leading up from the Water of Leith path to the tow
path on the Union Canal above. It has a wooden channel
beside the steps, for wheeling cycles from one route to the other.
- Peter Stubbs
|
|
Recollections
2.
Bill Porteous
Gold Coast, Queensland,
Australia |
|
Thank you to Bill
Porteous, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia for the following message:
|
"The Aqueduct"
"I
remember as a child, living in Hutchinson Medway, that my brother,
friends and I would climb up into the aqueduct and explore the network
of passages in it.
I well
remember the gigantic icicles that hung down from it into the burn
below.
"Haunted House"
There was
also an old house of three stories or so that we all believed was either
haunted or was occupied by a witch.
We used to
frighten the living daylights out of younger kids (and often ourselves)
by running up and down the stairs.
Bill Porteous
|
|
Bill Porteous lived in Hutchison Medway, Edinburgh
and went to St. Cuthbert's School in Slateford in the 1940s/50s,
then to Holy Cross in Leith from 1952 to 1954 before emigrating to
Australia under the 'Big Brother Scheme' in 1957. |
|
|
Recollections
3.
Isabella Vever (nee
Isobel
Grieve)
Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia |
|
Isabella
Vever left the following message in the EdinPhoto guest book:
Isabella Vever
"Does anyone from Moat Drive remember me? I lived at 14 Moat
Drive, Slateford, and went to Tynecastle School. I have been in
Australia for 38 years."
Isabella
Vever (nee Isobel Grieve), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia:
Message posted in Guestbook,
March 19, 2010 |
|
Recollections
4.
Roderick MacDonald
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
|
Here
is a message that Roderick MacDonald left in the EdinPhoto web site: |
|
John and Ella MacDonald
"Does
anyone remember my parents, John and Ella (nee Wiseman) MacDonald?
They emigrated to Tasmania in 1949.
My father:
-
served in the Royal Navy in World War II
-
married my mother in Slateford Church in 1947
-
trained as a forester before leaving Scotland.
I was born in 1948 in Edinburgh,
Elsie Inglis Hospital - whatever happened
to it? Both my parents died in 2006."
Roderick MacDonald, Hobart, Tasmania,
Australia:
Message posted in EdinPhoto Guestbook: August 17, 2010 |
|
Reply to Roderick MacDonald
I don't know
Roderick MacDonald's email address, so cannot pass any
messages on to him. So if you'd like to send him a message, please
go to the guest book and place a reply below his message of August 17,
2010.
Peter
Stubbs: August 17, 2010 |
|
Recollections
5.
Janice Menzies
Slateford, Edinburgh |
|
Janice
Menzies wrote |
|
Holidays
"My mum used to go to Seton Sands**
on holiday. I've heard stories from my grandmother about lots of
people from Gorgie and Slateford going on holiday there in the 1930s.
**
Seton Sands is a caravan holiday camp on the Firth of Forth
beside Port Seton, about ten miles to the east of Edinburgh.
|
|
My Family
"My
grandfather worked in the co-op. He went
to work with his hat and starched collars. My grandmother never went
into Princes Street without her best hat on either.
Mother sang the ballads with the bands at the dancing during the war and
worked in the factory that sewed the uniforms |
|
Janice Menzies, Slateford, Edinburgh:
February 17, 2012 |
|
