Tag: glengarnock

Reminiscing

I always found it strange that my family hated reminiscing.

They were so busy obsessing about survival that there wasn’t a lot of time for sentimentality. Perhaps it was too painful or maybe they had some awareness it could make people sad.  I think this was common in Industrial communities.

Only when they were drunk could they relax enough to look back. Even then it was without photos or keepsakes. They rather preferred stories or maybe I should describe them as glimpses into the past.

It meant that I couldn’t get full pictures about what characters were really like. Only occasional stories.

Whatever the reason, academic storytelling was seen as a weakness possibly because it made something of the past which for them was just everyday life. I can understand that. They were hard days

Whatever the reason,  it was absolutely horrific living in such a controlled environment.

Colville’s Staff Magazine 1925

Another excerpt from the Steel work magazine, 1925 about Glengarnock, the main feature covering the death of Robert Taylor of Stevenson, also there’s a poem from Hugh Higgins and mentions of garden awards for the Garden City. Apologies for the poor quality scan.

All of these magazines are held at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

Continue reading “Colville’s Staff Magazine 1925”

How the Longbar got it’s name.

I was trying to explain to a friend about the “Longbar”  when he asked me where the name came from.

It was built on top of another earlier group of houses known as “the Lambert”. Over time and with the number of folk moving in with different accents it then became known as the Lamber, then langbar wth the brogue northern Irish accent among others.

By the 1950s it had evolved into “Longbar” because people thought langbar referred to the Scottish word “lang” which meant “long” and the Government starting putting up signposts with the name.

Colvilles Staff Magazine (Glengarnock) section from 1925 – AB Glen Photography

A feature about the photographer AB Glen, the photographer from Kilbirnie/Dalry.

Other names included in this issue are:  Taylor, Bray, Davidson and Gibson.

Glengarnock Steel Staff Magazine 1925. John Anderson, Thomas Clark and Peggy Strain.

Thomas Clark, John Anderson, Callen, Begg, Cunningham, MacBride, Jamieson, Fraser, Hamilton, Thoorburn, Corbett, Peggy Strain and many others.

Glengarnock Steel Works Staff Magazine 1925

Two of these pages (not related) are carrying stories about Wilson Anderson and his promotion and flowers.

Other names:

Robert Corbett

John Thorburn

Fred Dickie leaving for Sydney

Robert Dumphy, George Reid, John Hamilton, John Knox, Andrew,  McGookin, Jamieson, McGhie, Kerr, Graham. Faulds, Frame. Ross, McBlane,  McLeod, Reekie, McBlane, Brennan.

Poem by Thomas Miller.

There are also a number of other names about Glengarnock Bowling Club.

 

 

Glengarnock Steel Magazine April 1922 – Hugh Higgins of Saltcoats

Additionally, a poem called “Maid of Longbar”  by Hugh L. Paterson – if you know this place now, you would know how ridiculous a poem about the place sounds.

Other names include: Miss Shaw, Miss Provan, Williamson, Warnock, Hubner, Hamilton, Gordon, Breckenridge, Sharp, Kerr, Anderson, Abernethy.

Glengarnock Steel Staff Magazine May 1922 – Peter Adamson Abernethy

A Steel work Employee who came from Linwood.

Other Names in this page:

West, Busby, Calder, Ferguson, McGhie, Aitken, Stewart, Drysdale, McBride, Graham, Clifford, Baxter, Clark, Vann, Kean, McBride, Anderson, Henderson, Martin, Robertson, Watson,

Picture of Leslie Martin, Miss H H Barclay, E C Stuart, W H Aiton.

Other names, McMinn

Leslie P Martin, HH Barclay, EC Stuart, WH Aiton.