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William Stewart's
coaches
of Dalkeith |
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Recollections
1.
Mat Rooney
Ayrshire, Scotland |
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William Stewart's
coaches
of Dalkeith
Thank you to Matt Rooney, New Cumnock. Ayrshire, Scotland, for the
recollections one of his many jobs in and around Edinburgh -
driving buses:
Matt writes: |
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Saughton Prison
"My recollections
of Saughton
were of arriving at the prison very early to collect a few
prisoners and their warders and take them to the 'tatties'.
The furthest we went was round about Berwick. The prisoners
were sort of trustee's, or they didn't have long to go before the
end of their sentences, so they were allowed out to work on selected
farms, where they helped to lift the tatties.
I do remember
taking one of the trustees into a local village for messages for the
farmer's wife. The farmer fed them each day. All I had to do
was drop them off, and either myself or another driver would collect them
and take them back to Saughton.
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The Return Journey
"Another time I
was at one farm and the prisoners and the warders were late in finishing
up for the night. I had to take a shortcut along Princes Street,
which was normally taboo at that time as the route was mapped out to
avoid the City at all costs, but it was unavoidable.
Now the buses
that we the Drivers drove were the old type with wind-down handles for
the windows, so we were told by the boss to unscrew these, so that the
prisoners couldn't open them. But, within 2 minutes of knowing
that they would be going along Princes Street they had all the windows
open and were whistling at all the girls and ladies in the street.
Fortunately, none
of them attempted to escape, as they could easily have disappeared into
the crowds. Needless to say, that never happened again."
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More Jobs
"I moved jobs
after that as I was getting bored with the non-variety of the firm's
schedule. I was always looking for little adventures and when I
couldn't get them I made excuses to get away.
The visits to the
farms did aid my pocket now and then as I was always getting offers of
bags of tatties for helping them out, and a local chip shop was always
grateful for the tatties"
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Matt
Rooney, ( now aged 73), Ayrshire, Scotland: August 2005
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Recollections
2.
John Hadden
Edinburgh |
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William Stewart's
coaches
of Dalkeith
Thank you to John Hadden, Edinburgh, for the following information
after reading this page about William Stewart's coaches of Dalkeith
John writes: |
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"It's a small world.
William Stewart was my grandfather. He married the youngest daughter
of Thomas Wallace, the
photographer in Dalkeith. How about that!"
John Hadden, Edinburgh. 31 August 2005
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