|
Danny Callaghan
wrote:
Bank of
Scotland
Robertson Avenue
The Building
"I have memories of Bank of Scotland
Robertson Avenue.
Before the bank took over the building
it was a bottling hall of Arthur Bell Whisky. I was in the place
a few times and the smell of spilt whisky was overpowering.
The building was subsequently taken
over by the Bank of Scotland computer dept who had outgrown there
premises in Dundas Street and 101? George Street. They
renovated the Arthur Bell building as a new computer hall and
offices."
Office Furniture
"I was an installer of
office furniture and we installed the furniture for the new
computer centre. We were installing the furniture over a weekend
and all had to be ready for the staff moving in on the Monday
morning."
Road Accident
"That Sunday morning was very cold and
icy, and while my colleague and I were driving to the site we hit
black ice and crashed our van and wrote it off. We picked
ourselves up brushed ourselves down and somehow we got transport
to get us to the site and successfully completed the
installation.
This was on 14 Feb 1971. I know
that, as I still have the letter of thanks from the head man at
the computer dept, George McKeand, for carrying on although we
were 'visibly shaken by the accident', and therefore allowing
their move to go ahead.
The accident was all very slow motion.
The front of the van just crumpled and to this day the roughcast
is still not cracked on that wall. My only injury was a cut to my
left leg which has a small scar."
Road Accident
"The building at Robertson Avenue had
a flat roof which had been renovated but still continued to leak
and was dripping all over the new desks we installed, through the
central joint of the concrete roof slab.
I jokingly suggested to the architect
they should run a gutter under the leaking joint inside the
suspended ceiling and into the down pipes at some of the
pillars. It turned out to be not so much of a joke as that is
exactly what they did, although I never got my consultancy fee.
I wonder if it still is working."
Toilets
"Over a period I was a regular in the
building. On the front of the building was the main staircase
with large landings with seating areas and alternate gents' and
ladies' toilets on each floor.
One day, I headed off to the gents
toilet and was puzzled that in the toilets the urinals were
boarded over . I thought there must be a plumbing
problem. It was only when I came out that I noticed the women
in the seated area all laughing and then it dawned on me that the
gents had been changed to a ladies toilet, as there were lots of
female workers."
Another Move
"The bank eventually outgrew Robertson
Ave and moved out to new premises in Sighthill Industrial Estate.
Once again, I was involved in installing furniture there.
Google street view still shows the
building standing, complete with the Bank of Scotland sign on
the 2nd floor windows."
Danny Callaghan, Falkirk,
Stirlingshire, Scotland: July 1, 2010 |