Abbeyhill Primary School, Around 1950-51

Photo 1. Abbeyhill Primary School Around 1950-51
	Back Row	2nd Row	3rd Row	Front Row
1	Andrew Huntley	George Turpie	Lettuce Stewart	Donald Mcneill
2	Robert Lyndsay	Isabella Downie	Norma Craig	John Campbell
3	Andrew Bennett	Maureen Baigrie	Irene McCormack	David Elgin (me)
4	George Moffat	Nan Hay	Flora Williamson? She lived in Abbey Street	Ian Radin
5	David Donaldson	Jean McKay	Margaret Gillies	George Black
6	Robert Malcolm	Joan Robertson	Ena McCombe She lived in Lynne Street
7	Lawrence Mills	Maureen Mathews	Margaret Dickson
8	Thomas Hall	Maureen Abrahams	Flora McDonald
9	David Ward	Isobell Black	Ina Connolly
10	James Black	John Raeburn	Frances Collins
11		TEACHER Mr Mitchell
- All the above names in black have been provided by David Elgin, Edinburgh: September 20, 2010 - The name in red was also provided by David Elgin, Edinburgh: September 25, 2010 - The amendments in blue were provided by David Elgin, Edinburgh, after speaking again to a class mate, now living in Australia, that he has just made contact with again for the first time in 55 years. - Th name in green was provided by Ian Radin,

Reply

Laurie Thompson

Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England

Thank you Laurie Thompson who wrote:

Abbeyhill Primary Class Photo

"Once again the Edinphoto memory-jogger does its work!

I was looking at this Abbeyhill School class photo (Photo 1) when suddenly I saw a face that looked familiar to me,

Photo

Abbeyhill Primary Class

Around 1950-51

I didn't start at Abbeyhill until 1951, and the pupils in this photo look as though they may be several years older than school-starting age, so it's unlikely that any of them would have been familiar to me as fellow pupils."

Isobel Black

and he Mum

"However, I went back to my box of family photographs and, sure enough, I found Photo 2, taken in 1953 at our back green Coronation Party, in which I saw the familiar face - Isobel Black."

Photo

Marionville Road Back Green Coronation Party - 1953

"Isobel is:

- second-back row, ninth from the left, in the Photo 1.

- front row, far right, in Photo 2.

I was astonished to see Isobel in Photo 1. Although the Black family and ourselves lived in the same stair for many years, I never knew that Isobel went to Abbeyhill School as well.

On reflection, though, maybe it's not so strange, as the years between us (her being a teenager when I was still a kid) probably meant that there wasn't much conversation between us about anything, let alone our respective education backgrounds."

Television

'The Cisco Kid' and 'The News'

"The Blacks were among the first in our stair, and the next stair along, to get a TV, and I remember that Mrs Black sometimes used to invite several pals of her son George (myself included) in to watch The Cisco Kid just before tea time - a rare treat.

I always remember the closing line "Ahh, Pancho - Ahh, Cisco" that the two stars of the programme used to come out with at the end of each episode.

Mrs Black was also renowned for making tablet, and sometimes that sweet buttery smell of freshly-made tablet greeted us as we went in to watch Cisco and Pancho. Mmmm - happy days!

I remember seeing the TV News starting one evening, as we were filing out of the house after The Cisco Kid, and George saying: 'It's really good - just like the wireless, with pictures'."

Coronation Party Photo

"Isobel's Mum is also in this photo.

She is the lady on the left in the back row. She looks like quite a formidable woman in the photo, but in fact she was quite kindly and generous, a bit of a 'Maw Broon' character."

I believe that this group of ladies was probably photographed because they were the organizers of the Coronation Party.

Marionville Road was (and still is) a busy road on bus routes, so a street party could not be held there. It was held, instead, in the back green of 238 + 240 Marionville Road, and was for the people who lived there and also in the adjoining tenement blocks at 234 + 236 Marionville Road - a total of 24 houses.

These are the people that I recognise in this photo:

Photo 2. Coronation Party 1953
	Back Row	Front Row
1	Isobel Black's Mum	?
2	Laurie Thompson's Mum	?
3		Isobel Black
4	?
5	?
Also ++	Laurie Thompson's 2-year old sister
Thank you to Laurie Thompson, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England for providing the names above. ++ Laurie wrote "The little girl on the extreme left of this picture is my chubby 2-year old sister."

Laurie Thompson, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England: October 7+19, 2014

Reply

Laurie Thompson

Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England

Thank you Laurie Thompson for writing again.

Laurie wrote.

Coronation Party Photo

"Here (courtesy of my sister) are the names of 2 more people in this photo of the Coronation Party held in the Backgreen at Marionville Road.

Two More Names

I've updated the table below to include the latest two names that Laurie has sent to me.

Photo 2. list updated Coronation Party 1953
	Back Row	Front Row
1	Isobel Black's Mum	?
2	Laurie Thompson's Mum	?
3	Mrs Smith	Isobel Black
4	?
5	Mrs Fender
Also ++	Laurie Thompson's 2-year old sister
Thank you to Laurie Thompson, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England for providing the names above. ++ Laurie wrote "The little girl on the extreme left of this picture is my chubby 2-year old sister." The names in red text were added to this table on 10 Nov, 2014.

Laurie Thompson, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England: November 10, 2014

Reply

Laurie Thompson

Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England

Coronation Party Photo

Thank you Laurie Thompson for also sending me another photo of the Coronation Party in 1953, taken on the Backgreen in Marionville Road - Photo 3 above.

Here is his photo of ten children, one almost hidden:

Photo

I remember wearing a jacket a rather like the one being worn by the boy in the front row. I'm not too sure about the fit of the jacket with the large collar being worn by the boy in the back row!

Thank you to Laurie Thompson for providing the names below:

Photo 3. Coronation Party 1953
	Back Row	Front Row	Front Row
1	Alan Smith	Myself (Laurie Thompson) Why am I wearing the Abbeyhill School Uniform?	Jean Thompson My wee sister
2	?	?
3	Duncan Johnson	?
4	George Black	?
5		?
Thank you to Laurie Thompson, Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire, England for providing the names above.

Do you Recognise Anybody Else?

Do you recognise anybody else in this photo?

If so, please email me to let me know, then I'll add their names to this page.

Thank you.

Peter Stubbs, Edinburgh: November 11, 2014