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The Walls Family
"Alan Raeburn’s recollections of
James H Walls' plumbing business at
Tollcross bring back many memories for me.
From the age of six,
I lived in Kirkhill Terrace in the Priestfield area.
Charlie, Jimmy Walls and his wife lived
in the next street, Kirkhill Gardens.
They were our neighbours across the back garden fence.
Mrs Walls was originally from Blackpool.
She was never known by her first name.
I think it was Sarah. My
mother and her were good friends."
Charlie Walls
"As Alan says,
Charlie Walls always had a Vauxhall from the SMT,
usually a Wyvern, I think.
He spent a lot of
his time at the bowling club between Leven Terrace and Melville Drive,
near his plumber's shop.
He would come home from his work for a short time
then, most evenings, summer and winter, he would
zoom off to the bowls at a great rate of knots.
There is a bench dedicated to him, very
close to the bowling club entrance on the edge of Bruntsfield Links.
My lasting memory of Charlie is
seeing him in his three-piece suit with his
trilby hat parked on the back of his head."
Charlie continued to
live in the same house in Kirkhill Gardens, close to his granddaughter and
daughter-in-law. I last saw
him at the funeral
of his son, Jimmy, in
1984."
Jimmy Walls
"Jimmy was a couple
of years older than me. He trained at a
plumbers in Forrest Road before going in to the family business.
Sadly, Jimmy died quite young.
His funeral was in Rosehall Church,
Dalkeith Road."
Bryan Gourlay, Biggar, Lanarkshire,
Scotland: April 26, 2010 |