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Holyrood Park |
1953
© Thank you to Paul Weddell for allowing me to reproduce this photo taken by his father.
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Recollections 1. Eric Gold East London |
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Thank you to Eric Gold who wrote: |
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The Group Around 1953 "This photo was taken around the time of the Coronation of the Queen in 1953. - I’m the wee blond boy sitting with my cousin, Allan McMillan with the dark hair. We were both only five years old at the time. - My dad is behind us. - Allan's sister, Jeanette McMillan is sitting on the left, beside him on the front row. She was 10 years old. - The boy in the far right at the front is Donnie Neill. He was also about 10 years old. - The boy at the back on the left is my brother, George McKenzie, now sadly gone. - The girl beside my brother is Cathy Valentine, our neighbour in 4, East Arthur Place." Picnics in the Park "It was customary to go down to the park with a bottle of juice and sandwiches and fruit and have a wee picnic on a hot Sunday afternoon. The men would play football on the Scotchie and I would then go to St Margaret’s Loch and row the boats, and the bairns would paddle in a wee pond especially built for toddlers. Those were the days." Demolition of Dumbiedykes "I don’t know why the Edinburgh council keep making mistakes by demolishing our Dumbiedykes as the people were decent folk. There were no muggings or house break-ins and people would help each other. Big Ginger, the policeman, said to my folks that it has been the best years of his life, patrolling Arthur Street. He and he would come to our house and bring in buns and cakes and have a cup of tea regularly. He was the best policeman I've ever known, and he was fair too. Niddrie The reason for the demolishing the Dumbiedykes was the 1960s slum clearances. Gracemount had just been built but we ended up being moved to Niddrie. I did not mind as my Auntie Marion and Uncle Paddy Deighan lived next door to us there, so no one would try to break in or be rude to us, and with Paddy being a business partner of Peter Williamson well that says it! To Sea When I left Niddrie to go to sea, working on the Queen Mary and other big ships, I thought I would never hear or see a photo of Arthur Street again but the EdinPhoto web site has been like a time machine with all those lovely photos of the Dumbiedykes and other parts of Edinburgh." Eric Gold, East London: February 24, 2014 |
