Stevenston - On This Day In History

[Penny Tray]

EVENING TIMES
14 MAY 1957

AYRSHIRE SCHOOLS TO HAVE TV

Four Ayrshire schools are to have television installed as an experiment.

They are Ayr Grammar J.S. School, St. Margaret’s RC J.S. School, Prestwick High J.S. School, and Stevenston J.S. School, the headmasters of which are each prepared to contribute £50.

Cost of installation will not be more that £200 per school. The Scottish Education Department has stated that the expenditure will rank for grant.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
16 MAY 1946

ALLAN BUILDING
PRIDE OF “THE ‘NINETIES”

In 1890 the Allan Line of Glasgow moved into the modern block of offices which they had built for themselves at the corner of Hope Street and Bothwell Street, Glasgow. Now the Canadian Pacific Steamships Company, which bought over the Allan Lines during the last war and took over their offices, are having to vacate the premises.

The building has been bought by Imperial Chemical Industries, and an office staff from Stevenston is to be installed there.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
17 MAY 1917

WOUNDED SOLDIER’S SON KILLED

JAMES MAGUIRE, (18), residing at Arthur Street, Stevenston, was killed last night on the Glasgow and South-Western Railway between Saltcoats and Stevenston. He was crossing the railway along with a younger boy, and failed to observe the approach of a light engine. His companion escaped injury.

The lad was the son of Private Patrick Maguire, Royal Scots Fusiliers, at present lying in a military hospital severely wounded, and his mother was away visiting him when the accident occurred.

[Penny Tray]

CASUALTY OF WAR
20 MAY 1917

GEORGE McSHERRY, (33) – 9TH Highland Light Infantry – was killed on 20th May 1917 – Theatre of war, France and Flanders.

The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald subsequently reported:-

“Mr. and Mrs. McSherry, Grange Road, Stevenston, have received word that their son, Private GEORGE McSHERRY, Highland Light Infantry, has been killed in action.

Mr. and Mrs. McSherry have given three sons to the Army – George, the deceased; Robert, who is a prisoner of war; and Sergeant John, wounded.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
21 MAY 1965

THREE DEAD IN ARDEER EXPLOSION
DISTANT TOWNS SHAKEN

Three men were killed last night in an explosion in the factory of the Nobel Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, at Ardeer, Stevenston, Ayrshire.

The explosion in the blasting section of the factory shook houses and broke windows in towns many miles away.

An official of I.C.I. Limited said it came at 7.05 p.m. and he regretted to report that three men had lost their lives. They were:-

Mr. WILLIAM IRVINE, 40 Churchill Drive, Ardrossan;
Mr. HUGH WALKER, 52 Kirkhall Drive, Ardrossan; and
Mr. HUGH CONWAY, 4 Arran Place, Saltcoats.

All were married.

About 6000 persons are employed at the Ardeer works, but comparatively few were there at the time of the explosion because it was an “off shift” period.

The three men who were killed were working together in a hut. Five minutes earlier they had returned from a meal break. There were no other casualties, but a number of women working in other sections of the factory had to be treated for shock. Later several women had to leave their work.

MUSHROOM CLOUD

The explosion caused a large mushroom-shaped cloud, which was seen in Ardrossan and Irvine. Houses were shaken in Stevenston, and in Kilwinning shop windows in the main street were shattered.

Mr. Hugh Clotworthy of Almswell Road, Kilwinning, said that after the explosion his garden was showered with particles like “black hail.” A few minutes later “big chunks” of heavy cartridge paper, used for packing explosives at the factory, came drifting down.

Within minutes of the explosion being heard ambulances and police cars arrived at the factory. Several clergymen and other local people gathered at the main gates.

Explosives manufactured in the department affected by the accident are used principally in mining and civil engineering.

In 1962 a series of eight explosions in the black powder (gunpowder) section shattered windows in five towns but only two men at the factory were slightly hurt because the plant is remote controlled.

Other explosions include:-

Three killed and three injured in 1954; four women workers killed in 1950; 15 men killed in 1939 in a quadruple explosion; six workers, including a woman, killed in 1938; and three men killed in 1937.

[5siamese7]

I remember that very well. I was a young lad working in the micro lab and when I went to work on Monday morning no one said very much about it. However we all felt ashamed which I think is a normal human response to such a terrible incident.

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
23 MAY 1925

ROAD SCHEME FOR AYRSHIRE

At a meeting of the Northern District Committee of Ayrshire County Council, intimation was made that the Unemployment Grants Committee had approved of a grant of 75 per cent of interest and sinking fund charges in connection with the proposed new by-pass road at Stevenston.

At the same meeting objection was taken to the new roadway by the Stevenston Special District Sub-Committee on the ground that it would serve no useful purpose.

It was decided to proceed with the scheme as expeditiously as possible.

The cost is £20,000.

[meekan]

Would this be what we now call the High Road or even Stevenston old High Road?

[Penny Tray]

I was wondering the same Meekan and came to the conclusion that if you were travelling from Kilwinning to Saltcoats/Ardrossan pre 1925 you would go to Stevenston Cross and proceed from there via the low road (passed Auchenharvie/Canal Street, etc) or turn right at Stevenston Cross and proceed via the 'old' High Road, Stevenston, up to High Road, Saltcoats; assuming therefore that the road under discussion is the one that currently extends from the bottom of Hayocks Road directly towards Saltcoats/Ardrossan.

Guys of our age probably assume that the 'top end' housing of Stevenston was always there when probably pre-1925 it comprised open fields!

[morag]

My wee sis lived in the old high rd, a wee shortcut to the high road, which was essentially an extension of Glencairn St.

[Penny Tray]

THE BULLETIN
28 MAY 1959

MR MORRISON (99) GOES TO A BALL

Mr. Morrison, 99-year-old Stevenston, Ayrshire, baker went to a ball last night in Ayr.

He was there until 2 a.m. today although he does not do any dancing nowadays.

The ball was held at the end of the Scottish Association of Master Bakers.

BIBLE GIFT

Mr. Morrison went to the conference too. In fact he spoke for 10 minutes without microphone or notes and was loudly cheered.

Mr. Robert Mathieson, Falkirk, who was installed as president of the association was given a bible by Mr. Morrison.

The old man fought to achieve burgh status for Stevenston and became the town’s first provost at the age of 92. He held office for three years.

He has been a session clerk of Livingstone Church, Stevenston, for 60 years and an elder for 70 years.

Mr. Morrison reaches his century in July.

[Mr. Morrison died on the 17th of August, 1963, at the age of 104.]

[Penny Tray]

GLASGOW HERALD
29 MAY 1917

DEATH ON SERVICE

BANKS: Killed in action, on 13th May, Private HUGH J. BANKS, London Regiment, third son of David Banks, Townend, Stevenston.

The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald subsequently reported:-

"Stevenston’s sons have not escaped in their fighting lately. Two sturdy lads, HUGH J. BANKS, London Regiment, son of David Banks, Townend Stevenston, and ADAM WILSON, Canadians, only son of the late Alexander Wilson and Mrs. Mary Wilson, Townhead Street, Stevenston, have fallen in battle.

We have every confidence that they did their duty, but the battle in these days of machine guns does not always go to the strong and the brave.

One is at a loss for words to express our sympathy with those who have lost their sons and brothers in the horrible war; the message has become stereotyped. We can only grip the hand more firmly, and as Scotsmen we can understand.”