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Recollections Bruntsfield To the south of Tollcross |
| 1. |
George Lewis |
- Royal Blind Asylum - Request for Photos |
| 2. |
Mike |
- Warrender Park Road - Bones |
| 3. |
Graham Marshall |
- Bones at Bruntsfield |
| 4. |
Margaret Cooper |
- Bruntsfield Baths |
| 5. |
Margaret Williamson
(née Hay) |
- Bruntsfield Baths |
| 6. |
Margaret Williamson
(née Hay) |
- Bonfire - Baked Potatoes - Singing - Shopping - Products |
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Recollections 1. George Lewis |
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Thank you to George Lewis for sending the following recollections. George wrote: |
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Royal Blind Asylum "My father worked at the Royal Blind Asylum in Gillespie Crescent, Bruntsfield, and was member of the works brass band. Although sighted I also was am member in the late 40's and early 50's before joining the RAF." |
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Request for Photos "I can remember playing at various venues - Gala days and parks throughout Edinburgh. But I have not been able to find any photographs Can you suggest where I could try?" |
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George Lewis: 1 May 2007 |
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Can You Help? If you know of any photos of the Royal Blind Asylum brass band, please e-mail me and I'll pass on your message to George. Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: May 3, 2007 |
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Recollections 2. Mike Gosport, Hampshire, England |
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Thank you to Mike for leaving a message and question in the EdinPhoto guest book. Mike wrote: |
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Warrender Park Road "As a boy in the 1950's playing in the Warrender Park Road and Bruntsfield House area, we noticed crosses engraved on the perimeter wall of Bruntsfield House along Warrender Park Road, about a metre above the pavement in three or four places" Bones "We were told that the crosses marked the spots where human remains were found when the wall was being built. Bones were found on the other side of the wall around the bases and roots of the many trees. These may well have been animal bones, but as a wee boy it had to be more sinister. Does anybody have any ideas?" Mike, Gosport, Hampshire, England: Message in EdinPhoto guest book: February 8, 2010 |
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Reply to Mike If you'd like to send a message to Mike, please e-mail me then I'll pass on your message to him. Thank you. - Peter Stubbs: February 8, 2010 |
Recollections 3. Graham Marshall Southern Spain |
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Thank you to Graham Marshall for replying to the question about bones in Recollections 2 above. Graham wrote: |
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Bones at Bruntsfield "I too heard those tales about bones at 'Bones at Bruntsfield'. Sadly, the truth is more prosaic. They are still there and are masons' marks which measured the wall to be paid for. From memory there used to be 18 marks, not all crosses" Graham Marshall, Southern Spain: January 5, 2012 |
Recollections 4. Margaret Cooper London, England |
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Thank you to Margaret Cooper for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guestbook. Margaret wrote: |
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Bruntsfield Baths "Does anyone remember going swimming to Warrender Park Baths during the 1940s? A wee bunch of us from Home Street and Drumdryan Street used to go there, money permitting. It was twopence to get in, none of us could swim but thoughts of 'droonin' never crossed our minds. It never crossed our parents' minds either. So off we'd go, a wee walk through the Meadows with our cossies wrapped in our towels, along with our ' shivery bites'. I don't know if they are still called 'shivery bites' but it was usually a piece on jam or marg - no butter in those days - which you ate when you got shivery. Mothers should have been praised in those days for their imagination in cossies vest and pants sewn together - knitted ones, would you believe, which when wet came down to your knees I remember falling in once at the shallow end and thought I was going to droon, but I managed to get out, 'greetin'. I went to my wee cubicle, ate my 'shivery bite' and ten minutes later I was back in for more. Afterwards the walk home through the Meadows was fun, quite fearless wee souls we were in those days - maybe because we had lived through a war." Margaret Cooper, London, England: Message posted in EdinPhoto guestbook, March 12, 2012 |
Recollections 5. Margaret Williamson (née Hay) Moline, Illinois, USA |
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Margaret Williamson replied to Margaret Cooper's comments in the guestbook above. Margaret Williamson wrote: |
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Bruntsfield Baths "I remember goin tae the baths at Warrender Park. Wednesday afternoon was for ladies and Thursday was mixed bathing, I got pushed in and had to dog paddle to the side ,but I lost any fear after that. When we left the baths, we headed for the chippie, The Variety it was called. The chips always tasted so good. Once in a while, we would go to the Infirmary Street Baths, but I always liked Warrender best.. Aye! We did have a lot of fun then. Did ye ken a lassie called Nancy Duncan. She was one of my sisters' pals."
Margaret Williamson
(née Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA:
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Recollections 6. Margaret Williamson (née Hay) Moline, Illinois, USA |
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Thank you to Margaret Williamson (née Hay) for writing again. Margaret wrote: |
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Bonfire "One year our bonfire made the news. We had the biggest bonfire ever! I made it with lots of kids from: - Bruntsfield - Home Street - Gilmour Place - Tollcross We would go from house to house to pick up whatever they wanted to get rid of. We would have: - so many gas masks - a couple of pianos - beds - so many rolls of music that was used in pianos. You you name it, we scrapped it for all whoever wanted to get rid of it. It was an amazing site, and we would Baked Potatoes "We would bake potatoes at the front of the fire. They were pretty blackened, but the tasted good - after we scraped off the black part! Singing "We used to sing:
'Please to
remember the 5th of November Then the fireworks would go off'. We had lots of fun. Shopping I remember going to: - Brown's Fish Shop. They had the best fish cakes and finnin haddie. - The co-op, when I was about 7 years old. It was just along our street, so my Mum would leave me a list of messages to get on a Saturday. I remember the rations then. We were only able to get a quarter of butter, half pound of sugar and a limited amount of certain other things. Products I wonder if anyone else remembers: - toothpaste sold in the pink and blue round tins. I think it was Gibbs who made it. - soap powders for washing clothes. We used Rinso, Persil and Oxydol, and Lux for finer materials. - soap. We mostly used carbolic soap for us kids, until they made nicer soaps. Margaret Williamson (née Hay), Moline, Illinois, USA April 2, 2014 |
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