Calder Street School

I started my school days shortly after the commencement of the 2nd World War, which at first made very little difference to the school routine, although there were air-raid practices from time to time and we had to carry our gas masks.  The main school building comprised a ground floor and three balconied floors surrounding a main hall in which assembly and gym was held.  Each pupil received a daily ration of one-third of a pint of milk, and on colder days the milk was warmed on the large radiators in the classroom.

We each took "play-pieces" (no school dinners at that time), but on the cold winter's days my mother (along with other mothers) used to meet us to pass hot soup through the school railings.   At playtime, while the girls amused themselves skipping or playing beds (hop-scotch), the boys would amuse themselves playing 'fitba', sliding on the untreated ice, while a favourite was a snake of boys running and swinging the boy at the end of the snake on his tackety boots, a fashion item we all wore!  Both boys and girls amused themselves by buying ‘dabbities’ (temporary tattoos) with their pocket money.  We also collected cigarette cards of various interest which we exchanged among ourselves.

During the war shortages we wore clogs; leather boots with wooden soles reinforced with medal studs shaped like horse shoes on the sole and heel.

The only teachers whose names I recall are a Mr Brockway and a Miss Marshall (who seemed ancient) the latter of whom used the 'belt' (a leather tawse, or strap) freely.  It became a family joke to ask me each day when in Miss Marshall's class how many times I had received the belt that day!

Queen’s Park Senior Secondary School

In 1947 I sat the qualifying examination as passed into Queen's Park School which was one of the best state schools in Glasgow and the equivalent of a Grammar School in England.  The school was located at Battlefield junction in Langside, and comprised four buildings North, Mid, Board and South.  It had been a boarding school in past years, as the name of one of the buildings suggests, and while I was there some pupils were fee-paying as they lived outside the Glasgow City Boundary.

 

The class I was in was 1LA, which stands for year one, Latin Class, A stream.  With much encouragement from my mother, I did well in my first year at 'Queenie' enjoying particularly Latin and English but following my mother’s death in 1948 my school work suffered and eventually I left school for work in 1950 without school qualifications.

Meanwhile, Joyce continued to excel becoming a prefect and school captain a position that had side benefits for me because the prefects used to let me in when I was late because I was Joyce Carr's wee brother!  By way of contrast, Joyce eventually achieved several Scottish Higher Certificates in addition to School Certificates

School dinners came into being around this time and at dinner time we all used to trip up the hill to the Langside Church Hall where we received a two course dinner which was heavily subsidised.  To this day I can recall the pleasure of tucking into Scotch Mince & Tatties (which still remains my favourite meal), and how glad I was for this food in the days following my mother's death.

The school curriculum was broad and excellent, and as well as Latin we covered all the main academic subjects with additional classes in art, woodwork, metal work, physical training and games, as well as such things as Old Time Dancing in the first year to equip us for the annual Christmas dance.  In second and third year we learned modern ballroom dancing.  There was an active chess club and occasional trips to orchestral concerts as well.

The school had an excellent soccer team winning the schools’ championship cup on a number of occasions.  I particularly remember the school cup final at Hampden Park and watching a young Ally McLeod playing superb game at outside left (as it was called in those days).  Ally McLeod later achieved fame leading his 'Tartan Army' ever hopeful of winning the World Cup in Argentina in 1978.

The Latin masters, Joe Reid & Joe Gardener, organised an annual trip by train to the site of the Roman ruins at Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire.  After the statutory lecture on the development of Roman settlements we had a great day out playing football etc and having a picnic.  Some photographs taken during one of those trips are shown in the gallery and Joe Reid can be seen in the right hand picture, second row from the front

There are many illustrious former pupils of Queen's Park, including Stan Laurel, Winnie Ewing MEP, Sir Monty Finnieston, Dame Anna Neagle, Manny Shinwell, Ian McCaskill, and two sports personalities in Ally McLeod and John Anderson, former coach of Liz McColgan and now a contributor to TV's Gladiators.

The school closed in 1994 and visiting it in 2004 I found the site to be derelict and only the "Mid" Building still standing.  Much of the ground is being used as a rather tatty car park.  It contrasts remarkably with the development that has taken place over the years to the Roman Catholic Holyrood School in Dixon Road (once a great rival on the sports field to "Queenie"), which now has a superb playing field and sports centre.   I also took a picture of the Langside Recreation Ground across which we walked to and from school each day coming out at the other end not far from Cathcart Road.  The 'rec' was the scene of many football games and sledging in the winter.