Edinburgh History - Southside

Recollections - Edinburgh Old Town Tollcross
1.	Helen Lane New South Wales, Australia	Sunday Dinners School
2.	Isabella Vever (nee Isobel Grieve) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	Memories
3.	David Jackson Taylor Sussex, England	Freer Street School Friends Neighbours Sunday School Trip The Smells Playground
4.	Alan Raeburn Perth, Western Australia	Molly's Cafe James H Walls Plumbers Plumbing Work Buses Record Shop Memories
5.	Evan Reid Perth, Western Australia	Molly's Cafe James H Walls Plumbers Plumbing Work Buses Record Shop Memories
6.	Robert Horn Craiglockhart, Edinburgh	Molly's Cafe
7.	Terry Cox Fairmilehead, Edinburgh	Question
8.	Ian Taylor South Glasgow, Scotland	Yo-yos
9.	Margaret Cooper London, England	Milk Deliveries Christmas Today
10.	Alastair Rankine Langwarrin, Victoria, Australia	Milk and Paper Deliveries
11.	Margaret Cooper London, England	Paper Deliveries Messages
12.	Terry Cox Fairmilehead, Edinburgh	Meadowlea Dairy Deliveries Wages and Tips Leaving Tollcross Memories
13.	Margaret Cooper Colindale, North London, England	Accumulator Wireless Gas Mantles
14	Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) Moline, Illinois, Edinburgh	Accumulator Wireless Gas Meter Gas Mantles
15	Betty Hepburn (nee Boland)	Batteries Gas Light Pawn Shops
16.	Isabella Vever (nee Isobel Grieve) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	Memories
17.	Allan Dodds Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England	Memories
18.	Margaret Cooper London, England	Coal Deliveries Rag Man
19.	Margaret Cooper Colindale, North London, England	Asa Wass
20	Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) Moline, Illinois, Edinburgh	My Family 41 Leven Street
21	Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) Moline, Illinois, Edinburgh	Cigarettes
22.	Margaret Cooper Colindale, North London, England	Band of Hope
23	Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) Moline, Illinois, Edinburgh	The Blue Sun
24.	Margaret Cooper Colindale, North London, England	Drumdyan Street Pianos Dolls' Furniture

Recollections

Helen Lane

New South Wales, Australia

Thank you to Helen Lane, now living in NSW, Australia, who wrote:

Sunday Dinners

"Memories of my childhood in Edinburgh are still vivid. I shed many tears on leaving in 1956, not just because I was leaving Edinburgh but because I was leaving my beloved grandmother Grace Wagstaff, who lived in South Oxford Street.

My parents, Morton & Dolly, along with my brother, used to walk from Home Street through the Meadows every Sunday to have dinner with grandmother Grace, Aunt Helen and Uncle Charlie. The menu never varied - steak and kidney pie and afterwards, apple pie."

School

"I attended Tollcross School. My first teacher was Miss McLeod, who emigrated to Canada about 1954. I went 'home' to Edinburgh in 1983 and again in 1991. I'm due another visit, if only I could persuade my husband to come with me."

Helen Lane, NSW, Australia: Message left in Guest Book: March 4, 2008

Recollections

David Jackson Taylor

Suffolk, England

Thank you to David Jackson Taylor for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guest book.

David wrote:

Freer Street

"This site has given me a chance to show my children what life was like in Edinburgh in the 1940s and 1950s.

From 1944 until 1951, I lived at 10 Freer Street, ground floor flat, with:

- my mother, Rose nee Jackson

- my father Charles

- my grandad, Charles

- my brother George.

There used to be a Mission Hall at the bottom of Freer Street, where I learnt to play chess at the age of five or six."

School

"I went to Tollcross School in 1949.

My first teacher was Miss Mcleod.

Later, I remember Miss Burns(?) She liked to give the strap."

Friends

"Friends I remember were:

- George Brown who lived next door to the Palais

- Owen Streeter who lived on the terraces down Fountainbridge overlooking Asi Wassi's

- Tom Mercer who lived I think Polwarth Gdns

- and Billie Thompson who emigrated to New Zealand

The girls were:

- Ann Barlow

- Margaret Wilson,

- Sheila Grant (or Gray?)"

Neighbours

"Some of the neighbours in no 10 were the Brysons and the Myles. Jimmy Myles was a witness at my mother's wedding in 1942,

I think my mother lived at no 3 Freer St before the marriage, with her parents David and Rose Jackson who moved to Ferry Road Grove."

Sunday School Trip

"I remember going on a trip to Burntisland courtesy of the Sunday School."

The Smells

"What I most remember was the smells, all mixed into one:

- the Rubber Mill.

- the Brewery.

- Mackay's sweetie factory.

- soot.

Yet, when i visited my grandparents over at Ferry Road Grove, the smell was of the countryside. I saw my first cow in the fields, just off Ferry Road."

Playground

"My playground included:

- the canal head.

- the foot of the castle - at the St Cuthberts end of Princes Street Gardens.

- sneaking around the tram depot at the side the school

- the foothills of Arthur's Seat."

David Jackson Taylor: Suffolk, England.
Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book: March 24, 2010

Message to David

If you'd like to send a message to David, please email me, then I'll pass it on to him. Thank you.

Peter Stubbs: March 27, 2010

Recollections

Alan Raeburn

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Alan Raeburn was born in High Riggs, Tollcross, then moved to West Pilton very early in life.

Alan wrote

Molly's Cafe

"Does anyone remember a little cafe in Tollcross called Molly's? Molly made an excellent sausage on a roll.

She used to be very strict with anyone who caused trouble. There was a juke box, and she always had the latest records to play. I used to buy the ones that were replaced.

When i got married in 1969, I took the wife to meet Molly and she said, 'You have a good one there, son. Keep a hold of her.' and I have.

Molly was a real talker and would give advice, when asked."

James H Walls - Plumbers

"When I left school, I started work as an apprentice plumber with James H. Walls, based at 6a Brougham Place, the last shop before The Meadows.

There were:

- Charlie

- his son, Jimmy, who died in his 30s

- Jock Walls, who spent a lot of years in USA

- Freddie Walls, who used to drive the company van

I remember Charlie always had a Vauxhall car. He used to trade it in for the new model every year, and always a big car - not for him a Viva or something small."

Plumbing Work

As an apprentice plumber, I worked in Goldbergs and some of the High Riggs houses - even the house that I was born in! I worked all over Tollcross and at the King's Theatre.

I remember having to carry a ladder, with the plumber, to the King's and go round the right side of it, then climb all the way up to replace a piece of cast iron bend from the toilet at the top - no scaffolding then, as it was too expensive to hire. Sixty feet up, it was 'never again!' for me.

I worked up through Marchmont (and met the wee man, Ronnie Corbett) and all over Newington and down through Morrison St to Dalry and Gorgie.

I used to have a pint at the Garrick Bar and play darts for pints. I never got drunk, 'cause i never won many games."

Buses

"To be truthful about it, I did not like the plumbing game, so as soon as I could, after 5 years apprenticeship and 2 years journeyman, I went on the buses. It was the best thing I ever did. There was not a lot of money in it but I enjoyed it and that's what counts.

Record Shop

"Does anyone remember a shop on Brougham Place/Street that used to sell second-hand 45s, where you could sometimes trade-in records that you had bought the previous week for different ones?

I cant remember the name of the shop, but it was an older guy who ran it and he was OK."

Memories

"Isn't it amazing, when writing all this down, how the memories come flooding back? Enough for now. My brain hurts!"

Alan Raeburn, Perth, Western Australia, Australia: April 24, 2010

Recollections

Robert Horn

Thank you to Robert Horn who replied to Alan Raeburn's comments about Molly's Cafe (4 above).

Robert wrote

Molly's Cafe

"Alan: I do indeed remember Molly's Cafe. I was brought up in Spittal Street and used to go there in the evenings with guys like:

- Alan King

- Billy Brady

- Joe Marano.

We would sit for ages making our coke last, hoping that someone would put money in the juke box. I'm talking early 1960s :

- Buddy Holly

- Everly Brothers.

I can still picture Molly. She was strict but it was a good place to be. My mum came from the top stair High Riggs. When you were sitting in the Garrick I might have been in the Clan Alpine across the road."

Robert Horn, Craiglockhart, Edinburgh: October 29, 2010

Recollections

Terry Cox

Fairmilehead, Edinburgh

Terry Cox wrote:

Question

Mystery Photographer

The Meadows

"I used to play football in the Meadows, during the 1960s. There was man who used to organise the boys into teams, and generally spectate, and shout advice and encouragement. I never knew him other than as 'Celtic', 'cos he always wore a Celtic scarf."

Tollcross

"He also used to stooge about Tollcross with a camera, and take photographs of the boys that he knew. (The poor guy would probably be labelled as a paedophile these days.)

He would then take a note of your name and address, and a few weeks/months later would turn up at your door, and try to sell the photographs to your Mum.

I still have a couple of great photos that he took of me outside the ABC Cinema in Lothian Road, when I was about 9 or 10, still in short trousers. I last saw him about 1970 walking up over the Links, carrying a carpet, and had a few words with him.

I was carrying a case of beer, on the way to a party, and offered him a can, but he said he never drank. I don't think he was from around Tollcross. Sometimes you wouldn't see him for weeks.

Does anyone know his name, who he was, and where he came from?"

Terry Cox, Fairmilehead, Edinburgh: January 12, 2011

Recollections

Margaret Cooper

Tollcross, Edinburgh

Thank you to Margaret Cooper who wrote:

Milk Deliveries

"When I was twelve years old, back in 1948, I got a job delivering milk. I had plagued Mr White who owned the dairy in Drumdryan Street where i grew up, for ages for a job as he had a few kids who worked for him delivering milk, but the rule was that you had to be twelve.

The job paid 7/6 a week, but it was seven days a week. I loved it. I had about twelve tenements to delivered to. The crates of milk were in a sort of wooden trolley with four wheels, about as long as a pram.

Off I would go, round Brougham Street, then round to Tarvit Street, then back round to Drumdryan Street.

There was a boy who worked for the Dumfriesshire Dairy who would sometime take my top flats. I don't know if he was our now famous Mr Connery. Maybe."

Christmas

"Christmas was extra nice. Customers would leave money in their empty bottles - a shilling or two bob, but the ultimate was a half crown.

My first Christmas, I collected enough to treat my Mum to the pictures. I took her to the Blue Halls and bought her an ice cream."

Today

"I suppose little jobs like that would be frowned on nowadays; kids wouldn't do them anyway. But, back then, they were a life-saver as it was quite hard-going after the war."

Margaret Cooper, London, England:
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook: September 30, 2011

Recollections

12.

Terry Cox

Fairmilehead, Edinburgh

After reading Margaret Cooper's recollections (11 above), Terry Cox wrote:

Meadowlea Dairy

"I was interested to read Margaret Cooper's recollections of delivering the milk from the dairy in Drumdryan Street. I think it was called the Meadowlea Dairy.

I worked there a lot later than Margaret, from 1965 to 1969. By that time it was owned and run by Mr Henderson, and the woman who worked there was called Mrs Robertson.

From the description, we were still using the same carts as Margaret - they were ancient, but very strong and reliable."

Deliveries

"I started delivering milk when I was 12, having delivered papers for Mary Campbell in Lauriston Place when I was 11, though you weren't supposed to work till you were 12.

The advantage of delivering milk was that you only went out once a day, but you had to deliver papers morning and afternoon."

Wages and Tips

"I started off on 12/6 a week, and finished on 15/- a week. You delivered milk every day of the year, except Christmas Day & New Year's Day, but you did an extra run out on the afternoon on Christmas Eve & Hogmanay to cover for that.

I was lucky. From the day I started, I had the Lonsdale Terrace round, and the big advantage was the deliveries were all close together, so you could get round pretty quick. Also, Lonsdale Terrace was quite posh, so you got good tips at Christmas.

The last Christmas I was there (1968) I got over £40 in tips, which was a huge amount of money in those days, as well as about a dozen boxes of chocolates. The chocolates usually came after Christmas, so I assumed they were unwanted gifts. Sometimes they even had a few out of them, but that didn't matter - sweeties were sweeties!

Leaving Tollcross

"Alas, we were rehoused in 1969, as they were going to knock our tenement down (at the foot of Lauriston Place - it wasn't actually demolished till 1971) and we moved out to Slateford, and that was the end of the milk round.

Strangely enough, even though I live at Fairmilehead, I quite often go for a drink in Cloister's in Brougham Street, and you can see the old dairy from the window, though it's not been a dairy for many years."

Memories

"Happy days! But then you remember having to get up at 6 in the morning, on a freezing cold winter's day, and they're not so happy! Selective memory is a wonderful thing."

Terry Cox, Fairmilehead, Edinburgh: January 12, 2011

Recollections

13.

Margaret Cooper

Colindale, North London, England

Here is a message that Margaret Cooper left in the EdinPhoto guestbook.

Margaret wrote:

Accumulator Wireless

"Who remembers the old accumulator wirelesses with big ugly square batteries which you had to take to the electric shop to be charged? They were quite dangerous things, filled with acid.

The batteries always ran out on a Sunday night when Radio Luxembourg was playing 'Top 20'.

Later on, we got a Vidor portable batteries which was great, but times were hard. The wireless spent its weekdays in McLintock's pawn shop along Earl Grey Street, Tollcross, and we would get it out for Saturdays and Sundays."

Gas Mantles

"Also, does anyone remember the old gas mantles. I remember there still being quite a few of houses in Drumdryan Street at Tollcross struggling with this form of light.

These mantles were so fragile, the slightest movement would shatter them. Gas mantles were also was used to light the stairs in the tenements.

Ah, the good old days! I'm surprised we didn't all wear glasses.

Margaret Cooper, Colindale, North London, England:
Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book: February 6, 2012

Recollections

14.

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay)

Moline, Illinois, USA

Thank you to Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) for replying to Margaret Cooper's messages above, posted in the EdinPhoto guestbook earlier today.

Margaret Williamson wrote:

Accumulator Wireless

"Aye Margaret! I remember going tae get my granny's batteries for the wireless ,and her sayin':

'Mind ye dinnae burn yersel', hen'.

I had to go from Glengyle Terrace to the High Riggs at Tollcross where there was a wee shop, but I managed it ok."

Gas Meter

"We had a gas meter. I remember it was one of the penny ones, then it went to a shilling. We always kept an extra shilling on the shelf, and my mum would say:

'Dinnae anyone touch this, or yer faither will skelp ye.''

Aye these were the days!"

Gas Mantles

"We lived next door to the Old Toll pub. We used to have gas mantels, and one to light the pend and stair."

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA
Reply posted to a message in EdinPhoto guestbook, February 6, 2012

Recollections

15.

Betty Hepburn (nee Boland)

Waikanae, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand

Thank you to Betty Hepburn for continuing the discussion started by Margaret Cooper and Margaret Williamson in the EdinPhoto guestbook.

Replying to the two Margarets, Betty Hepburn wrote:

Batteries and Snuff Box

"The two yea's bring lots memories rolling back.

I lived in Dundee Place, and remember chumming her along Fountainbridge (opp Freer Street ) to refill the old the glass batteries and getting her mothers Snuff box refilled."

Gas Light

"We had gas light as well, then we went 'all posh' and moved to to electric light. We had gas lights at the street stair entry and in the stair. They used to keep blowin' oot on windy nights, then it would be pitch black in the stair."

Pawn Shops

"I remember the pawn shop at the top of West Port, and one just along from the Palladium (?) at Fountainbridge."

Betty Hepburn (nee Boland), Waikanae, Kapiti Coast, New Zealand
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook, February 7, 2012

Recollections

17.

Allan Dodds

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England

Allan Dodds wrote

Gas Light

"Margaret Cooper asks (in 'Recollections 13' above) if anyone remembers gas mantles.

Well, a pub opened up in Eyre Place, Edinburgh in the 1990s as a modern recreation of a Victorian pub. The pub was called Smithie's and Mr Smith the owner was an architect.

He designed and had built a perfect replica of a nineteenth century pub, complete with gas lighting. Mr Purves' Lighting Emporium in St Stephen Street supplied the gas fittings, including mantles, which one may still purchase today, if you manage to catch the shop open!

Smithie's pub is still there but now, regrettably, lacks the atmospheric illuminations chosen by its designer.

Allan Dodds, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: February 10, 2012

Mr Purves

I've taken photos of Mr Purves, standing outside his' shop (or 'Lighting Emporium') in St Stephen Street. I'll try to find the time to add them to the EdinPhoto web site.

He also had an old Jowet Bradford van. I've seen it around the town a few times in recent years, but I've never managed to photograph it!

Peter Stubbs: February 10, 2012

Recollections

18.

Margaret Cooper

Colindale, North London, England

Thank you to Margaret Cooper for posting more of her memories on the EdinPhoto guestbook. Margaret wrote::

Coal Deliveries

"We lived on the top floor in Drumdryan Street. The poor coalman had to carry a hundredweight bag of coal up four flights of stairs to reach us, then he had to manipulate it through our door, where behind this door was an old tea chest and he would tip the coal into it.

We then became the unsuspecting victims of our cat who would use it as a toilet. Ugh. Ugh.

I wonder now what the working lives of those coalmen were.

Rag Man

Does anyone remember the rag man who would give you a balloon for some rags, and if you got hold of some decent rags he would give you a goldfish in a wee glass bowl - no plastic bags in those days.

My greatest wish at those times was for a goldfish in a glass bowl. Later, we discovered it was more beneficial to take our rags along to Asa Wass' rag store, along Fountainbridge and get a few bob for them.

Asa Wass was also used from time to time by the Valdor Boys and the Craigmillar Gang to settle scores. It was a bit High Noonish, but they all lived to tell the tae."

Margaret Cooper, Colindale, North London, England:
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook: February 15, 2012

Recollections

20.

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay)

Moline, Illinois, USA

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) wrote:

My Family

"I was born in the High Riggs, Tollcross, Edinburgh. My mum, Peggy, worked in Morningside Newsagents and, lived with my Auntie Aggie (nee Hay) and Uncle Bill Clark, He was a postman for that area.

My dad was Robert Hay, They called him Bob . He was in the Royal Navy, but came home when I was about three and a half, and our family got a house at 41 Leven Street with a kitchen, one large room and one small room. The toilet was in the was easy access. It was in the passageway.

When Dad came home from the Navy, he worked at a hospital for children in Sciennes Road. He was a boiler fireman, stoking coal in big boilers to keep the hospital warm.

My Gran was Bridget Thomson from the Shetland Isles and my Granddad was Martin Quinn, a big burley Irishman from Limerick. They lived in 14A Glengyle Terrace, which was only about 3 minutes from our house."

41 Leven Street

"My first recollections of our house in Leven Street was being sat on a square table that had 4 chairs. There was a big, black lead fireplace with gas mantles on either side and two mice running by the fireside.

Then, there were big grey blankets being put up on the windows, and seeing as we had two bedrooms, Dad put blankets on those as well.

Many years later, when my mum was telling me about her youth and going to St Mary's school with her friends, I brought up my memories of 41 Leven Street. Her jaw opened and she said: 'Ah cannie believe ye kin remember awe that.'

I said, 'Aye Mum. I can remember a lot of things.' So, there we were, going on. We went through a lot of tea that day.

Our place was above the old Toll Bar and, boy, was my Dad happy? He went doon fir a pint too often, he did."

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA: March 3, 2012

Recollections

21.

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay)

Moline, Illinois, USA

Thank you to Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) for writing again.

Margaret wrote:

Cigarettes

"Does anyone remember the cigarettes from the 1950s?

There was Woodbine, the cheapest, then Players and Senior Service. You could buy a packet of five cigs, or just one or two. My Dad used to send me doon the stairs to the tobacconist, just to get two, once in a while, I'm glad to say.

The shops were next to us, so I only had to go past:

- Mr Grant the grocer, one stair, then

- Mrs Boothroyd, who sold milk, rolls and other sundries

to get to the baccy store. We got our newspapers there as well.

It was still there when I went home in the 1970s, but I don't know about it now. Some of the shops are gone.

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA: March 3, 2012

Recollections

23.

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay)

Moline, Illinois, USA

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay) wrote:

The Blue Sun

"I saw that a couple of people, or so, had written about the blue sun *** . I remember it well.

I was on the outside landing of our stair, and at first I thought we were going to have a storm, but the colour of the sky was different.

Mr Falconer, who owed the Old Toll Bar, brought me some thin cardboard glasses and told me not to look at the sun without them or I might lose my eyesight. I thought he was daft, but I put them on anyway - ye did what ye were telt tae dae, back then!

I was only 10 yrs old then, but the sun was beautiful."

Margaret Williamson (nee Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA: March 26, 2012

The Blue Sun

*** Yes. People have remembered the 'blue sun' in their recollections on these pages:

- Fountainbridge recollections

- Rose Street recollections

- Broughton School recollections.

Recollections

24.

Margaret Cooper

Colindale, North London, England

Thank you to Margaret Cooper for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guestbook.

Margaret wrote

Drumdyan Street

"I grew up in Drumdryan Street, Tollcross. Back in the 1940s, my best friend was a girl named Davina Anderson. She lived in No.13. I lived in No.7. We both lived on the top floor.

Because of the way the tenements were built, we could knock on the wall to each other. This was the signal that we wanted to talk, so then we would get a chair to stand on push open the skylight window and have a wee chat. All we could see was each other's head."

Pianos

"Davina's Mum, Maggie, was my Mother's close friend. Being a bit older than my Mum, she had two teenage daughters Nancy and Dolly. I remember Dolly was always in demand as she could play the piano.

It's surprising how many of these little flats had piano, and how many people could play the piano. Great sing-songs went on around the piano, but what I remember most was the hush that would fall when Dolly played the Warsaw Concerto. It's funny how I always remembered the name of that.

No-one ever complained about the noise."

Dolls' Furniture

"I always remember that when Davina's Dad came home on leave , he would make us dolls' furniture out of empty match boxes."

Margaret Cooper, Colindale, North London, England
Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook: May 8, 2012