Shettleston
New
Heritage
"My family lived in Annick Street, in a room
and kitchen, for over 90 years. There was my grandmother, grandfather, the five girls and one boy. My mother told me about how they all slept. Three of girls slept in the bed recess
and the other two slept on the pull-out bed. They changed over every week so were known
as the hurly girls. My uncle John slept in the lobby and this was known as a 'lobby dosser'.”
Three of the 'hurly' girls
Uncle John saw active service in World War 1 but never spoke about what he did in the war and always had chest problems.
Elizabeth Aitchison
Elizabeth's grandfather worked as a painter in the railway.
Aunt Nessy was born in 1899 and died when she was 94. She started work in the mill at age 14. The picture shows her at work in Hollands Mill in Fielding Street.
Elizabeth says that her husband David's great great grandfather was manager of the Templeton shop
Harry Scally
My grandfather Robert Blythe was a founder member of this church when it was Eastbank. He had three daughters and Barbara married my father, James Muir Scally. They were both members of this church. My mother’s two sisters lived with us. One was a seamstress and the other worked in the office for Donaldson shipping line in Glasgow. We lived in a terrace house in Sandyhills where we had a garden and kept chickens. My Mother and her sisters were always knitting, sewing for the church. Our house was always busy and was like a knitting factory. They had bring and buy sales and I could never understand what and why they did that, as it would have been easier to just give a donation!
Extract from Church Roll
I went to Shettleston Primary, and remember slate pencils. I left secondary school at 15 with a leaving certificate.
I played hockey for the school team, football for the YMCA and was in the scouts and enjoyed all these activities. I was also in the school choir as they needed deep voices. We had to perform in the Wellshot Halls and I remember the choir master was Donald D Millar from the Scottish Light Organistra.
Barrie Armstrong
Barrie (Barbara) McKenzie grew up on Shettleston Road.
Her parents, Willie and Peggy, had family roots in the seaboard villages of Shandwick, Balintore and Hilton in Easter Ross to the north of Inverness. In the first year of WWII, eight year old Barrie was evacuated to the countryside, but later brought back to Shettleston because her parents missed her, their only child.
At that time many young women from these Highland villages came to Glasgow to train as nurses. Before leaving home they would be given a note of the MacKenzie address in Shettleston Road where, they were told, they would always find a kind welcome.
The destination proved popular, and so when the nurses needed her bed for the night, young Barrie would have to head up Shettleston Road, with her pyjamas, to the flat of the Sergeant at Shettleston Police station, the home of a school friend. Years later, Barrie left Eastbank School, trained as a nurse at Logan and Johnstone College in Glasgow, and became a midwife.
Chris McChesney
When the war started I was evacuated with almost all of my schoolmates from Eastbank Primary school. I was with my Mother and older brother and I remember carrying my suitcase and we were given a gas mask in a brown cardboard box which had string on it so we carry it on our shoulder.
We had to march from the school to Shettleston railway station and there were about 16 other people in the carriage. Nobody knew where we were going. I think we crossed the Forth Bridge and I think the station we finally stopped at was Alloa. We walked from the station to the village school where we were given something to drink, which was horrible, then were taken to our billet, a local farm.
The farm was owned by two brothers and they showed us to our room which had with a double bed and a horse hair couch. It was like sitting on needles. Mum had a fire to cook on with one pot. Toilet was only an old pail and I will leave the rest to your imagination. Mum decided we could not stay here so she took us on a bus to Alloa then home to Glasgow. We were only away about two weeks but it seemed like ages. Once home the air raids started and we made use of our Anderson Shelter in our own garden.
Anderson Shelters can be found in Shettleston today but they serve a more peaceful purpose!
The photographs below show Anderson Shelters in Budhill & Springboig allotments.
