No.1

After our wedding at Sandyford-Henderson Memorial Church, Glasgow

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Our first home at Walkerville, Loch Road, Kirkintilloch

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Then to Regent Square, Lenzie

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Finally to Langmuirhead Road, Auchinloch 

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Our daughters: MARGARET, FIONA and LESLEY

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Many years ago I was given as a birthday present a copy of the Daily Mail dated 10th November 1925 - the day on which I was born.

I occasionally look at it and each time I'm amazed at the size of the pages. 17" by 23" makes the paper quite a handful and, considering the very small print, it would take many hours to read the whole thing.

The front page has no news stories or photographs; it consists entirely of adverts - 10 of them presented in a very sober way; all-wool tweed suits at £2, trench-coats at £1 and 15 shillings, bedroom suites consisting of wardrobe, dressing table and chest at £21 (£2 deposit and £1 per month), cigarettes at 20 for 1 shilling.

Adverts take up most of Page 2, and then we come to a number of pages reporting stocks and shares, company news, and legal matters.

Among the news items, I spotted a story about the Savoy Orpheans. They were a popular dance band and as a boy I heard them regularly on the wireless. 

The newspaper reported that "Listeners will hear the first concert to be broadcast by wireless from the air at five o'clock this afternoon. The 12 Savoy Orpheans, flying over London with more than a ton of instruments including a piano, will play and a number of theatrical stars will also contribute to the entertainment."

Apparently, it was known that the high altitude would affect some of the instruments and they would need special treatment. An example was the soprano sax which "has to be wrapped up in what is to all intents and purposes a thick woollen overcoat and retuned for the altitude."

 The entire back page is taken up with good size photographs of the Lord Mayor's Show and the Banquet. I was intrigued by the picture of a 15 year old girl Miss Sylvia Densham  described as "The Mayoress of Kingston." And then I read that the elderly man beside her was her father. He was wearing a chain, so he was probably the Mayor of Kingston whose wife was dead.

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This is a cigarette card image of the American-born pianist and bandleader Carroll Gibbons who led the Savoy Orpheans for many years.

Enclosing advertising cards in cigarette packets began in America in 1875. One of the earliest companies in the UK to take up the practice was W.D. and H.O. Wills - the card above was one of theirs. Very soon the cards were being issued in series and smokers began collecting them. The subjects included Sports and Sports Personalities, Films, Stage and Radio Stars, Aeroplanes, Animals, Birds, Pets, Garden Hints, Wild Flowers, Tropical Fish. and many more.

I've just just discovered that someone who collects cigarette cards is a cartophilist. (I'm always learning.)

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In this, the earliest photograph I have of my family, Rita is just a baby and I am three years old.

My mother once told me that I could talk long before I could walk. It seems that, when they propped me up somewhere and encouraged me to come to them, I would shake my head and say, "No, can't do it."

Our parents made sure that my young sister and I were taught to speak proper English and I'm sure our aunts (our mother's sisters) were an important influence.

Another recollection from my mother. She was visiting one of her friends, perhaps to show off my new sister, and I of course went too. The friend's house was situated near Lenzie railway station, and, when the hoot of a train was heard, she lifted me up and carried me to the window which looked out on to the track. "There it is," she said, "That's the choo-choo." And I replied, "No, that's a train!"

There was one occasion when I was corrected for using a Scottish phrase. I was probably five or six years old and I was in a neighbour's house to play with the two children there. I mentioned that I often played with my toys "ben the bedroom." The mother at once told me that that was quite wrong -  I should have said "in the bedroom." Of course "ben" is a Scottish word which describes a high mountain or mountain peak, but the dictionary also gives "the inner room in a two-room cottage."

We soon learned that there were certain words which we must never say. One of them was "bitch." Once, while angry with Rita, the word slipped out. I immediately realised what I was saying and I quickly added the letter "t" to the word thinking that would exonerate me. No such luck - I was spanked!

Surprisingly, another forbidden word was "liar." We were never to call anyone that. 

I soon learned that it was a very serious offence to say "christ." This, despite the fact that the minister said that word repeatedly in church and sometimes shouted it. Yes, at times the grown-up world was difficult to understand.

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This is the statue of Largo-born Alexander Selkirk, the seafarer on whom Daniel Defoe based his character Robinson Crusoe. Selkirk spent four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific.

Just before the war broke out our family spent a few summer holidays at Lower Largo and we children were fascinated by the 

statue. I don't know if it's still there; I know that a few years ago it had gone, but perhaps it had been removed for cleaning.

Despite the fact that Lower Largo was a fairly small resort, there was a concert party performing twice daily on the pier. The first year we were there, it was in the open air, but after that the shows were inside a large tent. Of course I was thrilled with them, and would have attended all the performances. When we were back home, I spent hours at the piano, pretending I was playing for the concert party.

At secondary school a big annual event was the dance and, in preparation for this, there were dancing lessons. I was usually given the job of pianist, with the result that I never really learned to dance satisfactorily.

The music for the dance was provided by a band made up of boys slightly older than I was. A few years later their pianist left and they asked me to join them. I suppose that they would probably have had no more than 4 or 5 engagements per year, but my parents said “No”. That was a great disappointment to me. Playing in a dance band was not quite respectable, it seemed!

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During the war there were many charity concerts locally in aid of the war effort, and very often I took part as accompanist. Most folk had to spend their holidays at home and during the Glasgow Fair Fortnight there was every type of entertainment in the parks or in the local halls, and I had a great time playing for them.

While in the RAF at Brize Norton I was able to enjoy my music to the full. Our small band, consisting of trumpet (Spencer Dunmore), guitar (Vic Hardingham), double bass (Pete Davis), drums (Ray Raynor), vocalist (Pete Munro) and me on piano, played regularly on the station and in nearby Carterton.

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THIS CONCLUDES THE SCRAPBLOG