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Recollections - South Edinburgh
Liberton |
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1.
Matt Rooney
Ayrshire, Scotland |
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Thank you to Matt Rooney, New Cumnock. Ayrshire, Scotland, for the
recollections the second of his many jobs in and around Edinburgh,
working for Baxters the Butchers at Liberton Dams |
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Baxters
the
Butchers
"I worked for Baxters the Butchers at
Liberton Dams.
Miss O'Dair (?) - I'm not too
sure of the spelling - gave me a penny to get the tram
up to Liberton proper with a huge basket of meat parcels for the big
houses in that area and across to Lasswade Road. I then had to
walk back down with the Empty Basket
Going in the other direction, towards the
University Annexe up at the cross roads and back again, on one
December morning, I found half a crown and a penny in the snow,
This
was at a time when a butcher boy's wages were £1 per week and my
mum, being a widow, giving me six pence pocket money, so that I
could spend it at the local cinema, three pence for the pictures and
three pence for sweets. We could buy Mackays toffee in the same type
of coloured paper as they use today."
Matt Rooney, ( now aged 73), Ayrshire, Scotland August 2005
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2.
Dave Woolard
Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Dave Woolard who wrote about picnics in
Liberton, in the south of Edinburgh.
Dave refers to Eastie (East Arthur Place), Middlie
(Middle Arthur Place) and Arthur Street. These are all streets in
Dumbiedykes, near Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, where Dave and his family used
to live.
Dave writes:
Liberton Dams
"Most families from Eastie Middlie and
Arthur street would go for picnic on a Sunday to Liberton Dams if the
weather was nice.
There was a wee burn ran through the glen so
we used collect stones and build dams to make the water deeper."
Dave Woolard, Edinburgh:
February 12, 2007 |
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3.
Bob Henderson
Burdiehouse, Edinburgh |
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Thank you to Bob
Henderson for his memories of working at Liberton.
Bob writes
Baxters Butchers
"Before I started my
slater's apprenticeship at the age of fifteen, I worked with JB
Baxters at the foot of Liberton Brae.
By that time, in the first few
months of 1954, we had moved on from Matt Rooney's experience at Baxters
(See 1 above)."
Bike and Basket
"We
had a bike with a large basket on the front. Matt used to have to
walk up Liberton Brae. I used to have to trundle a bike about 3
sizes too big for me up there."
Hens
"I hope Matt reads this and he
will remember the hatch next to Miss O-Dair's (I can't spell it either)
cash desk, leading down to the cellar where there were stone hen coops.
The customers used to bring their
birds to be killed and dressed. This job usually landed on myself
and the other older apprentice butcher Peter Hunter. There was a hook
arrangement on one of the supporting timbers into which you would put the
birds foot so that you could pull the tendons out of the leg."
The Baxter Family
"When I was there Mr Baxter had
died and there was a manager called Mr McDonald. The Baxter family
lived in one of the big houses on the main road just up past the King's
Buildings.
One of the jobs we had to do was
take the son of the family to school on the front of the bike, up Liberton
Brae to the small primary school at the top of Mount Vernon Road."
Wages
"I was much better paid than Matt
we worked six days, 6 am to about 6-20 pm. - it depended on how long it
took to wire brush the butcher's block - with a half day on a Wednesday
all for the handsome sum of thirty shillings (£1-50) for the youngsters.
Oh happy days!"
Bob Henderson, Burdiehouse, Edinburgh: December 4, 2006 |
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4.
Matt Rooney
Ayrshire, Scotland |
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Matt Rooney replied to Bob Henderson's message
(3 above).
Matt wrote:
Baxters Butchers
"Yes, I do remember the
hatch beside Miss O'Dair's desk, and all the sawdust that got a bit bloody
during the day when they chopped the carcasses.
I cannae remember the hen coops.
I think I remember the hens hanging outside the shop but, then again, it
could have been W.G. Adams, the butcher's shop at Dalkeith.
In those days, especially in the
winter season, it was a common sight outside most of the butchers' shops.
You would see rabbits, hares and pheasants, and most other things that
were edible, back then.
I'm pleased that Bob decided to
change jobs like myself. It was really quite bad at times down in
the cellar, as there wasn't much heat because of the meat, but I did learn
how to pare the meat of the bones before it went into the mincer.
Matt Rooney, Ayrshire, Scotland: December 8, 2007
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