A
wander through the village circa 1956..........
I start my
walk from the football field up the Airntully road known locally as the
Rex (Recreation Park) wearing my normal footwear - tackety bits. There's a hand pumped well outside the
football pavilion and inside there's hot water and baths for the
Stanley City Boys
and their opponents on a Saturday. Willie
Stevenson (Coalman Willie) often asks me to run down to Pantons
shop in Russell Street to get Lifebuoy soap for the players. The
school sports are also held there but we don't have the use of the
pavilion. The Janny, Davie Jeffrey rigs toilets in the corner of
the field for the lassies to use made with hessian cloth (to give it a posh name) -
they're actually old split tattie sacks.
As I get to
the crossroads I can see McNicolls the joiners house across the road and
if I look left I can see Stanley Farm run by Captain Scott and his
brother Jim helped by the gaffer Andra Malcolm. I can't see the piggery at Lynton run by Dick Boyce
(Pig Dick) and his gaffer Gordon Jolly but I can smell it.
I turn down
Perth Road and see the quarry on my right past Geordie Sutherland the
baker's house and to the left is St James' Church.
It's being used as
an annex to the school just now. On one side of the Kirk is Beech Cottage where Mrs Morris lives and on the other side is Mrs
Bendall's house - the first one in Stanley to have venetian blinds.
Turning
right into Margaret Street I see St James' Manse and opposite the road
is Ross's shop where we get our penny liquorices and pink paraffin for the
Aladdin heater in the hallway of our house. (Health and Safety would
have a fit nowadays). Further round in Manse Crescent the prefabs are on my left and
on the right Hugh Kerr Currie's fields where we pick tatties in the October
school holidays. Our house, at No 10 is made of Swedish timber and
it was said that I was the first baby to be born in Manse Crescent after
the houses were completed in June 1947. Over 50 years later my parents
left this world in the same room
where I entered it. Our house looks
over Petrie's berry fields and Burnside Farm on the right. In fact
Petrie's berry fields are all over Stanley and that's our job during
the summer holidays. If you were a clean picker you might even get
a job at Burns' strawberries at West Tofts.
Now into
James Street I see Eddie Cargill the butcher's house on the left and at
the end of James Street is David Fleming's tattie yard also on the left where
Bob Barron is his gaffer and the shed where Bradley Thomas mends his
fishing nets on the right. The bus stop is at the end of James
Street and I cross the railway bridge and see Cargill's butchers shop on
the right before turning left into Russell Street. At the end of
Russell Street is Willie Stevenson's coal yard on the right and next
door to it Panton's shop.
Turning
right down Mill Street is the hostel where lots of foreign lassies (and
Fifers) who work down the mill live at the end of East Brougham
Street. Just opposite the hostel is Lena Smith, the Registrars house.
I continue my journey down Mill Street and see
the Linn Road on my left with the tarren houses and further up is
Petries farm - Shielhill. Opposite the Linn Road is the Wee Free Kirk and at the
back of this the new flats in Murray Place. At the junction of
Store Street on my left is another of Petries berry fields. This
field used to be Stanley's football pitch before the Rex. There's
a tinks encampment at the top of the field and the bairns attend Stanley
school with us.
Into Store
Street
is Jimmy Hancock's shop on my left where we used to buy single
cigarettes - penny blueboys - and opposite the road is
Bendall's shop. My father's yard is almost next door to Bendall's
with ladders, planks of wood etc protruding from the top of the storage
space. Next to it is the green where many an argument was settled with
fists after
school. At the end of Store Street I look left down
Charlotte Street and see the bakers shop halfway down on the left where
Tot Smith and Andy Mitchell make lovely morning rolls and in the distance Stanley Tower
Church where the Reverend
Nairn McLeish is the Minister.
Straight
over into Percy Street is the Co-op on the left where Co-opy Duff rules
the roost assisted by the amenable Ernie Green. Over the road is
Jimmy Haggart's - High Class Draper and Newsagent. I deliver his
papers along with Joan Halley. Next to Haggart's is the Masonic Lodge and further down on
the same side is another shop, P D Smith. Opposite PD's is
Paterson the Butcher from where his son Whistling Norman will usually emerge
on his message bike and at the end of Percy Street is Geordie
Cramb's Post Office where Beth Kennedy works. Abby Duff and Kenny Paul's electrical
shops are over the road from the Post Office. I look over the main
road and see Stanley School, the Bowling Club, Telephone Exchange and
the red Phone Box. Opposite is also the beech hedge that the blind man cuts
perfectly. If I look up the Feus Brae I can see The Episcopalian
Church,
St Columbas
on the left and the War Memorial is next door to
that. Including the ground, hedge and railings it cost less than
£900.00 to construct in 1924. The money was raised mainly by
public subscription - a huge feat in those days and an example of the
good community spirit that existed then. The Tennis Court is
tucked in at the back of the War Memorial and the swings are further up. There are noisy crows in the rookery in the trees
at Sandy McLennan's who runs the blue and white buses between Perth and Spitallfield. Jimmy Logan the entertainer used to visit Sandy and
on one occasion even flew over the village in a helicopter dropping
sweeties (he'd be fined nowadays for dropping litter). Wullie and Stewart Buchan's garage is further up. On the
right is the Dispensary where Doctor Hall, Doctor Paddy McDonagh,
Doctor Walls, Nurse Forsyth and Miss Pirie tend the sick and the Police Station where Jimmy
Cant lives. On the Police Station notice board the most exciting
notice to watch out for is about the Colorado Beetle because it
destroys tattie crops.
Turning
left after the Post Office I walk across the village green
to Bella
Campbell's shop at the top of King Street. I stand for a minute
and look across to the Strathord Pub in Duchess Street run by Alf
Lindores helped by Eck Coutts and see Jock Cameron's Bakers Van
getting filled up with petrol
at Culberts' garage opposite the pub. Further up that street
is the house where the St Johnstone and future Scotland manager, Bobby
Brown will soon move to. I can just see the Sheiling at the bend
of Duchess Street where the Henderson's live. Angelo Cura's shop
is at the Cross.
Great home made ice cream. Chips are 3d a bag and
a fish supper 1/3d. There is also a snooker table in there where
you're "supervised" by his daughter Mary. There is a great big
support pillar in the snooker room and good players like Rolo McIntosh
and Barney leave the white ball near there for a "Stanley snooker".
This means using a 3 foot long special snooker cue kept there nicknamed
"Pedro". Angelo collects his fish in his motorbike from
Stanley Junction railway station on a Thursday I think and he
occasionally gets up the pub that day. Jock Cameron's baker's shop is
next to Angelo's.
Past Bella
Campbell's in King Street is the Bank of Scotland and next door is Jimmy
Smith's Grocers shop. The smell in there is wonderful and you'll always
get a kindly word from his wife Mrs Smith. Ann Williamson works there
but will emigrate to Canada soon. There are notices in the shop
window for local dances and anything going on in Kinclaven Church where
Mrs Smith worships. Opposite the shop is Granny Donaldson's and my sister Alma
will go round there on Saturday to get Granny's messages from the
Co-op. Past the shop is gardens on the left and there is another
hand pumped well at Mrs Macdonald's shop and Geordie Cowie the plumbers. At the end of the
Kirk drive is Geordie Sutherland's bakers shop and if you venture
underneath his shop the burn that marks the parish boundaries runs
through a tunnel there as it makes its way down to the River Tay via the
Well Brae. We used to splash
around in this before turning up for Jock Culbert or Beth Kennedy's Sunday
School class. At the end of
Charlotte Street is Sandy McLennan's bus garage and across the road is
the Well Brae. Jim Robb lives in one of the cottages there.
Jim has a severe skinhead haircut and 40 years later they'll become
fashionable. Past Jim Robb's is Alex Kyle's the painters and
finally at the end of King Street on the junction with Mill Street on
the left is Clarkies pub known locally as
"The Byre". We're now at the top of the Mill Brae but we're not going down there
today. The gates to the curling pond are opposite Clarkies where we
catch tadpoles, puddicks and sticklebacks in the spring and play ice hockey in the
winter when the ice is thick enough.
Jim
Donaldson August 2005
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