As we witness the demise of our childhoods with buildings pulled down, new roads put in and our little personal areas vanishing into the ether. Thoughts and remembrances fill our minds. We make small pilgrimages to our haunts where once we played, built dens hidden in the bushes and trees. Where we played football with all the children in the area reaching sometimes to about twenty in a side. All these memories could vanish if not for some who take time to write them down . The following tale is about my grandparents who were always there when I was growing up .
I remember well the close in Ardoch Street, Possilpark on the north side of Glasgow. This was where my grandparents lived for the majority of their lives. They had been born and brought up in Banton near Kilsyth but due to economic reasons moved to Glasgow. Their first place of residence was in the south side , in the queens park, Victoria Road area. They moved into a house in 1926 the year that they married. I only remember Ardoch Street.
Ardoch Street was all in all a quietish street, a Wally close with its tiled walls a sort of mustard yellow in colour with green and black floral embellishments which the residents washed and swept every day on a rota system. At dusk as it started to darken the gas lighter came round in his smart council uniform, black with a military style hat, with his brass lamplighter and a little ladder under his arm as he went round the closes igniting the lights. Of course it was gas lights which constantly hissed quietly and gave off a not too bright glow, just enough to illuminate the close making the tiles alive with the light. The stairs were always immaculate , I can see yet my wee grannie in her peenie washing and brushing them. Polishing the wooden banister and getting the “Brasso” out to shine up the brass studs riveted into the bannister; to deter weans sliding down them . Three flats on each landing and at one time we knew all the neighbours.
Grannie's flat entered straight into the hall, a door immediately to the right took you into the bathroom complete with its pulley for clothes drying. Halfway down the hall on the right hand side was a cupboard with its small coal cellar and at the end of the hall it split to the right and to the left. This was where the big case clock stood. In the wee hall cupboard Grandad or Papa as we called him, kept his tools like a hammer, chissels, saws and other assorted plugs and switches in case any D.I.Y work was required. On the left was the main bedroom with a large bay window which gave you views down Ardoch Street and also looked directly onto Possilpark School. It was a large room, so much so my grandfather had built a small recess cupboard replete with door, where Grannie kept her foot operated “Singer” sewing machine. She was also an amazing knitter and she could crochet, many a pair of worn out socks were mended by her. To the rear was the living. dining, kitchenette, this was a small area where cupboards and cooker were installed and a curtain to close it off when not in use. There was a bed recess in this room as we became older my Grandfolks kept an organ in it. Gran was a competent organ player and Grandad had a fine singing voice. When my brother and I were younger we slept in the recess where a bed was set if we were farmed out when our parents were at some meeting or another. This was an exciting time as a curtain was pulled over to “hide” us from watching television .Fine well I recollect the aroma of pipe tobacco mixed with green Palmolive soap; which my gran used most of the time. The Belfast sink was overlooked by the rear window which looked down to the back yard and the Middens. Meals were eaten on a fold up table in front of the old stone fireplace. It was a cosy wee flat full of character and love. Being countryfolk my grandparents were anything but materialistic. They had come to Glasgow as my Grandfather had joined the police, he was a big quiet man with many talents. He could wield a scythe with a dexterity of an artist, for using a scythe was an art, now sadly seen very little. In days gone by fields of crops were harvested by teams of men wielding scythes. I think they always yearned for the rural life as they were born and brought up in High Banton in cottages replete with stone flooring . How they managed beggars belief as both came from large families. Papa's birth home is still standing, new people own it now. It was called “Viewfield” and it did look over the fields of the lower slopes of the Kilsyth hills.
Yes I remember that close with its wally walls and gas lighting, the building still stands but each landing now has only two flats. Most of Ardoch Street was pulled down, progress it was called as the area just off Saracen Street was a bustling spot from shops in Bardowie Street, and Ardoch street had an impressive Gothic style parish church. Even Possilpark School has been brought down, not by lack of Pupils but by people without vision for the Possilpark area, but that’s for another story. My grandparents are gone now but the memories linger on.