Eddie On Springburn

When my mother and father were married they stayed with my granny (maw) in Elmvale street with my aunties and uncle. A couple of years later my brother and I were born and we moved into our own house in the ‘Blocks’ at Elmvale Row West with an outside toilet between two families. I went to St. Aloysius Primary in Elmvale street although I couldn’t have like it much as I escaped after my first week and my mother had to take me back. My brother and I joined the Cubs (27th Aloysius) and used to go to the Scout camp at Auchengillen. We used to do ‘Bob a Job.’ This involved going around various aunties, uncles and neighbours and doing small jobs. The money went to cub and scout funds. I remember the night President Kennedy was killed was on a Friday and I was told by Mr McErlaine the Scout Master. At school I was the Milk Monitor so I had to go with someone else to collect the milk from the woman in charge but we used to get extra for ourselves. We then moved to a bigger school in Carlston Street one of the highlights of which was the school trip every year to Ardrossan. It always seemed to be the same day as the Orange Walk and they would pass Carlston Street with their bands. And then our Pipe Band would move down Springburn Road to the station where our trains would be waiting. I remember all the crowds with everyone cheering and waiting. Before we went we would go round all the family to let them see us in our new clothes and we would be ‘tipped’. Money to spend! We always had a ribbon around us with a tin mug (tinnie) We would get a box with cakes and sandwiches and tea when we got there along with games and races. When we arrived back there would be the band to take us from the station and my mother waiting for us.

The Blocks were railway houses and they had their own wee shop on the hill. Most of the houses all had the same key known as a check key so if you were locked out you could use someone else’s. Changed days indeed! We used to go to the Princess Cinema on a Saturday morning to the Minors making sure we got our Jubilee. This was a triangular lump of flavoured ice with orange through it and it lasted for ages. There were also sweet shops all around Gourlay Street which had Penny, Tupence and Thrupence trays of different sweets such as Lucky Bags, M&B Bars, Whoppas, Lucky Tatties etc.
On one occasion at the height of their fame, the comedians Mike and Bernie Winters came to the Minors bringing the big time to Springburn. We later moved to another house in the Blocks, at Colgrain Terrace where my sister was born. Here, we had one of the first Tv sets in the Blocks and my father used to moan about the boys running around outside on their motorbikes as they caused interference on the telly. These boys were in a group which then appeared on ‘One Night Stand’ this was a big night for everyone. One member Graham Knight eventually made it very big with the Marmalade. There was also another guy who used to play the guitar ay the corner of Welfield Street and the avenue at Super Sports. My father didn’t think much of him, although he later went on to have some chart success as Karl Denver.
My mother’s side of the family was quite large so there were loads of cousins and on big family gatherings we would all be shipped off to the pictures at the Princess, the Astor or the Kinema (known as the coffin due its position and shape.) It stood at the slope of a hill next to the graveyard at Keppochill Road.
Sometimes we would hop a bus to Castle Street to the Carlton or the Casino which were across from each other. On school holidays we mostly went to Springburn Park or the Daisy Park which was just across from the main gates. We would get a bottle of ginger and head up with a ball passing Balgrayhill Road and if we seen my other granny she would wave us down and give us money for sweets. At least once during the holidays my mother would gather the rags together and we would take them in the pram to the ragstore behind Woolworths and get money for them. This was better than the balloon or plastic whistle we would get from the ragman with the cart and horse who would blow his trumpet and shout ‘Toys’ ‘Cups’ for rags. There was a man in the blocks we called Ivanhoe after the famous knight on the telly and when we used to jump from dyke to dyke and on the roofs of the middens, he used to shout "Hoe!! Get off there!"
And we used to sing "Ivanhoe!" which used to get him mad. Most of our family gatherings were up in maw’s and everyone would end up in the kitchen where we would listen to old stories or songs. We used to play football in Elmvale school where Mr Roy the janitor would come racing out and chase us out of the playground and people would shout from the windows "Leave the weans alone." Once he headed back inside we climbed back over the railings and carried on. Elmvale Street was next to the bus terminus and we used to collect cigarette packets and matchboxes from the buses. There were three shops in the street.
Eddie